Read part one first.
Firstly, I can't stress enough that Christmas is not synonymous with Christianity. Jesus was not even born on Christmas day, in fact he was born sometime in September. The birthday that is actually being celebrated is the birthday of the sun god Yeshua the Messiah. worshipped by millions throughout the Roman Empire, around 270 AD.
The Christmas Tree was idea brought on by Pagans. For pagan Egyptians the palm tree was used and for Roman Pagans it was the fir. The trees represented the Pagan Messiah. The story is that the mother of the Sun-God was said to have been changed into a tree (for reasons, I don't know), and when in that state she supposedly brought forth her divine son. The son was recognized as the 'Man the branch', which is where the yule log comes from.
So Christians adopted these traditions. That does not mean Christmas is equal to Christianity. I am not Christian, but i still set up a Christmas tree, I still give gifts, I still donate ten times more than I would any other time of the year.
Christmas is not just about religion. It is about happiness, helping out your fellow man, peace on Earth. If It represents Christianity for you, great. If It represents a really great holiday, shout it out. If you want to say "Happy Kwanzaa", because that is what you celebrate. Go right ahead. If your atheist and you think "Happy Holidays" is appropriate, wish people a happy fucking holiday. All of these terms are correct, depending on who you are. We shouldn't be told that only one of these is polite to say. We shouldn't all of a sudden stop putting up the Christmas tree in the center of town and take down the decorations in the street. The spirit of Christmas is important, it makes people want to give, to want to help, want to celebrate and have fun. These are good things.
Words are a powerful thing. When I think of Holiday I think of time off, maybe boarding a plane and staying in mexico, going to DisneyLand, or maybe staying home and getting things done I've been putting off.
When I think of Christmas I think of how Happy my brother is going to be when I give him his gift, I think of Tylar's annual Christmas party and how they except me to come every year, like I am family. It reminds me of volunteering at the mall to raise money for the Salvation army. I think of the shoe box me and my mom stuff with toys, to send out to less fortunate kids. It makes me think of the time I'm going to spend with my family this year, and that great sense of joy when I know I found the perfect gift for my mom. The idea of Christmas is Unity and Peace on Earth. A holiday, is just a holiday. It's a more selfish word than Christmas.
The idea that such a word offends people, is ridiculous to me. Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, Yule, it all means the same: Giving and happiness, and it should all be said, whenever by whoever.
I feel like Atheism in the new Jehovah Witness. Just leave well enough alone and let people imply what they celebrate or believe, proudly.
Sunday, November 27, 2011
This is why I avoid arguments. It is so frustrating.
This is the argument.
Aaron Francesco Lamacchia no one is saying that you cannot say merry christmas. The issue is that our government is secular, and christmas is a christian holiday. And our government is taking the right and reasonable choice of taking it away from our public institutions as our public institutions are atheist, and should not favor one religion over another. If we have christmas holidays in school, then we should have ramadan holidays in school as one is just as reasonable as the other. Celebrate and worship whatever you want, just stay the fuck out of my government.
20 hours ago · Like · 4
Aaron Francesco Lamacchia And this whole idea that if you "hate our customs then leave," is racist, bigoted and a shelter for small minded moronic cunts. You know what other countries think like that, Iran, North Korea, China, and Nazi Germany. We are Canadians, we are making a country work that has dozens of ethnicities, religions, and languages. All of our relatives are immigrants, whether you came over from Asia during the last ice age, or a wooden ship in the 1500's. And as Canadians we should be able to make the hard and noble choice to accept other cultures and make it easier for immigrants to be feel accepted in a new land. Only a few countries around the world are able to do this, instead of lamenting our accepting and accomadating culture, maybe be proud of it, as we are one of the few with the balls to do it. So Happy Holidays you morons.
20 hours ago · Like · 3
Ali C Aaron, you're my fucking hero. Just sayin'
20 hours ago · Like
Taylor Kyle Calderwood Well this status is getting more attention then I usually get I should do reposts more often :P
19 hours ago · Like
Ali C *facepalm* Boy, you were born stupid and you've been losing ground ever since.
