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The Majority of Americans Prefer To Be Greeted With 'Merry Christmas' Over 'Happy Holidays', a Poll Finds
"Merry Christmas" is the preferred greeting of a strong majority of Americans. A survey carried in conjunction by news outlet Axios and SurveyMonkey found that 65 percent of the participants wish to be greeted with "Merry Christmas," while 28% prefer "Happy Holidays."
But the minority is willing to use violence , so we are all stuck with the neutered version.
In Soviet Washington the swamp drains you.
I'd prefer to be greeted by being given a hundred dollar bill. I'm not going to expect or demand that it happen.
Conservative snowflakes need to be reminded of Jesus Christ, the Liberal activist? Too bad they don't seem to know anything about his teachings.
"Happy Holidays" was invented because 100% of Americans aren't Christian. But 65%? Congratulations! You just found a percentage of your sample audience that is Christian! Now you just have to ask yourself: Do you support tolerance of others?
Happy holidays is inclusive for everyone, and includes people who don't celebrate Christmas. Merry Christmas is fundamentally exclusionary. I'm Jewish, and I don't care much, but after living in Alabama for a while, I can see why people care. Let me tell a story that's relevant that occurred with a work colleague (who already knew I was Jewish based on earlier conversations) when I was in Alabama (this occurred about December 20th or so last year):
Colleague: So are you going anywhere for Christmas break? Me: Well, for break, I'll be spending time with my family who is going to be in Puerto Rico, and my wife is going back to visit her family back North. Colleague: So you won't be together for Christmas? That's sad! Me: Well, the relevant winter holiday for Jews is Channukah, which isn't a big family holiday for us. The big family holidays are Passover and the Jewish New Year. Colleague: Oh ok, have a Merry Christmas, Me: You too, NAME.
It was like he could not get in his head that someone didn't celebrate Christmas. Given that, it isn't at all surprising that some people find the repeated "Merry Christmas" really uncomfortable.
I have to work tonight, You Insensitive Clod!
and I worked last night (Christmas Eve) as well
The majority of Americans aren't hate-filled malcontents that actively seek opportunities to be offended by nothing little holiday traditions. The majority of Americans know there is nothing in "Merry Christmas" that needs to be fixed and have low regard the shitheels that think there is.
Maw! Fire up the karma burner!
The only reason 'happy holidays' exists is because of people who are triggered by hearing 'merry christmas'. Unless the poll records how many people HATE 'merry christmas', then it won't reveal why 'happy holidays' exists.
Corruption is convincing someone that the selfless ideal is the same as their selfish ideal.
Welcome, newcomers. The tradition of Festivus begins with the airing of grievances. I got a lot of problems with you people! And now you're gonna hear about it!
#DeleteFacebook
First, the poll was of "likely" greetings, not "preferred" ones. Huge difference there.
Second, the poll was of what greetings the respondents used, not received. Even bigger difference.
Humbug!
That would be my preference. But I'm not American, so I don't count. Also, I agree it doesn't exactly run off the tongue.
Frankly, I don’t see anything in that conversation showing that your colleague “could not get in his head that someome didn’t celebrate Christmas”. He heard you, and on his way out, merely wished you an enjoyable day on the day that he calls Christmas Day.
Seasonal greetings are not a reference to you, your culture and your lifestyle. They are a reference to those of the person greeting you (and, typically, of the larger community around you).
For example, on Thanksgiving day, people who were not born in America likely won’t care a bit. Does that mean that it’s not Thanksgiving Day for them? Don’t they have the day off like everyone else? Should we care that they aren’t going to celebrate it? We wish them a happy day, and that day is named Thanksgiving Day. So Happy Thanksgiving everyone!
Same thing for Christmas and any other holiday that’s massively followed by the larger part of the population. There’s nothing oppressive about it, unless one chooses to feel oppressed by it. Conversely, there is something oppressive about telling people that they may not name traditions that their community has long been widely following.
