Another way I betray the left...
Hi, my name is Mike. I'm a liberal, I voted Kerry, I dislike Bush a great deal, I thought Iraq was a mistake, I'm pro-gay marraige...
And I celebrate Christmas.
I know this probably comes as a shock to the many on the right who like to lump all of us liberals together as God-hating mongrels who want to remove all references to Christiantiy from the face of the Earth replacing it all with icons of other faiths all in the name of "tolerance". This also is probably a shock of a different sort to many on the left who hate Christianity and all things associated, labeling it as hateful and such... to those I am a traitor.
Am I a devout anything? Nope! I'm Christian in the loosest sense of the term (i.e. I accept Christ as the Son of God, and I believe in the basic message put forth in the bible... i.e. DON'T BE AN ASS). I don't go in for a lot of the deeper interpretations, and I don't go in for any of the politics associated with faith. I'm all for faith, and all against religion. You can be religious about anything (there are people out there who are religious about golf, Star Wars, video games etc...) but a relatively small number that are religious in my experience have had much real faith.
To me, Christmas has over time evolved away from a day of religious significance as a symbol of Christ' birth (see all the references to Christ being born at a different time of the year yadda yadda yadda) to more of a time of year to reflect, to be charitable and to enjoy that general happy holiday spirit. I love Christmas music, decorated trees, lights on houses, and all the other trappings of the season. I enjoy Santa, the gifts, the food, the getting together with friends and family.
Most importantly I AM NOT ASHAMED OF MY TRADITIONS! I do not apologize to my Jewish friends because I celebrate Christmas. I don't feel sorry for my Islamic, Hindu or Buddhist friends because they don't get to participate because of their faiths or backgrounds. I do not feel the need to celebrate their holidays either in the name of equality, tolerance or enlightenment. I am aware of them, I have participated in them on occassion at the request of friends and enjoyed them, but they're not part of my traditions or faith, so I feel no compulsion to observe them.
In schools, I'm cool with all of them being talked about/celebrated in classroom activities. I bet there are very few schools left in the US where every single student is a regular church-going Christian, and in most classes there are now kids of different faiths altogether. Everyone deserves an equal shot at the time alloted to holiday education, and I feel everyone benefits from learning about ALL other cultures and their religions and practices. Education breeds a greater degree of understanding. (Fear being a major product of ignorance) But that said, Christmas and it's foundational meaning deserve as much attention and discussion as the origins of the Mennorah (sp?), Kwaanza etc... If you want to talk about one religion, talk about them all. Mohammed, Jesus, Abraham... all of them. Jesus isn't a dirty word, nor is God (the more open-minded of all three faiths will probably admit it's all the same entity, just with a different take on the whole deal... they are all based on Judaism afterall).
I'm tired of having it forced down my throat that my holiday is somehow wrong, somehow hateful and discriminatory and that it should be explicity excluded from all public mention as something dirty, while all others are shoved in my face in the name of being an enlightened and tolerant society. Here's a hint to the really out-there left-wingers who hate God (the Christian version) in every incarnation in this world... YOU CAN NOT BE TOLERANT UNLESS YOU ALLOW ALL FAITHS THEIR TIME AND SPACE IN THE PUBLIC SPHERE. Banning candy canes, Christmas carols, cards and such is not the way to foster tolerance. It's either equal or it isn't... what is happening now has nothing to do with equality.
Give me my eggnog, my box of candy canes, a CD of Christmas tunes and leave me the hell alone!