Ophelia

After all, Christmas isn't the only holiday being celebrated this time of year. We have Yule, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, probably others I'm not even aware of. Even if not, There's still three others besides Christmas. So why are some people so mad about stores and such saying Happy Holidays or Seasons Greetings instead of Merry Christmas?

They're only being fair, after all. It'd be pretty presumptuous to say only Merry Christmas when not everyone celebrates the same holiday. So why throw a fit and boycott stores that are being fair to everyone and force Christmas to be the only holiday recognized by stores when it's not the only holiday being celebrated?

I'm not saying everyone goes to this sort of extreme. I'm an atheist who'd rather be wished a Happy Holiday, but I don't start suing and boycotting anytime someone says Merry Christmas. I just don't see what all the fuss is about when stores are trying to be fair and neutral to all customers and whatever holiday they happen to celebrate.

Just curious as to whether or not how many Christians out there have fully read the Bible. Doesn't matter to me if you have or haven't, just wondering.

Also wondering what denomination you are if you have(ie: are you Catholic, Baptist, Episcopalian, Mormon, etc) and which version(or versions, if you've read more than one) you've read.

I've heard this frequently this time of year, so much that it gets in the news about schools cancelling Halloween, people having Hell Houses instead of Haunted Houses, and churches having religious alternatives to Halloween parties. I've heard lots of devout Christians say they consider Halloween evil, demonic, and "the Devil's holiday", but never any real answer as to why.

I can't see anything satanic about Halloween myself, even went trick-or-treating as a kid back when I was still a Lutheran. Actually, I seem to recall my church having halloween parties for us kids with games and pinatas sort of thing.

Can anyone explain the reasoning behind this without using "it's the Devil's holiday" or that it's a Pagan holiday? Just because it's derived from a non-Christian religion, doesn't mean it's an "evil" holiday, so that's not a good enough answer.

Bible quotations are welcome so I can look them up for cross-referencing. And please be respectful! I look forward to your answers. :)

Seriously. I've seen this attitude here on YA and other places as well and I really don't get it. Why do some people think that's why we become atheists, so we can be sinful and immoral, to drink, have sex, whatever comes to mind? I certainly didn't become an atheist so I could sleep around or drink or sell drugs or rob banks or convenience stores.

Let's see, I'm waiting on sex until I can afford to take care of a child properly. I don't drink as I can't see how the aftereffects(headache, vomiting, hangover) can be considered fun. As far as drugs and robbery and criminal activity? I have no criminal record whatsoever, not even so much as a speeding or parking ticket.

Does that sound like an atheist who stopped believing in God so she could be this horrible immoral person? Tell me, why do some people think we stopped believing in God so we could do such things without guilt?

I'm curious because there seems to be a lot of Christians out there who think that just because someone disagrees with them, doesn't share their faith, or refuses to listen to proselytizing, they "hate' God. As an atheist who doesn't hate God at all(despite being frequently irritated by overzealous followers), simply doesn't believe in him at all, I simply don't get this line of thought.

Please be serious and respectful in your answers. Don't tell me to go to church, that you're praying for me, that I'm going to Hell, etc. I've heard it before, it's not going to change my mind, nor does it answer my question. Such comments will be ignored.

And for the record, I read the Bible just this summer, so don't tell me to go read one or that I don't know anything about it or God. Bible quotations are fine, I can look them up, but I also expect that if you do some quoting, you also explain your point of view, not just shoot quotes out there.