If a Jewish faithful said something like “Happy Hanukkah” to me, I would absolutely find it oppressive on my part to tell him that I feel harassed by it. Personally, I would find his greeting inclusive on his part. I’d feel that he was mostly expressing friendship, while sharing a bit of his faith and culture, in a welcoming way, without trying to force it on me: a greeting is not the same thing as proselytising!
Most people prefer their own religion to the one of other people, especially if they're in the majority.
It's called 'bigotry'.
Sir Isaac Newton was definitely verifiably born on Dec 25, 1642. To be fair, that was under the Julian Calendar, which corresponds to Jan 4 on our calendar, but it's as good a reason for the season as any. (Well, after axial tilt, of course, and orbital eccentricity on certain planets.) Sometimes I get really mixed up and say "Happy Halloween" because, y'know, DEC 25 == OCT 31.
Aside: even ca. 200 AD, people were mostly guessing when Jesus Christ was actually born. The Church picked the date December 25 to align with the Roman celebration of the winter solstice, even though the date was "probably" wrong (and in fact some Eastern churches celebrate Christmas on Dec 25 in non-Gregorian calendars, and they definitely can't all be right), because the point of Christmas is celebrating Jesus's birth (and life, teachings, and death/resurrection^H^H^H^H bad weekend), not getting the exact dates right.
The campaign, dubbed Project Cassandra, was launched in 2008
Obama didn't become President until 2009.
Funny how that article completely glosses over that fact. It's almost like the author might be biased.
I would love to be greeted by a oral sex from every single 20 year old woman that weighs less than 150 lbs. But that is not the issue. What is the issue is how the people that do NOT want to do that feel.
On Dec 24 and Dec 25th, I enjoy being wished a Merry Christmas. It's a great sentiment and I reply the same. So on Dec 24 and on Dec 25th, I wish everyone a Merry Christmas.
But I do not do that on Thanksgiving. Nor do I do it on New Year's Eve. Doing that would be obnoxious. I wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving or a Happy New Year on those days.
Similarly, on Hanuka I wish everyone a Happy Hanuka. It's kind of a dick move to wish someone a Merry Christmas on Dec 13th, the first day of Hannuka.
The rule should be:
If you know someone is christian, or today actually IS Christmas or Christmas Eve, again, wish them a Merry Christmas.
But for all other situations, wish them Happy Holidays, so you don't do force your religion on them.
excitingthingstodo.blogspot.com
A href="https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=xTq20prt0K8">Enjoy.
it mostly came out of government functions. Schools, court buildings, etc. People were 'triggered' because a lot of non Christians get kinda nervous about the cult-like atmosphere of the evangelicals, the fact that many of our closest allies are still theocracies and the thousands of years of recorded history of religion being used in conjuncture with government to oppress.
Through a lot of hard fought battles America became a secular nation, there are those of us who want to keep it that way. And then there are those among us who do not.
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Does your shithole cuntry not have STATUTORY HOLIDAYS???
Jesus Christ.. you're stupid.
Does your shit hole country not have jobs that MUST run 24 hours every day of the year? Most countries do.
prefer to be greeted with:
Boas festas, caralho!
I care enough to comment from the other side of the world and as it's Boxing Day I'm embarking on family roadtrip for summer vacation!
Based on my limited sample size of North American friends on Facebook, several atheists and a Jain are celebrating neo-Pagan winter solstice, a jewish friend, who earlier in the month had posted about Hannukah, has a witty Catmas post but even my Muslim friends from Canada are posting Christmas messages and don't seem that bothered by sectarian divisions.
Just maybe we're living in a post-PC world where peace and goodwill extends to shoving the offensively non-offensive "happy holidays" up your bum! :)
A big shout out to the Palestinians in Bethlehem...
As to "Probably wrong"...
Luke chapter 2 says shepherds were sleeping outside overnight with their flocks when he was born so... yeah, it wasn't likely anywhere near Dec 25 by a large margin.
