This has probably been done before, but not by me. So here we go.
Christmas is a Christian holiday (despite how it’s been turned into a secular feeding frenzy at the mall). Therefore, it shouldn’t be set aside differently than any other religious holiday and should be rescinded as a national holiday in the United States. Separation of church and state and all that.
Anyone disagree?
Yes.
Okay, why?
The argument here seems rather dry and abstract. Make a case that Christmas’ designation as a holiday is some sort of massive affront, or oppresses a portion of the population in some way, and maybe I’ll get on board.
Me, I’m an athiest, but I celebrate Christmas and enjoy the time off, so what’s the problem?
Same here. I wouldn’t mind celebrating *more * religious holidays if it meant more paid leave from work.
It could be argued that making a Christmas a national holiday represents a state endorsement of Christianity…in fact, let’s be honest, that’s exactly what the state is doing. However, the holiday is so firmly established and has become so secularized that it probably wouldn’t be practical to rescind it. If anything, we should just change the language of the official documents and legislation so as not to call it “Christmas” (call it the “Winter Festival” or something). Remove any specifically Christian connotations in the official language, make it a general holiday for everyone and anyone who wants to attach religious significance to the day is free to do so. That’s how it already works in practice anyway. Hell, Christmas was never even Christian to begin with. Christians hijacked someone else’s holiday. That doesn’t mean they own it.
Look, with Christmas exactly one week before New Years I’m able to take over a week off work by only using 4 vacation days. I say we keep it.
I’ve got no problem with it being renamed. Call it the Winter Festival. Call it “The Day Before Boxing Day.” I’d still call it Christmas. Works for me.
As for taking it away as a holiday? No thanks. It belongs to me, an atheist, as much as it belongs to Christians.
If you cancelled it, so many people would take sick days on Dec 25 anyway that the economy would grind toi a halt - in fact, I predict most companies would declare it a holiday anyway, just because they’d know that it would be a waste of time to even open the doors. You can’t go against the will of the people, especially if what the people want is a vacation.
Facr it: you live in a Christian country. I’ve lived in the U.S., I’m not a Christian, and I never had any illusions about the religion and the culture (two largely interchangeable terms) of the land I was in.
Perhaps.
But then again, perhaps not.
Andrew Sullivan linked to this last year- as Artie Johnson would say “vedddy interestink!”
And my take on the OP- “Hell, no! If so, I wan’t Martin Luther King Jr. Day to be renamed Civil Rights Day.”
I WANT it, too! :smack: 
Christmas is now celebrated as much – if not more – about Santa Claus than it is about Jesus. I don’t think Santa Claus in his current incarnation is a religious figure, regardless of his origins.
That doesn’t make any sense. How is that in any way comparable?
The linked article is nonsense, but that’s a different debate.
What’s religious about MLK day?
I think that such a move would go far beyond what separation of church and state entails. There is no reasonable way that declaring Christmas to be a national holiday amounts to the establishment of a religion. If anything, it is a practical concession to the people, since the overwhelming majority of them do choose to celebrate this occasion – whether for religious or non-religious reasons. As a result, the state has a vested interest in giving people this day off, regardless of the people’s intent in celebrating it.
I don’t know what problem people seem to have with the actual word “Christmas”. Maybe it’s the name “Christ” in there?
What good would calling it the winter festivus do, except infuriate the 85% or so of the country that is christian?
I’m an atheist and I like the holiday. I consider it a secular holiday already. Santa Claus, shopping, christmas trees, candy canes and such are all Christmas themed but not religious themed.
Nahhhh…it’s a practical concession to the nation’s retailers. Xmas gift-giving is a vital part of the country’s end-of-year economy, so it could be argued that what’s good for Santa is good for America.
Agreed. But, the ACLU and the wacko secularist left stopped being reasonable a long time ago.
The Establishment Clause prohibits the government from endorsing one religion over another. The stae is not allowed to say that Christianity is true (or not true) and is not allowed to grant special rights to Christians that it doesn’t grant to other religious groups.
The majority is meaningless when it comes to establishment. Protecting the minority from the majority is the point of the 1st Amendment.
You need to do some research on the meaning of the Esablishment Clause. You seem to have a very shallow understanding of what it means.
Where is this “whacko, secularist left,” by the way? I’ve never seen it but I’d like to join. Most of the leftists I know are theists.