Christmas Greetings Vs Seasons Greetings

homer911

Forgive an interloping Christian, but I'm interested in some feedback from non-Christians...

Do you really object to getting a "Christmas" card or has political correctness gone mad with "Seasons Greetings" cards?

As a protestant, I dont get offended when someone sends me a mass card!

Rev Hellfire

Christmas has nothing to do with religion for most people these days, so why would anyone get worked up about a name ?
It would be like complaining about the names of the days of the week having a loose religious connection.

Dades

I very much doubt anyone here gets offended by receiving Christmas cards.

Though I've been wrong before.

Tim Robbins

Dades wrote: »

I very much doubt anyone here gets offended by receiving Christmas cards.

Though I've been wrong before.

I have a few relations who are a bit evangelical, I prefer no religious references on their cards as they can a bit full on when they get going.

It doesn't really annoy me, but there was no: "You have to draw lines sometimes" option.

time42play

I have enough family members who believe in that stuff that I'm well used to getting Christmas cards and being wished Happy Christmas. Easier to just let it go, and not worth getting upset about IMO.

On the other hand, I've seen religious people getting VERY angry about being wished "Happy Holidays" or something similar. All that "Put the Christ back in Christmas" crap does get to me, I don't object to your cards and greetings so leave mine alone!

Ickle Magoo

I don't object to getting Christmas cards, in much the same way as I don't "object" to getting a Happy Hanukkah card or St Patrick's day cards, or my husband objects to the Burns Day cards or haggis we get sent every year.

People who know us generally send us cards with snowmen & reindeer, etc on them - I make our cards and they say Seasons Greetings. It's lovely that people think of us and send us cards of any descriptions tho the overtly religious ones tend not to get put up around the house!

Black Swan

Christmas is a major commercial holiday in the States, which is consistent with their capitalistic economic system? Charles Dickens' 1843 novel, "A Christmas Carol," has been incorporated within the annual Christmas message, suggesting that if you don't buy and give presents, you will be thought of as an Ebenezer Scrooge? The Santa myth is perpetuated with children, raising their expectations for more gifts beyond what would be expected from family? All these messages and actions work in a self-fulfilling way to fuel the economy, compelling people to spend more during this time of the year, often beyond their means, and contributing to the historic trillion dollar credit card debt in the US? So it makes one wonder what the real message of Christmas is, or if it makes any difference by calling a rose by another name (i.e., Season's Greetings)?

robindch

homer911 wrote: »

Do you really object to getting a "Christmas" card or has political correctness gone mad with "Seasons Greetings" cards?

Not at all. If I remember to send anything -- which I usually don't -- it'll be a flying spaghetti monster card. Except for the humorless "political-correctness-gone-mad" crew, everybody has a laugh

pH

homer911 wrote: »

Do you really object to getting a "Christmas" card or has political correctness gone mad with "Seasons Greetings" cards?

As a protestant, I dont get offended when someone sends me a mass card!

Given that cards that I get are sent by friends and family, it would be pretty "bah humbug" of me to object to the message they chose. I would normally send a non-religious "season's greetings" type card, though if a card mentioned Christmas and I liked it of course I'd still send it - just don't expect a nativity scene on a card from me!

However, once or twice we've received quite a pointed "religious" card, you know the sort, very earnestly "Christmas is about the baby Jesus" type, which I guess I do sort of object to, if you're not wishing me well, rather using this as an opportunity to make a religious point.

On a side note, I was looking at some cards sent home from the WWI trenches, some were plain "Yuletide" cards, others had only a small reference to "Xmas", so there's nothing particularly "new" or "PC" about people wishing each other all kinds of things at this time of year.

