Homestar Runner Wiki Forum

It's not meant to be exclusionary, though..
If he were to say "God bless only the Christians", then you'd have a problem.

I think he should be praised for saying it. It's meant as a gesture of good will and good wishes for the community, and for those who believe in God or gods, there is no better wish towards others than to wish that they be blessed by God or the gods.

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If you can't fix it with a hammer, you have an electrical problem.

I can understand and appreciate the idea of good will behind it (just like people wishing others a Merry Christmas--it's not trying to make a point of religious difference or intolerance, but simply a gesture of good will), but you have to admit that many Americans might give someone a funny look if they said "Gods bless" or "Goddess bless" instead of "God bless."

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The meaning of life is 'bucket.'

FOR PONY!!!

Not to sound crazy and such, but take the pledge of allegiance. If you don't believe in a god, then you pretty much have to pledge allegiance to something you don't believe in....and if you don't, you're shunned and called "unpatriotic."

That's true, but, that's because most religious/faith Americans are of a Judeo-Christian background.

If America were full of Pagans (is the plural of Pagan "Pagan" or "Pagans"?), someone saying God Bless would be looked upon equally strangely.

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If you can't fix it with a hammer, you have an electrical problem.

You can always leave out the "under God" part (which wasn't even part of the pledge until 1954, anyways) and stay silent for those two seconds...or do as I would do (were I in grade school now) and just refuse to say it. I don't pledge allegience to a country--nor even a symbol of a country--that treats me as a second-class citizen. If people want me to pledge alliegence, then they should show me that they believe I deserve equal treatment, both de jure and de facto.

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The meaning of life is 'bucket.'

FOR PONY!!!

Back in high school, I did not like the government's reaction to 9/11 -- which felt like a knee-jerk response -- and I was disgusted to the point that I refused to so much as stand up for the flag. I nearly got thrown out of my school for it.

But eh, toastpaint.

- Kef

They don't have a right to suppress your political viewpoints that way...or so I've been led to believe. Schools can't FORCE a student to say the pledge if they don't want to.

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The meaning of life is 'bucket.'

FOR PONY!!!

What they told me was that I can decline to say the pledge, but not refuse to stand up for the flag. I was ready to get myself thrown out over it, but at the last minute, I gave in.

- Kef

The main idea is to celebrate the birth of Jesus.

But my athiest friend celebrates it every year.

I'm not sure... um... sure?

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Uh.... No.

please, noone but Didymus celebrates that anymore, now its just "Get me that iPod and that PS3 and that cliche-electronic-device-I-Dont-Need."

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Haven't been paying attention to Somm-1's banner, have you, Cola?

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Ahem??? Make that Didymus and Droideka, if you please.

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of Course not!

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If you want to celebrate Christmas so you can get gifts and feel like you're a good person, go for it.

If you want to celebrate it to show your love for God and your joy in the birth of our Savior, go for it.

It really doesn't seem like it should matter.

The important thing, nowadays, is not the religious aspect of the holiday. If the entire world was Christian, then it would be. But such is not the case. Rather, the important thing is the spirit of togetherness and goodwill and whatnot. People who get all up in arms about being told to have a "merry Christmas" or a "happy Hanukkah" or a "happy Kwanzaa" or whatever when they don't celebrate the holiday in question need to just be silenced. The words are different, but the message is the same - it's a wish of happiness and safety with your family during the holidays, which is what they really are about now. Go to church if you like. Buy your kids the latest and greatest piece-of-crap game system if you like. To each his own, you know?

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get LOST

The idea that 'Christmas has lost the original religious meaning' is always said by people who aren't Christian, but that's not very true. Christians still celebrate Jesus' birth (even some non-churchgoing Christians will still go on Christmas), and obviously non-Christians don't. It's not that Christmas lost anything, it just is celebrated by non-Christians, too, so it has some 'secular' meanings (which is okay with me, I just still wonder why they call it 'Christmas'... it's just the name of the holiday now, I guess, but I can't imagine calling a holiday I celebrate 'atheistmas' ).

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Maybe we could call it GoodGivingmas, or HolyCrapWe'reReallyNotSuchABunchOfJerksAfterAllmas! ...But maybe that'd be too long a title.

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The meaning of life is 'bucket.'

FOR PONY!!!

I still call it Christmas and I always will, just as there are probably some Pagans that call the season Yule, and I totally think that's cool.

Whatever we call it, I refuse to call it "Holidays", unless, of course, I'm doing it to be lazy (lazy meaning not wanting to name every holiday that occurs this time of year).

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If you can't fix it with a hammer, you have an electrical problem.

You could call it Xmas. Like the tacky church billboard near my house says, "Xmas is Christmas without Christ".

Lol tacky.

Except that "Xmas" actually comes from the Greek letter chi, which looks like χ. The chi is the first letter of Χριστος, and historically has been a traditional symbol for Christ. So, no, the chi isn't taking Christ out of Christmas.

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I love that little misconception.

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Lol dat church knows nothing of Xmas.

A lot of modern Christmas celebration is secular anyway (giving gifts, family dinner, mistletoe, Christmas trees, etc) so non-Christians can easily celebrate the time of the year with those things and leave out the nativity stuff. And if they don't want to call it Christmas, then call it Solstice or Yule (if it's winter where you are) or Litha (if it's summer where you are) or Festivus or whatever - but that should be up to the secular celebrators to make that decision, not the religious celebrators.

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"They've taken Mr Rimmer! Sir, they've taken Mr Rimmer!"
"Quick, let's get outta here before they bring him back!"

...Except that Yule and Litha ARE religious celebrations.

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The meaning of life is 'bucket.'

FOR PONY!!!

Is there even any kind of secular name for 'Goodgivingmas'? Solstice (even though no one calls it that)?

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Well, "Yule" is more generalised. Ever heard the word "Yuletide"?

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"They've taken Mr Rimmer! Sir, they've taken Mr Rimmer!"
"Quick, let's get outta here before they bring him back!"

Well, I celebrate Christmas, but I wouldn't call myself atheist. Humanist maybe i guess is closest. But I in no way believe that christmas is a christian holiday any more. The huge marketing and commercialization of the holiday have turned it in to a more secular holiday. I know my school is pretty diverse witht he cultures and stuff, and the Jewish kids and Muslim kids and Hindu kids all grew up believing in Santa Clause, who brought presents on the border of Dec. 24 and Dec. 25 every year with magic reindeer and a tricked out flying sleigh. It's not christian any more.

Besides, history suggests that Jesus was born in August anyway.

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Sister, now that we're grieving
Our fingers will falter
Our lungs will be leaking
All over each other and without even speaking
We'll know that it's over and smile and go greeting
Whatever comes next

Christmas is a religious holiday that also is celebrated secularly (I guess the same is happening to 'Yule', too, even though that is also a religious holiday). I think it's wrong to say that Christmas isn't a Christian holiday anymore, but it also isn't exactly right to say Christmas is just a Christian holiday, either.
Eh, I've heard evidence that suggests he was born in March, August, September, fall, spring, summer, and even the time right around Christmas. As far as I'm concerned, we don't know his birthday and don't really care.

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my sister told me a story today.
"okay class, now who can tell me the meaning of christmas?"
"PRESENTS!"

Unfortunately, that's basically what it is now a days. kinda makes me sick.

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