Christmas/Holiday debate

I didn't really want to get into the fray of this whole "War on X-Mas" debate. But this morning I had this guy I was car-pooling with me, state very obviously, "this weekend I'll have a Merry Christmas and next weekend I'll have a happy holiday."

'oh Lord, we got a live one,' I thought. Give me a break! Who cares?! I felt like yelling at him, "get off your fat ass and care about something that means a damn! Stop trying to make your lazy self feel better about being a Christian by saying that you are fighting for Christ, if you really wanted to work for Christ, help those who can't help themselves, instead of arguing about a holiday that was converted from paganism. Crikes!"

In the end I got my own, when he dropped me off he said "Merry Christmas." I pointedly replied, "happy holidays." (ps, I think it is really rude to presume that I celebrate Christmas, cause I don't! Until you start saying "Eid Mubarak" to me, forget me saying "Merry Christmas" to you. It is a two way street my friend!).

My friend sent me this editorial written by someone at the New York Times, I think it sums up my feelings on the subject pretty well.

>December 18, 2005
>Op-Ed Columnist
>A Challenge for Bill O'Reilly
>By NICHOLAS D. KRISTOF
>
>Let us all pray for Bill O'Reilly.
>
>Let us pray that Mr. O'Reilly will understand that the Christmas spirit
>isn't about hectoring people to say "Merry Christmas," rather than "Happy Holidays," but about helping the needy.
>
>Let us pray that Mr. O'Reilly will use his huge audience and considerable
>media savvy to save lives and fight genocide, instead of to vilify those
>he disagrees with. Let him find inspiration in Jesus, rather than in the
>Assyrians.
>
>Finally, let's pray that Mr. O'Reilly and other money-changers in the
>temple will donate the funds they raise exploiting Christmas - covering
>the nonexistent "War on Christmas" rakes in viewers and advertising - to
>feed the hungry and house the homeless.
Amen.
>
>Alas, not all prayers can be answered. Fox News Channel's crusade against
>infidels who prefer generic expressions like "Happy Holidays" included 58
>separate segments in just a five-day period.
>
>After I suggested in last Sunday's column that a better way to honor the
>season might be to stand up to genocide in Darfur (a calamity that Mr.
>O'Reilly has ignored), Mr. O'Reilly denounced me on his show as a
>"left-wing ideologue." Bless you, Mr. O'Reilly, and Merry Christmas to
>you, too!
>
>Later in the show, Mr. O'Reilly described us print journalists in general
>as "a bunch of vicious S.O.B.'s." Bless you again, Mr. O'Reilly; I'll pray
>harder for the Christmas spirit to soften your pugnacious soul.
>
>Look, I put up a "Christmas tree," rather than a "holiday tree," and I'm
>sure Mr. O'Reilly is right that political correctness leads to absurd
>contortions this time of year. But when you've seen what real war does,
>you don't lightly use the word to describe disagreements about Christmas
>greetings. And does it really make sense to offer 58 segments on political
>correctness and zero on genocide?
>
>Perhaps I'm particularly sensitive to religious hypocrites because I've
>spent a chunk of time abroad watching Muslim versions of Mr. O'Reilly -
>demagogic table-thumpers who exploit public religiosity as a cynical ploy
>to gain attention and money. And I always tell moderate Muslims that they
>need to stand up to blustery blowhards - so today, I'm taking my own
>advice.
>
>Like the fundamentalist Islamic preachers, Mr. O'Reilly is a talented
>showman, and my sense is that his ranting is a calculated performance. The
>couple of times I've been on his show, he was mild mannered and amiable
>until the camera light went on - and then he burst into aggrieved
>indignation, because he knew it made good theater.
>
>If Mr. O'Reilly wants to find a Christmas cause, he should invite guests
>from Catholic Relief Services, World Vision or the National Association of
>Evangelicals - among the many faith-based organizations that are doing
>heroic work battling everything from river blindness to sex trafficking.
>Indeed, the real victims of Mr. O'Reilly are the authentic religious
>conservatives, because some viewers falsely assume that ill-informed
>bombast characterizes the entire religious right.
>
>(I'm tempted to think that Mr. O'Reilly is actually a liberal plant, meant
>to discredit conservatives. Think about it. Who would be a better plant
>than a self-righteous bully in the style of Father Coughlin or Joe
>McCarthy? What better way to caricature the right than by having Mr.
>O'Reilly urge on air that the staff of Air America be imprisoned:
>"Dissent, fine; undermining, you're a traitor. Got it? So, all those
>clowns over at the liberal radio network, we could incarcerate them
>immediately. Will you have that done, please? Send over the F.B.I. and
>just put them in chains, because they, you know, they're undermining
>everything.")
>
>Some authentic religious conservatives are embarrassed by television
>phonies. Cal Thomas, the conservative Christian columnist, warned: "The
>effort by some cable TV hosts and ministers to force commercial
>establishments into wishing everyone a 'Merry Christmas' might be more
>objectionable to the One who is the reason for the season than the 'Happy
>Holidays' mantra required by some store managers."
>
>So I have a challenge for Mr. O'Reilly: If you really want to defend
>traditional values, then come with me on a trip to Darfur. I'll introduce
>you to mothers who have had their babies clubbed to death in front of
>them, to teenage girls who have been gang-raped and then mutilated - and
>to the government-armed thugs who do these things.
>
>You'll have to leave your studio, Bill. You'll encounter pure evil. If
>you're like me, you'll be scared. If you try to bully some of the goons in
>Darfur, they'll just hack your head off. But you'll also meet some genuine
>conservative Christians - aid workers who live the Gospel instead of
>sputtering about it - and you'll finally be using your talents for an
>important cause.
>
>So, Bill, what'll it be? Will you dare travel to a real war against
>Christmas values, in which the victims aren't offended shoppers but
>terrified children thrown on bonfires? I'm waiting to hear.