The fact that nobody even remembered the date makes sense when you consider that Jews and Christians of the first century considered birthdays a pagan custom and would have been somewhat repulsed by the idea. At the time both groups were hated by the Romans for refusing to join into the state religion and culture. Possibly they ignored plenty of Saturnalia and solstice greetings in their day.
But I digress, yeah... probably not Dec 25th.
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The problem is when 1 of the many greetings are forced on ppl. Seriously, back in the 60s, we used both, but probably more merry Christmas. However, the far left started pushing out merry Christmas, then the far right tried to force it on everyone, and finally, the extreme far right runs around screaming that it is all about baby Jesus birth, hates santa, trees, etc and ignores the evidence in the Bible that proves, he was either spring/fall.
I prefer the "u" in honour as it seems to be missing these days.
You should check the Declaration of Independence. The Constitution is the framework for operations, the Declaration of Independence is the reason for the nation to exist. And the Declaration does start off with God and the Creator right in the first two paragraphs. Deism was central to the creation of the US - our rights come from our Creator, not from man or anything else. At least according to the founders.
Browsing at +1 - no ACs, I ignore their posts. So refreshing!
Several of the men known as Founding Fathers were either full on Deists (Thomas Paine, Ben Franklin) or had Deist leanings. The term "Nature's God" from the Declaration of Independence comes from Paine's book on Deism which was widely read at the time. Pastors who knew George Washington described him a significantly influenced by Deism. Thomas Jefferson spent a good amount of time in office cutting out the bible passages he agreed with and pasting them together into what is now known as the Jefferson Bible. John Jay, Samuel Adams, and Patrick Henry were very much hard-line evangelicals but the rest were either full Deists or Christians with Deist beliefs. If the US was really founded as a Christian nation then we wouldn't have constitutional limits on government involvement in religion.
and a Joyous Festivus for the rest of us
Pain is merely failure leaving the body
Bah, humbug, I wasn't logged in and unknowingly posted as an AC. :)
No sorry, I didn't hear : I was too busy celebrating saturnalia~~
In all seriousness, people have been celebrating the period of the year with the shortest days for as long as they've been able to look up in the sky, and notice what a solstice is (provided they've moved far away enough out of the tropical region to actually have an easily observable solstice).
The fact the one specific small group decided to link this time of the year with some mythology about the birth of some dude who eventually ends up getting nailed on some wooden cross is at best a small foot note on the scale of the whole history of Homo sapiens.
"Sufficiently advanced satire is indistinguishable from reality." - [Tips: 1DrYakQDKCQ6y52z6QbnkxHXAocMZJE61o ]
Nice post. Wanted to mod you up but you are maxxed already. It appears that 56% of /. agree with you.
Merry New Year to all, and to all, a good pint!
His ignorance covered the whole earth like a blanket, and there was hardly a hole in it anywhere. - Mark Twain
Luke chapter 2 says shepherds were sleeping outside overnight with their flocks when he was born so... yeah, it wasn't likely anywhere near Dec 25 by a large margin.
I dunno, the interwebs tells me that weather in Bethlehem in December averages around 59 degrees Fahrenheit, with record temperatures of up to 83 degrees -- so it doesn't sound crazy. You live the shepherd life back then, you're probably sleeping outdoors a lot.
Breakfast served all day!
You should check out the Constitution where the only references to religion is:
Article VI, subsection 3
....but no religious Test shall ever be required as a Qualification to any Office or public Trust under the United States.
Amendment 1
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof....
Both of those are explicit prohibitions on government from promoting any given religion over any other.
Or check out the Treaty of Tripoli....
Article 11
As the Government of the United States of America is not, in any sense, founded on the Christian religion.....
The Treaty of Tripoli was signed 10 years after the Constitution, and was passed unanimously by congress. Over half of the members of congress at that time had also signed the Constitutional.
Fascism: An authoritarian and nationalistic right-wing system of government and social organization. See also: NAZI's
Don't forget to paint your yuletree with the blood of a freshly slaughtered pig or Odin may get pissed.