19 hours ago · Like · 2
Lindsay Arlene Lena Epp-Nichols Mine got a lot of attention too haha and now everyone thinks I'm an angry person :/
12 hours ago · Like
Ali C Well, either an angry person or a racist bigot, take your pick.
12 hours ago · Like
Lindsay Arlene Lena Epp-Nichols Um, Angry person. Haha. Though overall I prefer 'Rightfully opinionated
12 hours ago · Like
Ali C Yeah, Racist it is.
11 hours ago · Like
Thomas Irwin actually.. most of those country's would just kill you if you hated their customs. Asking them to leave is much more progressive. realistically we're canadian. We'll bitch and whine and cry about it, but when it comes right down to it we won't force you to do anything. In fact. We'll probably make a law that gives you the right to do whatever we dislike you doing. But thats cool because we'd rather accomodate the latest and greatest Sociological fad instead of sticking to our guns because its more PC. We're not an accomodating culture. We're a Politically correct Fad waiting to happen.
11 hours ago · Unlike · 1
Lindsay Arlene Lena Epp-Nichols ohhh name calling online, how big of you, random person I have never met, who knows very, very little about me. You see me as racist because I believe people should be able to imply what they believe or celebrate at any place at any time. Because I dream of a world where people can say "Merry Christmas", "Happy Hanukkah", "Happy Kwanzaa" or whatever the fuck. I dislike the idea of people forcing their religion down other peoples throats or constantly voicing it, but saying "Merry Christmas"? Big fucking deal.
I have more atheist friends than I can count that set up a Christmas tree (which was invented by PAGAN's BTW), give and receive gifts and say "Merry Christmas". It isn't a big deal and shouldn't be treated as one. Christmas is no longer, and never really was, exclusive to Christians.
The World should be working on tolerance and acceptance, instead of working so hard to please those who won't tolerate and won't accept.
Everyone should be able to show who they are. Wherever.
11 hours ago · Like · 1
Ali C Sorry, couldnt hear you, try taking your klan hood off before speaking.
11 hours ago · Like
Lindsay Arlene Lena Epp-Nichols Actually, you probably can't hear me, cause I'm typing to you. 'Reading' is the idea here.
Aaron Francesco Lamacchia Again no one is taking away your right to your traditions and customs, or your right to say merry Christmas. The issue is with the government support of religious holidays. Of our 10 stat holidays, 3 are Christian, Easter Monday, Good Friday, and Christmas. We have zero stat holidays for any other religion.
In Canada, religion and state are two separate entities, the government should not be allowed to support any religion. And when the government, say...puts up a giant Christmas tree in the middle of town with tax payer money, that's support. Essentially what is happening is the government is forcing everyone who does not believe in that particular brand of bullshit to help foot the bill for your celebration. Which is not right, just to clarify.
Say merry Christmas to everyone, no one cares and no one will stop you. Call it a Christmas tree, who gives a crap. But do not think that you are any one else has the right to force your holidays on our government.
And lindsay, you state that you dream of a world of tolerance, yet you post something that specifically says, "Well.... If you don't like our "Customs" and it offends you so much, then LEAVE.... I will help you pack." That's hardly tolerating and accepting someone. Someone who simply doesn't want to use his money to support your religious holidays.
Christmas trees were not pagan, they were a German tradition and Germans were Christian. And Christmas is a christian holiday, and was very exclusive to Christians. Only recently has it been watered down to a consumer holiday, celebrated by the majority.
And Thomas my response to you was in 2003 Rajinder Atwal was convicted and given a life sentence for killing his 17 year old daughter because she was dating a friend. Its called an honor killing, and its widely practiced in pakistan, and to a much lesser extent India. Last time I checked there is no Canadian law allowing honor killing on Canadian soil. The supreme court just upheld a ban on polygamy, specifically under-age and forced marriage, which is common in fundamental Mormonism, and in India Islamic men are allowed multiple wives. So i would hardly say we pass laws to protect the shit we hate.
4 hours ago · Like · 2
Lindsay Arlene Lena Epp-Nichols You have your opinion, I have mine. Let's agree to disagree and stop spamming Taylor's status.
52 minutes ago · Like
Lindsay Arlene Lena Epp-Nichols One thing though. I Do agree that "Well.... If you don't like our "Customs" and it offends you so much, then LEAVE.... I will help you pack." is offensive. People can like or dislike whatever they want. That part I regret not cutting out of mine. It's hateful and not right.