"Christmas" cards are a secular tradition, later co-opted by religion.

wikipedia wrote:

The first commercial Christmas cards were commissioned by Sir Henry Cole in London, 1843, and featured an illustration by John Callcott Horsley. The picture, of a family with a small child drinking wine together, proved controversial, but the idea was shrewd: Cole had helped introduce the Penny Post three years earlier. Two batches totaling 2050 cards were printed and sold that year for a shilling each.[1]

Early English cards rarely showed winter or religious themes, instead favoring flowers, fairies and other fanciful designs that reminded the recipient of the approach of spring. Humorous and sentimental images of children and animals were popular, as were increasingly elaborate shapes, decorations and materials. In 1875 Louis Prang became the first printer to offer cards in America, though the popularity of his cards led to cheap imitations that eventually drove him from the market. The advent of the postcard spelled the end for elaborate Victorian-style cards, but by the 1920s, cards with envelopes had returned.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas_card

dvpower

homer911 wrote: »

Do you really object to getting a "Christmas" card or has political correctness gone mad with "Seasons Greetings" cards?

I don't mind at all. In fact I dislike the 'Seasons Greetings' ones. It is Christmas after all.

On a related topic, I brought my kids to see Santa in Stephens Green the other day. He started asking them if they knew whose birthday Christmas is.

I think I handled it well.

Herbal Deity

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73vcbde8Cb8

jmccoy

People may send me what they want, I respect their beliefs or lack thereof. However my cards always read "Best of wishes during this holiday season, and I hope that you have a prosperous and healthy new year."

ChocolateSauce

Voted don't care. Getting Christmas card makes me feel loved and remembered, but also annoyed that these people only sent them at the state-sponsored time of year and not at, say, my birthday, so they cancel out to "meh".

Regarding what is on them, if it's secular stuff like Santa et al, I don't mind, but a mass card would annoy me because anyone who knows me well enough to have my address would know I'm an anti-theist, and it would be condescending. Never happened though...

Galvasean

I'd love to get a Christmas card once in a while...

*waits by letterbox getting more and more depressed*

Funglegunk

Herbal Deity wrote: »

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=73vcbde8Cb8

Hahahaha, that tickled me just right for some reason. Very good.

krankykitty

I like the Irish Guide Dogs christmas cards. They do say "Christmas" on them, but there's winning pictures of cute puppies, and not a Baby Jesus in sight!

eoin5

time42play wrote: »

All that "Put the Christ back in Christmas" crap does get to me

Well christmas is xmas now and for most people its a time for family and well wishing and a 2000 year old story is far from the point anymore (although its a nice story).

Herbal Deity

The "X" in Xmas is from the Greek letter Chi, which is the first letter of Χριστός, Christ in Greek

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xmas

[-0-]

If Christmas consisted of being dragged to the Church (as it did until I was 8) then yes, I would be pissed.

Today, Christmas has very little to nothing to do with Jesus and the Church. I don't mind receiving Christmas cards at all. Infact, if I did not receive any I would be a little worried.

Red Sleeping Beauty

First off, I can separate traditions from a religion.

If I got a card on it that said "Seaons's Greetings" I wouldn't think "oh wow, this is the end of Christianity as we know it! - not that I'd get upset at that! Similarily if someone sent me a card that had the word Christmas I wouldn't be offended. However, where possible I've tried to avoid mentions of Christmas (in cards) to people that don't follow Christianity. This notion that a greeting card that says "Seaonal Greetings" instead of "Christmas" is somehow subverting the church and religion is just nonsense, total nonsense. I saw cards today with such greetings sans "Christmas" andthey were on a shelf next to Christmas cards.

Certain Christians (like Bill 'OReilly - see below) need to take their tin foil hat off and stop trying to force everyone into their own beliefs.

Season's Greetings isn't political correctness 'gone mad' it's actually political correctness done right for once because of how the mid-winter/seasonal festival was overtaken by Christianity etc. There's many who'll have some sort of celebration in, on or around the 25th (or whenever there's no shops open and they're not in work) and they aren't Christians and don't follow the religion and CHRISTmas... . well, the hint is in the name.