Does your shit hole country not have a dictionary that DESCRIBES the meaning of the phrase? Most countries do.
PS stop being an idiot asshole during the holidays - and that doesn't mean you _have_ to be on a holiday. Some people...
....is a holiday that has a focus on peace, good will toward others, welcoming strangers, and generosity toward others.
....Pope Francis had a lot a lot to say about being welcoming to refugees.
The people most likely to complain about "Merry Christmas" not being used are people who do not practice those things you mentioned. They call themselves "christians," but they live pretty much the exact opposite of Jesus' teachings. Their only focus is gay marriage and abortion, and not the things that Jesus teaches are important. IF (conservative) christians in the US actually lived as Jesus taught them to, instead of following their false prophets, this country wouldn't be in the downward spiral we are now... and i'd be more than happy to say Merry Christmas all they want.
Seriously, do you think Jesus would give a shit about the choice of greetings when there are people living in the streets, people starving, people sick who can't get treatment, and people being killed simply for being different? Anyone who thinks his concern would be which greeting to use over all of those other things is NOT a Christian.
Fascism: An authoritarian and nationalistic right-wing system of government and social organization. See also: NAZI's
A Glorious Saturnalia to all.
Fascism: An authoritarian and nationalistic right-wing system of government and social organization. See also: NAZI's
Valid population sample? Useless opt-in survey?
is fine with me. I'm not religious anyway. I'm a baby eater.
It's all fake news anyway.
Years ago now, Wal-mart went on record as preferring Merry Christmas. And of course many agnostics still set up a Christmas tree and exchange gifts, even if they don't care about the birth of Jesus (which by the way, Biblical scholars agree was in the spring since sheep would be in the barn during winter). Christmas and Hannukah (their spelling) are listed on the calendar, the latter being the 13th of December this year. And unfortunately most people do get a Christmas break and not Hannukah so ... it is what it is.
Having said that, I saw a TV commercial a week ago last Saturday (on the 16th) for a football game to be broadcast on the 23rd, the commercial described it as "Holiday weekend, Saturday, December 23" As Hannukah was before that - so was Thanksgiving - and New Year's is later, that particular usage makes no sense at all. Either say "Next Saturday" or actually say "Christmas weekend, Saturday". Christmas is December 25th, regardless of what you do that day, and referring to that date by that name should not in itself be considered offensive.
I couldnt disagree more. If you know some one doesnt celebrate a holiday then what are you doing wishing them have a happy version of the holiday? They arent participating so from the recipients point of view all you're doing is pointing that out and making them feel like they arent part of the heard.
In doing something like this you're either being an idiot (which is what the above scenario sounds like) or trying to put your own holiday onto people who dont want it.
I ignore Anonymous Coward posts. If you want to discuss something, that's awesome. Log in.
And the reasons for all of these were because:
1) The Deists and others who came to America were fleeing persecution back home in England. They wanted to ensure that the government they were forming wouldn't start persecuting them again for being the "wrong" religion.
2) The government WAS the church in England. The King was the head of the church and could make religious declarations. If the King decided that every Tuesday, people should walk around with a chicken on their head, that would be a religious edict and anyone not following it could be punished. The founders not only didn't want religion to dictate government policy, but they wanted to keep government from dictating religious practice. I challenge anyone who is religious to look at Congress now (I won't even include the President) and honestly say they would want those people deciding how they practice their religion.
My sci-fi novel, Ghost Thief, is now available from Amazon.com.
Whoa, I don't think the GP meant it was oppressive!
It's just the assumption and the inability to understand that you don't participate that is the issue. It's annoying when people keep asking you stuff that you already told them doesn't apply, right?
I get this too at work. It would be fine if people were more considerate. Saying happy holidays shows that they at least understand you might not be a Christian or whatever non-religious Christmas fans are called.
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SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
Actually no. The very first amendment flies right in the face of any "Christian principle". The first amendment and the first commandment are fundamentally incompatible.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
But it's at least a honest, happy wish.