Aaron Francesco Lamacchia no one is saying that you cannot say merry christmas. The issue is that our government is secular, and christmas is a christian holiday. And our government is taking the right and reasonable choice of taking it away from our public institutions as our public institutions are atheist, and should not favor one religion over another. If we have christmas holidays in school, then we should have ramadan holidays in school as one is just as reasonable as the other. Celebrate and worship whatever you want, just stay the fuck out of my government.
20 hours ago · Like · 4
Aaron Francesco Lamacchia And this whole idea that if you "hate our customs then leave," is racist, bigoted and a shelter for small minded moronic cunts. You know what other countries think like that, Iran, North Korea, China, and Nazi Germany. We are Canadians, we are making a country work that has dozens of ethnicities, religions, and languages. All of our relatives are immigrants, whether you came over from Asia during the last ice age, or a wooden ship in the 1500's. And as Canadians we should be able to make the hard and noble choice to accept other cultures and make it easier for immigrants to be feel accepted in a new land. Only a few countries around the world are able to do this, instead of lamenting our accepting and accomadating culture, maybe be proud of it, as we are one of the few with the balls to do it. So Happy Holidays you morons.
20 hours ago · Like · 3
Ali C Aaron, you're my fucking hero. Just sayin'
20 hours ago · Like
Taylor Kyle Calderwood Well this status is getting more attention then I usually get I should do reposts more often :P
19 hours ago · Like
Ali C *facepalm* Boy, you were born stupid and you've been losing ground ever since.
19 hours ago · Like · 2
Lindsay Arlene Lena Epp-Nichols Mine got a lot of attention too haha and now everyone thinks I'm an angry person :/
12 hours ago · Like
Ali C Well, either an angry person or a racist bigot, take your pick.
12 hours ago · Like
Lindsay Arlene Lena Epp-Nichols Um, Angry person. Haha. Though overall I prefer 'Rightfully opinionated
12 hours ago · Like
Ali C Yeah, Racist it is.
11 hours ago · Like
Thomas Irwin actually.. most of those country's would just kill you if you hated their customs. Asking them to leave is much more progressive. realistically we're canadian. We'll bitch and whine and cry about it, but when it comes right down to it we won't force you to do anything. In fact. We'll probably make a law that gives you the right to do whatever we dislike you doing. But thats cool because we'd rather accomodate the latest and greatest Sociological fad instead of sticking to our guns because its more PC. We're not an accomodating culture. We're a Politically correct Fad waiting to happen.
11 hours ago · Unlike · 1
Lindsay Arlene Lena Epp-Nichols ohhh name calling online, how big of you, random person I have never met, who knows very, very little about me. You see me as racist because I believe people should be able to imply what they believe or celebrate at any place at any time. Because I dream of a world where people can say "Merry Christmas", "Happy Hanukkah", "Happy Kwanzaa" or whatever the fuck. I dislike the idea of people forcing their religion down other peoples throats or constantly voicing it, but saying "Merry Christmas"? Big fucking deal.
I have more atheist friends than I can count that set up a Christmas tree (which was invented by PAGAN's BTW), give and receive gifts and say "Merry Christmas". It isn't a big deal and shouldn't be treated as one. Christmas is no longer, and never really was, exclusive to Christians.
The World should be working on tolerance and acceptance, instead of working so hard to please those who won't tolerate and won't accept.
Everyone should be able to show who they are. Wherever.
11 hours ago · Like · 1
Ali C Sorry, couldnt hear you, try taking your klan hood off before speaking.
11 hours ago · Like
Lindsay Arlene Lena Epp-Nichols Actually, you probably can't hear me, cause I'm typing to you. 'Reading' is the idea here.
Aaron Francesco Lamacchia Again no one is taking away your right to your traditions and customs, or your right to say merry Christmas. The issue is with the government support of religious holidays. Of our 10 stat holidays, 3 are Christian, Easter Monday, Good Friday, and Christmas. We have zero stat holidays for any other religion.