There's a good reason paranoid Christians want to keep the CHRISTmas name going around and that's because it's an insanely clever piece of branding that they are desparate to hang on to.

Red Sleeping Beauty

I didn't know whether to bump this thread or these threads ...

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=62307032

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055331455



This is the cover of “The Atheist’s Guide To Christmas”, Britain’s first atheist charity book initiative, which I’ve been editing on a voluntary basis for the last six months. The full advance and all royalties from the book are going to the UK HIV charity Terrence Higgins Trust.

The book features contributions from 42 of the UK’s most entertaining atheist scientists, comedians, philosophers, journalists and writers, including:

Richard Dawkins
Derren Brown
Charlie Brooker
David Baddiel
Ben Goldacre
Josie Long
Richard Herring
Simon Singh
Brian Cox
Jenny Colgan
AC Grayling
Simon Le Bon
Claire Rayner
Robin Ince
Jon Holmes
Zoe Margolis
Phil Plait
Mitch Benn
Lucy Porter
Adam Rutherford

… and many, many more, all of whom have kindly given their time, thought and talent for free. The book has six sections: Stories, Arts, Science, Philosophy, How To and Events. It’s funny, thoughtful and hopefully quite beautiful in places, and also contains quotes from great atheists throughout history.

It is published on October 1 and available to pre-order now. It would be brilliant if we could see it enter the Top Ten Bestsellers in its first week of release, raising thousands for THT.

Please pre-order it now:

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Atheists-Guide-Christmas-Ariane-Sherine/dp/0007322615/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1252064471&sr=8-1

Thank you!

I think the overall idea of the book is "don't get too bogged down with trying to avoid the word Christmas". I have a bit of a hard time accepting that what with the etymology of the word. I'm probably punching above my weight even just posting here anyway. It's officially impossible to avoid using the word "Christmas". I was in a few shops looking for Christmas "Festive" cake decorations for my ma and asking people in such shops for such things without using the "C" word is a fruitfull task - or is that fruitless?



Isnt' Ed Byrne Irish? There's a paragraph in the book about him being one of Britain's best successful comedians or something....

pH

Red Sleeping Beauty wrote: »

I think the overall idea of the book is "don't get too bogged down with trying to avoid the word Christmas". I have a bit of a hard time accepting that what with the etymology of the word.

I wouldn't get too bogged down in etymology, many names of past gods still adorn various times of the year, I assume when you describe something as happening in July or August you're not somehow subscribing to the deification of Julius and Augustus, similarly with day names like 'Thursday' and 'Saturday'.

So just because it's known as Christmas doesn't mean much, for example Christians are very happy to still call the time of year when they remember Christ's death after a completely different God - Eostre.

PDN

Just don't call it 'Crimbo'. It makes people sound like Scousers.

Red Sleeping Beauty

pH wrote: »

I wouldn't get too bogged down in etymology, many names of past gods still adorn various times of the year, I assume when you describe something as happening in July or August you're not somehow subscribing to the deification of Julius and Augustus, similarly with day names like 'Thursday' and 'Saturday'.

That's a good point but Greek gods (or whoever else) hardly hold such prevalence and dominance do they? I suppose it is some what petty (as Bill O'Reilly complains about!) but you're talking about Christ's Mass, it's like free advertising isn't it? It's well branded anyways.

There's probably Christians that complain that Christmas isn't Christian enough though what with the popular procession of capitalistic consummerism and all that.

robindch

Red Sleeping Beauty wrote: »

There's probably Christians that complain that Christmas isn't Christian enough

Yes indeed -- Oliver Cromwell was one of these and during his term as Protector, passed a law which banned christmas as it was then, since it was such an obviously anti-christian celebration:

http://www.timetravel-britain.com/articles/christmas/ban.shtml

The "political correctness gone mad" brigade must have assploded.

fitz0

They annoy me but not for any religious reason. But if someone gets me one then to be polite I have to go out and get them one. Its an irritating inconvenience.