Merry Spendmess to you too.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Especially down south. The religious right here are constantly trying to gain ground. They're also working hard to get evolution out of schools and theology back in (they call it "intelligent design" to make it sound like science). They're very well funded and I don't think they're intentions are pure. I see it more as a push for the more authoritarian side of religion. The folks I see doing it don't spend much time talking about helping the poor or ending wars. Just expanisionism.
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Delete the cookies and vote again. SurveyMonkey makes it far too easy to stuff the ballot box. - That aside, didn't Trump just claim he invented the term "Merry Christmas"? So how could the survey participants know about it? In that sense: Seasons Greetings!
Living outside the US, I have met several Americans that where confused when I said "working" when they asked what I was going to do on July, 4th,
Don't fight for your country, if your country does not fight for you.
I prefer to play it really safe, so I use "Trick or Treat!"
Seems they missed an option that probably would have beaten both
1. Duh, we all knew that. Big Whoop.
2. Hi. My name is Tony and I'm an Atheist. Santa isn't real. God isn't real. Jesus isn't real. And I still don't care about "Merry Christmas" in the slightest. Hell, I say it to people!
3. Christmas is awesome. I just spent several days eating good food, hanging out with friends and family, giving out gifts, taking it easy, and watching my Grandfather play with my daughter for hours. Christmas is a good thing.
4. The "War on Christmas" is fought only in the heads of Christians, and they're fighting the wrong people. Go talk to the stores putting up Santa displays instead of Jesus displays and leave the rest of us alone. Besides, who cares if your neighbor believes in Buddha or Krishna or whomever? Get over it, and stop being such pansy sensitive crybabies! Other people live here too.
Should never had been anything but MERRY CHRISTmas.
He was shown to be wrong on gravity by Newton.
Earlier than that actually. Newton established the theory but experiments had proven Aristotle wrong about gravity before Newton was born.
I'll respond with either "Merry Christmas" or "Happy Holidays" depending on what the other person has said. It's not hard to be good-willed and accommodating.
People worried about either diversity or "the war on Christmas" need to relax. Easily 9/10 Christmas traditions were stolen from Pagan faiths in the first place, so it's more of a generic European tradition than a Christian one anyway.
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According to the latest ruleset, this post should be modded as Vorpal Flamebait +5.
That people are being nice, regardless of how they greet me.
I tend to rant.
read the article. They never caught the guy. There's no indication that the 'Merry Christmas' had anything to do with the assault. It's more likely the perpetrator was coked up and would have slugged the guy no matter what he said. You should be ashamed of yourself for posting that clap-trap.
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If you're standards are to lie and hate, and to live exactly opposite of how Jesus tells you to live, then yes, these fake christians have standards. Really shitty standards, but they're standards none the less.
These fake christians focus on the things they do, gay marriage and abortion, because they follow false prophets who do not teach the words of Jesus, but teach their own twisted opinions and lie about those opinions being Jesus' teachings. They're not, they're abuses of the religion. The only time abortion is mentioned in the bible is when the priest are told they MUST carry one out if the husband requests it (Numbers). All other bible verses used to suggest Jesus, or God had an issue with abortion are generic verses that have been interpreted to mean abortion in recent years. Again... nothing more than abusing the bible through lying by false prophets.
Additionally, Jesus would have lives under Roman rule in Judea. Everyone there would have been knowledgeable of Roman society, whether they liked it or not. The Romans used an herb to induce abortions fairly commonly, and by that i mean: so common was the herb used that they literally drove it into extinction. Yet Jesus said the following about the procedure:
....
And if we need any more evidence from the bible about God's sincerest compassion for the unborn, we can look to a verse that doesn't need any "interpretation" at all:
Hosea 13:16 Samaria shall become desolate; for she hath rebelled against her God: they shall fall by the sword: their infants shall be dashed in pieces, and their women with child shall be ripped up.
Anyone who tells you Jesus was against abortion is lying. They are a false prophet.
