Political Correctness?

With the holiday season fast approaching, there's a concept that's on my mind during this part of the year more than ever: "political correctness." This is defined as: "avoidance of expressions or actions that can be perceived to exclude or marginalize or insult people who are socially disadvantaged or discriminated against." Why the holiday season tends to bring this thought up in my mind more than ever is because of the conflict between "Merry Christmas" and "Happy Holidays," etc. etc. Right now I have mixed feelings on the matter, and I thought it might be an interesting topic to pose for discussion. How much should the media be allowed to say regarding the Christian Christmas message, versus the holiday season as a whole...? And is the media's hesitation to embrace the true meaning of Christmas changing the public concept of the true meaning of Christmas?

Just food for thought.

Here is how I see it. People take out the "religion" of Holidays. Christmas and Easter for example. The changes to holidays seem to follow the common theme of "how can this Holiday serve me?" If you think about it, even Halloween had "religion" taken out of it. It was in fact, a Satanic holiday that is now about getting candy. Interestingly enough, Thanksgiving, devoid of religion as it is, hasn't been touched in the way other holidays have. I suppose there is some "political correctness" about having holidays without religion. It is indeed an interesting thought. In fact I was discussing this with my Middle School Youth Pastor, Andy, earlier this evening...

IzNotSpontaneous wrote:Here is how I see it. People take out the "religion" of Holidays. Christmas and Easter for example. The changes to holidays seem to follow the common theme of "how can this Holiday serve me?" If you think about it, even Halloween had "religion" taken out of it. It was in fact, a Satanic holiday that is now about getting candy. Interestingly enough, Thanksgiving, devoid of religion as it is, hasn't been touched in the way other holidays have. I suppose there is some "political correctness" about having holidays without religion. It is indeed an interesting thought. In fact I was discussing this with my Middle School Youth Pastor, Andy, earlier this evening...

Okay, first. "Happy Holidays," however cheesy it may sound, is not taking the religion out of Christmas. It is merely addressing the fact that some people do not celebrate Christmas (i.e. Jews, Muslims). It is a generally universal phenomenon among religions to have some kind of celebration at the end of the year, but they all have different reasons to do so. Should these peoples' religions be marginalized by a cultural generalization?

Second, from what I know, Halloween was not a Satanic Holiday. It arose from being the day before Saint's Day (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halloween#Origin_of_name) and started as a Christian celebration of souls in Purgatory. The "occult" imagery was actually added later on, when Saint's Day became less celebrated and Halloween was mixed with harvest festivals.

Oh, and as for the media? I think it is very clear that the media in America is dominated by Newscorp (Wall Street Journal, Fox News, Limbaugh, etc.) and as such tends to have a very conservative Christian bias. Personally, I think the media could be a little less close-minded towards other religious beliefs and ethnic groups.

Jon wrote:

IzNotSpontaneous wrote:Here is how I see it. People take out the "religion" of Holidays. Christmas and Easter for example. The changes to holidays seem to follow the common theme of "how can this Holiday serve me?" If you think about it, even Halloween had "religion" taken out of it. It was in fact, a Satanic holiday that is now about getting candy. Interestingly enough, Thanksgiving, devoid of religion as it is, hasn't been touched in the way other holidays have. I suppose there is some "political correctness" about having holidays without religion. It is indeed an interesting thought. In fact I was discussing this with my Middle School Youth Pastor, Andy, earlier this evening...

Okay, first. "Happy Holidays," however cheesy it may sound, is not taking the religion out of Christmas. It is merely addressing the fact that some people do not celebrate Christmas (i.e. Jews, Muslims). It is a generally universal phenomenon among religions to have some kind of celebration at the end of the year, but they all have different reasons to do so. Should these peoples' religions be marginalized by a cultural generalization?

Second, from what I know, Halloween was not a Satanic Holiday. It arose from being the day before Saint's Day (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Halloween#Origin_of_name) and started as a Christian celebration of souls in Purgatory. The "occult" imagery was actually added later on, when Saint's Day became less celebrated and Halloween was mixed with harvest festivals.

Oh, and as for the media? I think it is very clear that the media in America is dominated by Newscorp (Wall Street Journal, Fox News, Limbaugh, etc.) and as such tends to have a very conservative Christian bias. Personally, I think the media could be a little less close-minded towards other religious beliefs and ethnic groups.

First, I wasn't referencing the term "happy holidays" as taking religion out of holidays.

second, Halloween was a celebration of witchcraft and sorcery. I don't exactly know its origin, but at one point, it was to celebrate evil spriits

GoodUsername wrote:With the holiday season fast approaching, there's a concept that's on my mind during this part of the year more than ever: "political correctness." This is defined as: "avoidance of expressions or actions that can be perceived to exclude or marginalize or insult people who are socially disadvantaged or discriminated against." Why the holiday season tends to bring this thought up in my mind more than ever is because of the conflict between "Merry Christmas" and "Happy Holidays," etc. etc. Right now I have mixed feelings on the matter, and I thought it might be an interesting topic to pose for discussion. How much should the media be allowed to say regarding the Christian Christmas message, versus the holiday season as a whole...? And is the media's hesitation to embrace the true meaning of Christmas changing the public concept of the true meaning of Christmas?

Just food for thought.

I believe that such a generalization is nigh-unecessary. Christmas has (unfortunately) become so generalized that many celebrate as just a generic holiday of gift giving. I think that saying "merry christmas" and such in schools is fine, just so long as it is not blatantly associated with CHristian imagery (which borders into a state endorsement of one religion over others).

Schools can now officially celebrate Christmas (As long as there are no religious symbols).

That's what my mom read anyway.

So schools can have Christmas parties? Can they also have Hanukkah parties???

GoodUsername wrote:So schools can have Christmas parties? Can they also have Hanukkah parties???

Well, I'm not sure about "Parties". I'm not sure about Hanukkah parties either.

Sorry for not giving an answer.

Ah, it's fine. Just out of curiosity. Do you know where your mom read it?

I can't be sure, but probably in the newspaper.