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Do you agree with Ben Stein's unique Christmas perspective?

Do you agree with Ben Stein's unique Christmas perspective?

  • Im a right leaning American, yes.

    Votes: 8 33.3%

  • Im a left leaning American, yes.

    Votes: 5 20.8%

  • Im not American, yes.

    Votes: 1 4.2%

  • Im a right leaning American, no.

    Votes: 3 12.5%

  • Im a left leaning American, no.

    Votes: 6 25.0%

  • Im not American, no.

    Votes: 1 4.2%
  • Total voters
    24
Redress said:
Um, what do you call it when the dead come back to life? Yeah, zombies.

And you don't have to beleive in much of anything to enjoy giving gifts to friends and family, enjoy spending a day with all the family, and so on. That more than anything is what modern christmas is.
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Good grief, that is soooooo lame. And libs wonder why Christians get upset. Is it really necessary to insult us in the course of explaining how Christmas is a secular celebration for you? :roll:
 
countryboy said:
Good grief, that is soooooo lame. And libs wonder why Christians get upset. Is it really necessary to insult us in the course of explaining how Christmas is a secular celebration for you? :roll:
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I am not insulting you. I am describing a literal belief.
 
Amadeus said:
Christmas was derived from Saturnalia, a pagan celebration during the Winter Solstice in which gifts were exchanged. When Rome converted to Christianity, Jesus' birthday was moved to December 25 and the celebration became Christmas.
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So what? We don't know what day Jesus was born, they didn't keep very good records of which working stiff was born on which stable on which day back then. So someone chose a day that they already celebrated and for lack of a better idea, decided to celebrate it then. I don't get what the big deal is.
 
TheDemSocialist said:
Awhhh man showing that his own words go against a major part of this rant is "Marxist". Wahh, wahhh.
I forget anything that goes against your points in any given thread is "Marxist".


What that it makes a lot of people feel warm and fuzzy inside?
Sure. I celebrate it. Im an atheist, but I dont celebrate it for the "birth of Christ". I celebrate it because its an excuse to bring my family together, my extended family together. I celebrate it because I was always raised to celebrate it. Was that the point?
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You have just demonstrated that despite your marxist anti-consumerism you get it-Christmas is generally a good thing and worth celebrating. You are an atheist commie and you get it. Stein gets it. Merry Christmas, btw.
 
US Conservative said:
:doh ok. Look, Merry Christmas ok?
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Merry Christmas! Also, I accept your capitulation. This gets easier with every topic you seem to be incapable of addressing on an intellectual level.

PS: Because I'm feeling in the Christmas spirit, I'll make it easy for you: Is it politically incorrect to embrace a position contrary to those held by the majority?
 
SouthernDemocrat said:
Perhaps because when someone says Happy Holidays they are including New Years in with it. That is how everyone took those phrases until the religious right bunch wanted to gin up yet another opportunity to somehow play the victim.
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Or Hanukkah. And happy holidays does not predate merry christmas, or some variation of it. Whos the side trying to remove it from common usage? Hint-its not the folks celebrating it.
 
I am an atheist, I just like the tree, the lights and the festive meals. I do not believe in gods so for that reason alone I do not agree with his xmas perspective.
 
rocket88 said:
So what? We don't know what day Jesus was born, they didn't keep very good records of which working stiff was born on which stable on which day back then. So someone chose a day that they already celebrated and for lack of a better idea, decided to celebrate it then. I don't get what the big deal is.
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We don't know what day Jesus was born, but we know he definitely wasn't born on December 25. He was likely born in either late spring or early fall.
 
Redress said:
Um, what do you call it when the dead come back to life? Yeah, zombies.
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Zombies are still dead, only reanimated. That's why all the "ugggghhhh" and "brainzzz" nonsense. Apparently being dead is murder on your cognitive abilities.

You suffer any death recently you're aware of there, Redress? :2razz:
 
Amadeus said:
Christmas was derived from Saturnalia, a pagan celebration during the Winter Solstice in which gifts were exchanged. When Rome converted to Christianity, Jesus' birthday was moved to December 25 and the celebration became Christmas.
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And yet it wasn't about gifts, the gifts were just a part of the religious celebration. BTW, though Im not religous, my dads side is Eastern Orthodox so we celebrate "American" Christmas in December and the religious version happens in January.
 
