Huckabee: How dare you mention the reason why we celebrate Christmas?!
Ok, this is borderline ridiculous and absurd. Huckabee is now being attacked for mentioning in one of his Iowa TV ads that we should concentrate on celebrating “the birth of Christ” during this season. Meredith Vieira, from the TODAY show, asked him this morning if this was an attempt on Huckabee’s part to push religion on other people. She also mentioned “the cross” that stands in the background of his ad (which is actually a bookshelf) and asked him if this was some kind of subliminal message.
Huckabee’s answer was, of course, a sensible and honest one. He said back to Vieira that she was not going to work this coming Tuesday, December 25th. That Government offices also close during Christmas Day. So what is the big deal for saying that on this day we celebrate “the birth of Christ”? Good for Huckabee.
I have to admit that after living in this country for several years, it still comes as a shock and as absurd this whole trend of avoiding “Merry Christmas” and just saying “Season Greetings” or “Happy Holidays,” because the majority of people, even non-believers, celebrate Christmas in the United States. Perhaps they didn’t know why and now they feel cheated? How can you celebrate a day when you don’t even know why you’re celebrating or you don’t agree with the cause? It is absolutely absurd and incoherent. It would be as if I would set up a big Thanksgiving dinner for friends and family, but get really angry when someone mentions why we celebrate Thanksgiving to begin with. If you don’t agree with the reason for Christmas, then boycott it. But, who’s going to do that?
I propose something. If we can’t talk about the reason for celebrating Christmas, then let’s just take Christmas off as a holiday altogether and work that day and let’s just stay with Thanksgiving. I’m sure a lot of people would not mind if they can get CHRISTmas back and if it says Merry Christmas everywhere rather than Happy Holidays.
It’s not about being sensitive towards non-believers or people from other religions. I have Jewish friends who had Christmas trees at home and received Christmas cards and they personally told me that they had already gotten used to it. My neighbors are practicing Jews and they have a big Christmas wreath in their porch, but also have a blue and silver bow on their door.
Come on, it’s not the Jews or the Muslims that would be offended by this. Let us take, for instance, England as an example. Many businesses are avoiding the word “Christmas” and using words such as “Winteval” instead to be sensitive to people from other religions. Many schools also stopped the nativity plays. But Hindus and Muslims are coming out and saying to the Brits to stop ” ‘being daft about Christmas’ and to celebrate the Christian holiday unreservedly.” Muslim Council of Britain spokesperson Shayk Ibrahim Mogra said:
“To suggest celebrating Christmas and having decorations offends Muslims is absurd. Why can’t we have more nativity scenes in Britain?”
He also proceeded to say that “Jesus is also our prophet” and that the Christian roots of England have to be respected by immigrants and that if they didn’t like it, they had to move back to where they came from.
Come on, this is not about offending people from other religions. This is about not wanting to be reminded that we are a people of faith and that the things that we hold dear the most come from that same faith that has shaped our thought and culture for centuries.
Sorry for the rant :)
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Nice rant. :-)
Actually, the use of the term Christmas is far more prelavent in the UK than here, especially in the mass media (everybody says “Happy Christmas” and the shallow “happy Holidays” is non-existent. This comes despite the fact that the UK is an extremely secular country.
I think there are two issues. There is the “Christ Mass” and there is the “Santa season”. I have no problem with the latter, and I am even fine with people using “Happy Christmas” to denote the latter, but I do think we need to emphasize these distinctions more. It annoys me that so much of the American right’s obsession with the “war on Christmas” is not a defense of the Solemnity of the Nativity, but a defense of a very secular holiday that just happens to use the term “Christmas”. As I said, the UK does that already, as is hardly a role model.
I couldn’t agree more Katerina.
To me the problem is 2-fold. I find the all the secularizing of Christmas to be frustrating, distracting, and at times depressing. As someone mentioned in a post a few days ago, even all the bumper stickers for “keep Christ in Christmas” and “remember the reason for the season,” etc. don’t seem to get the point. Very few people, myself included in some cases, intentionally celebrate Advent, Christmas, Epiphany, etc. While this is disheartening, I think it is a slightly different issue than the Huckabee issue. They are certainly connected, but it is one thing to secularize a holiday and quite another to condemn someone for pointing why there is a holiday at all. [ Remember holiday = holy day]
What Meredith Vieria said, and she’s certainly not the only one, is absolutely inexcusable. No person has a right to criticize another for celebrating his/ her faith and certainly not for talking about it in an add.
I heard a speaker while I was in undergrad who proposed that Catholicism/ Christianity has become the last thing which it is acceptable to be biased against or to discriminate against. No doubt discriminations against other peoples occur, but it is not politically correct. Overt Sexism, Racism, etc. are not tolerated. One certainly can’t come out and overtly criticize other religions, but no one seems to have a problem with public mockeries of Catholicism or attempts to neuter Christianity.
BTW, I forgot to mention that because the Muslim and Hindu community spoke up in the UK, the nativity scenes and Christmas plays were re-enacted in most schools
Probably no coincidence that Vieira used to work for the same idiotic program ( The View) that recently took offense that the President sent out religious Christmas cards.
Vieira may have been playing a devil’s advocate role. She just seems too bland and way too young (and female) to have the studio heads permit her ask her own questions. The attempt to agitate Huckabee may well have been scripted to hold viewers till the next commercial break.
Yes, Todd, I think Matt Lauer and her are told what to ask. Well, I think that applies to almost everybody in the news that work for corporations that have their own agenda.
‘Vieira may have been playing a devil’s advocate role. She just seems too bland and way too young (and female) to have the studio heads permit her ask her own questions.’
I suspect you are right, but Meredith is no spring chicken. She was born in 1953, and has been on national TV since the 80s. She will probably be a news anchor one day.
I agree with M.Z., great rant.
In response to Morning’s Minion comment “It annoys me that so much of the American right’s obsession with the “war on Christmas” is not a defense of the Solemnity of the Nativity, but a defense of a very secular holiday that just happens to use the term “Christmas”. Facts please. Just how much is “so much”?
What annoys me is that so much of your (Morning’s Minion’s) criticism of that boogeyman the “American Right” is not based in reality but on uncharitable opinions and assumptions and possibly an inability to discuss anything without attacking the “American Right”.
this is a complex argument, and you have barricaded yourself into a single opinion without keeping an open mind. try again plz!
The reality is that most people aren’t offended by “Merry Christmas”, or the idea of celebrating the “birth of Christ”. When someone like Vieira say “people” may be offended, she is talking about people around the newsroom. I have worked in a newsroom. Reporters are often isolated and completely out of touch. They read and buy wholesale into the stories from wire-services, and often move with every new trend. Huckabee is only helped by this negative coverage. Most people in America have no problem with the ad.
I don’t see what the big deal is… we’re getting liberals pushing their agendas on us… and they call us closed minded when we don’t agree with them… and you call us the bigots..
I just don’t agree. I’m from Iowa and Huckabee’s ads are pure pandering to what he perceives to be a large evangelical right in this state. He may or may not be true about that, but his ads disgust me. First we are told he is a Christian candidate when I’m looking to elect a president, not someone who touts his Christian leadership. And the new ad so clearly does the same thing again. Yes it not supposed to be a real cross but the eerily lit bookcase cross just happens to be oh so obvious. And what is on the shelf? oh just 3 bulbs…trinity perhaps. Huck wouldnt’ get my vote in any case, since he’s either that stupid that he doesn’t believe in evolution (not so good when American continues to fall behind in science) or he’s a damn liar.