Abominations in the bible... clearly you haven't read the bible. I'm not even going to try to list your "few" abominations, there's sites that do.... here's a list of 50 or 60 of them:
http://richardwaynegarganta.co...
So, while "men laying with men" is on the list, so is idolatry (like that cross people wear as jewelry, or that statue behind the later, or making images), eating unclean things (like pork, shellfish, shrimp and a whole shitload more), adultery (you know, getting a divorce then remarrying), sowing discord (you know, like Limbaugh, Hannity, Trump), and wearing cloths of mixes fabrics. If you've ever worn polyester, or a 60/40 cotton mix, you are as much an abomination in the eyes of God as a man who has lain with a man. And that whole eating bacon thing... yeh, you're going to hell for that one.
Biblical marriage? Which version. Again, someone saying the bible defines marriage simply shows you've never actually read the bible (and you're spreading lies... which is another abomination, btw). I'll let Betty explain it, as she's certainly a far better christian that you:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
So, anyone teaching that abortion and gay marriage are the big ticket items (or even items on the ticket at all) for Jesus is a liar. They are false prophets, and anyone following them (instead of Jesus' teachings) are not Christians.
Third seems to be you attempting to say this is a christian country. it's not. Again, another lie told by religious people to attempt to gain power over others (and nothing to do with the teachings of Jesus)... oh yes, lying is another abomination.
Fourth... there was no attack on Merry Christmas. Really whiny people who need to play the victim may think so because their ego's are bruised or they don't understand why everyone doesn't believe their lies, but those people are narcissistic (yet another abomination) and delusional.
I'm shocked that people who despise the teachings of Jesus still claim to be Christian. I'm shocke
Fascism: An authoritarian and nationalistic right-wing system of government and social organization. See also: NAZI's
If I remember the First Commandment aright, it's about having no deity but God or something like that. That doesn't imply that religion has to be incorporated into government. A person who worships God and has a secular government isn't violating the commandment.
"When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes
The first commandment basically says that a faithful Jew (and Christian for that matter) should have one god, and only one god. It gets expanded into "and don't you dare not to" in some other parts. Deuteronomy 17 expands this to basically the requirement to kill anyone who dares to turn his back to this god. Deuteronomy 13 requires the same concerning the worship of other gods. And in Numbers 31 a town gets sacked because someone from that town came and tried to convert people.
How exactly would you make this go along with "Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof;"?
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
I'm willing to bet that the majority of Americans don't really care much one way or the other. The "Merry Christmas" vs "Happy Holidays" debate is a BS issue manufactured by a group of people who really enjoy pretending that they're being victimized.
If you're a Christian, go ahead and obey the Commandments. You can do that as an individual. The Commandments look to me like they want individual obedience. I'm not a Christian or Jew, and have no obligation to obey them, or pay attention to the Bible for that matter.
It would be unconstitutional to establish the Commandments as law
"When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes
And that's exactly why the US are not a Christian nation.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
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Well, yes. The US is not a Christian nation, although most of its citizens have normally been Christians. Have we been in violent agreement?
"When you have eliminated the unacceptable, whatever is left, however improbable, must be the truthiness" - Holmes
The OP in this subthread was about the US being a Christian nation, which it is not. Yes, you can be a Christian in a secular country, there is no Christian law (that I'd know about at least) that requires you to only acknowledge governments that govern by the Bible (Mark 12:13-17 kinda implies that temporal governments and the secular, otherworldly kingdom Jesus promised are not linked and do not or even should not interfere with each other).
So yes, we do actually agree. Being Christian in the US works, the US being Christian does not.
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
Or maybe there was deadlock between the different sects, and they were all afraid of the others getting the power - so they dropped it, no doubt with a plan B of sneaking something in if they got the opportunity
It doesn't alter the fact that there's more overt religious symbolism around all the paraphernalia of government than you'd see in most other countries. Leaving aside the Vatican, maybe.
Can you see an atheist president happening any time soon?
Confucius say, "Find worm in apple - bad. Find half a worm - worse."