In Canada, religion and state are two separate entities, the government should not be allowed to support any religion. And when the government, say...puts up a giant Christmas tree in the middle of town with tax payer money, that's support. Essentially what is happening is the government is forcing everyone who does not believe in that particular brand of bullshit to help foot the bill for your celebration. Which is not right, just to clarify.
Say merry Christmas to everyone, no one cares and no one will stop you. Call it a Christmas tree, who gives a crap. But do not think that you are any one else has the right to force your holidays on our government.
And lindsay, you state that you dream of a world of tolerance, yet you post something that specifically says, "Well.... If you don't like our "Customs" and it offends you so much, then LEAVE.... I will help you pack." That's hardly tolerating and accepting someone. Someone who simply doesn't want to use his money to support your religious holidays.
Christmas trees were not pagan, they were a German tradition and Germans were Christian. And Christmas is a christian holiday, and was very exclusive to Christians. Only recently has it been watered down to a consumer holiday, celebrated by the majority.
And Thomas my response to you was in 2003 Rajinder Atwal was convicted and given a life sentence for killing his 17 year old daughter because she was dating a friend. Its called an honor killing, and its widely practiced in pakistan, and to a much lesser extent India. Last time I checked there is no Canadian law allowing honor killing on Canadian soil. The supreme court just upheld a ban on polygamy, specifically under-age and forced marriage, which is common in fundamental Mormonism, and in India Islamic men are allowed multiple wives. So i would hardly say we pass laws to protect the shit we hate.
4 hours ago · Like · 2
Lindsay Arlene Lena Epp-Nichols You have your opinion, I have mine. Let's agree to disagree and stop spamming Taylor's status.
52 minutes ago · Like
Lindsay Arlene Lena Epp-Nichols One thing though. I Do agree that "Well.... If you don't like our "Customs" and it offends you so much, then LEAVE.... I will help you pack." is offensive. People can like or dislike whatever they want. That part I regret not cutting out of mine. It's hateful and not right.
Wednesday, November 2, 2011
My cat is the cutest, cuddliest kitty in the whole world.
Things I like about today.
That moment, where your a couple days late on your period, and right when your about to pee on a stick, you pull down your panties and there is blood! Glorious, glorious blood. I deeply enjoy not being pregnant. There's just something about not spending a grand to have something killed or sacrificing the rest of your life, that just makes a girl happy.
In other news I smoked pot for the first time in my life. Kyle offered, and to throw Chris off I said yes. Though honestly I always thought my first time would be with Steven.
It was way fucking better than those brownies. Oh gawd those brownies... never again. So anyways, back to pot, it's relaxing for sure, and it makes my head feel heavy. I would probably do it again if offered and in the right mood, but I still wouldn't say it's really my thing. I'm not really a big drinker either. I guess, I just don't like not feeling 100% in control of my body. Also my reaction times are a lot slower when I'm high. OH, and I feel a lot less angry and irritable, which is nice.
This penguin costume is itchy.
I sold my blazer today. 3000$ in my pocket! I do miss it though. It's reliability and it's airplane noises. Byebye blaze. Hope my alcoholic cousin takes good care of you.
That's all for now.
-Lindsay
That moment, where your a couple days late on your period, and right when your about to pee on a stick, you pull down your panties and there is blood! Glorious, glorious blood. I deeply enjoy not being pregnant. There's just something about not spending a grand to have something killed or sacrificing the rest of your life, that just makes a girl happy.
In other news I smoked pot for the first time in my life. Kyle offered, and to throw Chris off I said yes. Though honestly I always thought my first time would be with Steven.
It was way fucking better than those brownies. Oh gawd those brownies... never again. So anyways, back to pot, it's relaxing for sure, and it makes my head feel heavy. I would probably do it again if offered and in the right mood, but I still wouldn't say it's really my thing. I'm not really a big drinker either. I guess, I just don't like not feeling 100% in control of my body. Also my reaction times are a lot slower when I'm high. OH, and I feel a lot less angry and irritable, which is nice.
This penguin costume is itchy.
I sold my blazer today. 3000$ in my pocket! I do miss it though. It's reliability and it's airplane noises. Byebye blaze. Hope my alcoholic cousin takes good care of you.
That's all for now.
-Lindsay
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