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Interesting perspective on religion and political correctness in North America

Djamila

Bosnjakinja
North American news agencies have been covering stories about political correctness during this Christmas season, as I'm sure you're all aware.

Happy Holidays versus Merry Christmas, and all that.

One story on CNN Europe, though, I found especially interesting!

It was a summary of the coverage in Canada versus the United States. They made several interesting points, the main being that Canadian news agencies seem intent on portraying the problem as a backwards, American phenomenon that's making its way into Canada.

But that's silly - the main point was this.

Canadian stories often mention something American stories leave out. I don't even know if it's true in America, but they showed a clip from Canadian news that included this segment on the end of a story about a local business taking down it's "Merry Christmas!" sign:

The journalist/narrator added at the end, "What's unclear is exactly who such business owners are trying not to offend. No complaint has ever been received about "Merry Christmas" in Canada, and representatives from several religious groups told us it's a mute problem."

They interviewed the female head of Canada's Islamic organization who said, "It's a North American problem, really. We certainly have no problem with it. I really can't understand why this debate exists. If someone wishes me a Merry Christmas, I'll smile and wish them a Merry Christmas right back. I've never met anyone who feels any other way."

They went on to say that American media rarely interviews leaders of the country's non-Christian religious sects and seem to be sensationalizing a problem that doesn't exist. They interviewed experts saying it's part of a long-held Republican strategy to motivate Christian voters in favor of their party.

What do you think of it all?
 

Valjean

Veteran Member
Premium Member
I think this issue peaked a year or two ago here in the US. This season many retailers that had previously generalized their holiday greetings have gone back to "Merry Christmas".
There doesn't seem to be much backlash against it.
 

Radio Frequency X

World Leader Pretend
Djamila said:
They went on to say that American media rarely interviews leaders of the country's non-Christian religious sects and seem to be sensationalizing a problem that doesn't exist. They interviewed experts saying it's part of a long-held Republican strategy to motivate Christian voters in favor of their party.

What do you think of it all?

In America, atheists, secularists, and minority religions (non-Christians) are forced to deal with the Overriding Christian culture and politics. This has created a backlash against Christian culture, including a "war on Christmas". Companies afraid of lawsuits have tried to stop using phrases or language that refers to Christianity. So, there really is a culture war going on in America. But, everyone is to blame here and some companies, like Walmart, have gone back to a more Christian friendly atmosphere (as they are more worried about losing Christian shoppers than getting sued).
 

Bishka

Veteran Member
Radio Frequency X said:
In America, atheists, secularists, and minority religions (non-Christians) are forced to deal with the Overriding Christian culture and politics. This has created a backlash against Christian culture, including a "war on Christmas". Companies afraid of lawsuits have tried to stop using phrases or language that refers to Christianity. So, there really is a culture war going on in America. But, everyone is to blame here and some companies, like Walmart, have gone back to a more Christian friendly atmosphere (as they are more worried about losing Christian shoppers than getting sued).

This reminds me of an experience I recently had at work; right before Christmas.

I work at a call center taking order from people who would like to by our products. It's actually a very simple job, and quite fun. A couple days before Christmas I was taking calls and wishing most people either "Happy Holidays," "Merry Christmas," or both. Most of the time it was the latter.

One lady I was talking to, was from the Bible belt (cannot pinpoint exactly where), and was very friendly and kind. After the main meat of the call was over, I asked her if there was anything that else that I could do for her and then I said, "Merry Christmas." Her reaction was one that I wasn't quite expecting.

The following is the best recreation of that conversation I have:

"Merry Christmas." (ME)

"Oh, I'm so glad you said Merry Christmas!" (HER)

"Really?" (ME)

"Yes, it's so much better then Happy Holidays. You know, I won't shop anywhere that says Happy Holidays, because I believe in Christ, and these companies are waging a 'war on Christmas'. I'm glad you said Merry Christmas, and I will continue to buy from you. God Bless." (HER)

"Ok. Bye." (ME)


Another experience I've lately with this supposed 'war on Christmas' was actually at my annual work party. Frank L. Vandersloot is the CEO and founder of the company and was speaking at our work Christmas party to about 4,000 people.

He spent a half-and hour talking about the birth of Christ and how this 'war on Christmas' and Christians has gone on long enough.

There were two issues that I had with this

1) There isn't a 'war on Christians' nor a 'war on Christmas'. It's their perceived notion of the supposed injustices they feel when people actually tolerate and acknowledge other holidays.

2)He is LDS, and assumes that everyone there was LDS, which is not the case. During his 'speech', I saw several people get up and walk away. The whole speech bugged me, it was almost if he was trying to get the Christians to play martyrs.
 

Pah

Uber all member
One of the most certain ways to increase the strength of a movement is to fabricate an enemy or to complain about what that "enemy" does. It also smaks of insecurity in the movement and in the followers
 
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