Amadeus said:
We don't know what day Jesus was born, but we know he definitely wasn't born on December 25. He was likely born in either late spring or early fall.
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Get back to us when you actually have a relevant point. Thanks. :)
 
US Conservative said:
You have just demonstrated that despite your marxist anti-consumerism you get it-Christmas is generally a good thing and worth celebrating. You are an atheist commie and you get it. Stein gets it. Merry Christmas, btw.
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Where did I ever say "Christmas is bad"?
 
rocket88 said:
He seems to choose the materialistic aspect of the holidays over the religious significance. Why do you see that as a good thing?

He said it right there the gentiles had cooler parties and he felt left out, but doesn't really care for the whole "Christ" part.
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I posted the text of his comments in the OP, but here they are again. And I noticed very few lefties have substantively touched on it...

But I love Christmas for much more basic reasons. Christmas is about something huge. You can be saved if you simply make a contract to believe in God and (some add) if you act right. It has nothing to do with how you were born or into what tribe.

This is a revolutionary, stupendous freeing of the human spirit. This is why Christmas is such a joyous time for people, whether Jews or Christians, or anyone else, who want to believe that we humans can be forgiven and go on to lead lives of triumph no matter what has happened in our past.

That, and not shopping at all, not the retail numbers, is why Christmas is such a great time.

The lights are nice and the tree is nice and the shopping is nice. But a dominant culture that says that love and peace are the highest values -- that's what I want to honor.
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US Conservative said:
And yet it wasn't about gifts, the gifts were just a part of the religious celebration. BTW, though Im not religous, my dads side is Eastern Orthodox so we celebrate "American" Christmas in December and the religious version happens in January.
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Sorry. I'll correct myself. It wasn't just about gifts, it was about paying homage to a pagan god (Zeus' father), about freeing slaves (temporarily), and also about orgies and debauchery.

I say we should at least bring back the orgies.
 
US Conservative said:
Or Hanukkah. And happy holidays does not predate merry christmas, or some variation of it. Whos the side trying to remove it from common usage? Hint-its not the folks celebrating it.
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Are you kidding? It's the right wingers that are the ones complaining about greeters and cashiers and so on using Happy Holidays instead of Merry Christmas. They say its part of the "the war against Christmas" and the "secularizing of Christmas". Personally I always say Merry Christmas - more out of habit than anything else, but it doesn't bother me when someone uses one of the more secular greetings either.
 
Hatuey said:
Merry Christmas! Also, I accept your capitulation. This gets easier with every topic you seem to be incapable of addressing on an intellectual level.

PS: Because I'm feeling in the Christmas spirit, I'll make it easy for you: Is it politically incorrect to embrace a position contrary to those held by the majority?
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No capitulation. Its just my early Christmas present to myself is not getting into the weeds with you.
600x470-Christmas-Tree-Nature1024-226431.jpg
 
images (5).jpg

Tree goes up ... Santa goes down ...
...You can't explain that..
 
Peter King said:
I am an atheist, I just like the tree, the lights and the festive meals. I do not believe in gods so for that reason alone I do not agree with his xmas perspective.
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Fair enough but its interesting that you still enjoy aspects of the holiday. Do you spend time with family and friends while they celebrate?
 
SouthernDemocrat said:
Are you kidding? It's the right wingers that are the ones complaining about greeters and cashiers and so on using Happy Holidays instead of Merry Christmas. They say its part of the "the war against Christmas" and the "secularizing of Christmas". Personally I always say Merry Christmas - more out of habit than anything else, but it doesn't bother me when someone uses one of the more secular greetings either.
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I don't think the beef was with cashiers saying "Happy Holidays", it is when company policy forbids the use of "Merry Christmas".
 
US Conservative said:
And on that note if a muslim or anyone else wished me a joyous holiday I wouldn't be offended in the least.
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Nor would I. I actually tell my black coworkers and friends Happy Kawnza and they either laugh or look at me in amazement.. Oh and not one of them actually celebrates it! What's really fun is asking them how are they celebrating White History Month with a straight face..:shock:
 
countryboy said:
I don't think the beef was with cashiers saying "Happy Holidays", it is when company policy forbids the use of "Merry Christmas".
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It's a private company, they have the right to enforce whatever customer communications policy they want. What difference does it make? Mind you, I don't understand why some non-Christians care so much about whether some small town courthouse lawn has a manger scene in it either. In both cases it just seems like people looking for something to whine about.
 
countryboy said:
I don't think the beef was with cashiers saying "Happy Holidays", it is when company policy forbids the use of "Merry Christmas".
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Companies can do whatever they want. They're people. And if they're in the business of selling goods, maybe it's actually good policy to use 'Happy Holidays' since many of their customers are not Christian. Happy Holidays is a safe, customer-friendly greetng.

Is that point good enough for you?
 
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