Brief History: The War on Christmas

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-18-2000
Brief History: The War on Christmas
16
Fri, 12-18-2009 - 7:18pm

I've lost count of the emails I've received about "the war on Xmas". Could have fooled me.


http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,1946928,00.html


Attention, culture warriors: 'Tis the season to be vigilant. An atheist group has plastered Santa-themed antireligion ads on Los Angeles buses. Retailers insist on greeting shoppers with a neutral "Happy holidays," despite threats of boycotts. And the annual ABC broadcast of A Charlie Brown Christmas was pre-empted by President Obama's address on Afghanistan. The war on Christmas is back. (See the top 10 YouTube holiday specials.)


For decades, American conservatives have been warning of threats posed to the institution by a broad spectrum of foes. Henry Ford blamed Jews for the efforts to remove religious displays from public schools; in the McCarthy era, the John Birch Society saw the holiday as the target of a vast communist conspiracy. Since the 1990s, a right-wing website has held an annual competition for the most egregious example of secularization. (Villains include the Department of Housing and Urban Development, which christened its year-end party "A Celebration of Holiday Traditions.") But it was really during this decade that the Yule Wars caught fire. Fox News host John Gibson's book The War on Christmas hit best-seller lists in 2005, the same year his colleague Bill O'Reilly called moves to tone down the holidays the first steps on a slippery slope toward "legalization of narcotics, euthanasia, abortion at will, gay marriage." In 2006 Chicago Tribune poll, 68% of respondents agreed that the holiday was under assault. (See the 10 worst Christmas movies.)


But skeptics say rumors of a struggle against Santa are an overheated response to the excesses of political correctness, fanned by what commentator Max Blumenthal called a "ratings bonanza for right-wing media." The last to wage war on Christmas were probably the Puritans, who in the 17th century banned Yuletide festivities on the grounds that they didn't square with Scripture. For a godless conspiracy, those are some pious roots.


See 10 things you didn't know about Hanukkah.

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iVillage Member
Registered: 05-23-2008
Mon, 12-21-2009 - 7:01pm

Some people are very legalistic.

Avatar for lucy4980
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Wed, 12-23-2009 - 3:51pm

I guess the Christian fundamentalists don't believe in sharing.

iVillage Member
Registered: 03-18-2000
Thu, 12-24-2009 - 9:52am
ITA!

 


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iVillage Member
Registered: 03-23-2003
Thu, 12-24-2009 - 12:18pm

Actually, the scholars say that Jesus was born in the springtime, not December.


iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Thu, 12-24-2009 - 1:21pm

Then why do you refer to it as xmas instead of Christmas? That is when all this first started, years ago when people in such a hurry, couldn't even take the time to write Christ in Christmas. If you don't like to use the name Christ in Christmas, why even use it as a greeting? Rather Happy Holidays or Seasons Greetings would,IMO, be more appropriate.

Merry CHRISTmas!

 
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Thu, 12-24-2009 - 1:31pm
I have never had a problem with people celebrating their religions and I think everyone should have that choice. If you want to celebrate a holiday of your religion, then do so, but please, don't complain when Christians celebrate the birth of Christ....whatever month He was born in. So what if there is a nativity scene in the town hall, you should be able to put a display of your religion there too, if you wish. Why make the birth of a babe the center of all this negativity? We should all be coming together in peace and love.
 
iVillage Member
Registered: 03-18-2000
Thu, 12-24-2009 - 2:01pm

The Greek Chi or X is the first letter in the Greek word Christos as in Iesus Christos aka Jesus Christ. Xmas, as well as Xian, which means Christian, using the same principle.


Chi is written as an “X” and Rho is written as a “P,” but they are the first two letters of the Greek word Christ “savior” “XP” is sometimes used to stand for. Sometimes X is used alone. This is the case in the Chi (X) abbreviation for Christ in Xmas.


In my church many of the vestments have the joined XP on them.


 


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iVillage Member
Registered: 03-26-2003
Thu, 12-24-2009 - 4:45pm

Boy, is my face red!!! (At least I have you to give me the answers to life's many questions!) See, that is what I get for not looking things up. Whatever you call it, however you write it....Merry Christmas!

Hugs, Sandi

 
iVillage Member
Registered: 12-16-2009
Thu, 12-24-2009 - 8:14pm

~That is when all this first started, years ago when people in such a hurry, couldn't even take the time to write Christ in Christmas.~

The use of the first letters of Christ's name standing as a symbol for Christ began with a vision from God received by Saint Constantine in 312.

http://www.colorado.edu/Classics/clas4091/Graphics/Labarum.jpg
http://web.duke.edu/religion/main/logo.html

You might enjoy further study of this ecclesiastically in the past and present, but in the meantime re: Xmas (ie. Christ-mass):

American Heritage Dictionary

Xmas has been used for hundreds of years in religious writing, where the X represents a Greek chi, the first letter of Χριστoς, "Christ." In this use it is parallel to other forms like Xtian, "Christian." But people unaware of the Greek origin of this X often mistakenly interpret Xmas as an informal shortening pronounced (ěks'məs).

Random House Dictionary

The abbreviation Xmas for Christmas dates from the mid 16th century. The X is the Greek letter chi, the initial in the word Χριστός (Christos) “Christ.”

Hope that helps :) Merry Christmas!

Kate

iVillage Member
Registered: 12-16-2009
Thu, 12-24-2009 - 8:22pm

~but please, don't complain when Christians celebrate the birth of Christ~

I don't think I've ever heard anybody complain about that at all, let alone on the board.

Do you have a link?

~Why make the birth of a babe the center of all this negativity?~

I haven't seen any of us doing that :)

Kate

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