“We can't say Merry Christmas. Now we have to say Happy Holidays. We can't call it a Christmas tree. Its now called a holiday tree because it might offend someone. If you don't like our "American Customs" and it offends you so much then LEAVE. No one asked you to come here in the first place!! I will continue to say Merry Christmas and Christmas tree. If you agree with this please post this as your status.”
I am not the type to be easily offended, especially since I am Christian (err maybe, possibly a deist) and do celebrate Christmas. Also, when I commented on this whole “LEAVE” piece of the puzzle I got yelled at by a lot of very conservative Christians, and called arrogant. However, what these wonderful people didn't realize is last semester I took a class called American Vision and Values that got me being a little more in tune with what our supposed "American customs" are. I thought I would make a list of what they are not:
1. Christianity
2. Christmas
3. Religion in general
4. Communication
5. Relationships
2. Christmas
3. Religion in general
4. Communication
5. Relationships
We have entered the smart phone stage. All people do is talk/text (not the face to face stuff). Someone I know commented last night when we were eating on a couple sitting near us. Married (rings) and on their Blackberries. We don't do relationships anymore either. Maybe its my age, but guys don't want a girlfriend. They want someone to fulfill the girlfriend shaped hole in their life with no strings. This is America. Welcome. Also, we are a melting pot of tons of different people, and we should be excited about that! You can learn about any religion here, any culture, or any language. That.Is.Amazing.
All that being said, I thought I would make a few points clear since I offended some people by busting open the truth that our country was not founded on Christian principles.
First, the Pilgrims were not the Founding Fathers. That is different. Yes, SOME of the Pilgrims came here for religious freedom, however, some of them just wanted to come to America. They weren't all separatists. This happened in the 1620s anyway. We aren't even getting into America yet, because it doesn't exist for another 150 some years.
Lets get into 1776 where all of the controversy I started on Facebook began (this is all about religion, how ridiculous!)
THE REAL AMERICAN CUSTOMS!
- Equality
- Individual liberty
- Success
- Freedom of movement
- Freedom of worship (yes, that's right, ANY religion!)
- DIVERSITY
In none of my research has Christmas been mentioned as being an “American custom”. It's a religious preference. It's our right to celebrate it if we choose to. Yes, a large portion of our country celebrates Christmas. Yes, Christians should be able to say “Merry Christmas!” because it is their religion and a celebration of this.
[Side note: America also values this as being a gift giving celebration. It's not even about Jesus' birthday! It's about what we are getting for others and ourselves. The mall next to my house is constantly packed at this time of year and I don't think it's packed with a flock of Christians...]
The “American custom” here is gift giving. Not celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ.
This led me to a little bit more research on these things I was told are “American customs” like how our country was actually formed on Christian beliefs.
Now I know my parents and probably a ton of other people that actually read this are going to die a little inside so I'll be very gentle when I explain this to you...
Quite a few of the Founding Fathers were deists or even atheists!
I'm serious.
Take Thomas Jefferson. Rev. Ethan Allen (1797 – 1879) wrote about an encounter that he had with President Thomas Jefferson one day.
“President Jefferson was on his way to church on a Sunday morning with his large red prayer book under his arm when a friend querying him after their mutual good morning said which way are you walking Mr. Jefferson. To which he replied to Church Sir. You going to Church Mr. J. You do not believe a word in it. Sir said Mr. J. No nation has yet existed or been governed without religion. Nor can be. The Christian religion is the best religion that has ever been given to man and I as chief Magistrate of this nation am bound to give it the sanction of my example. Good morning Sir. “
Notice how everyone KNEW that he didn't believe in Christianity, but he knew that it has it's place.
Benjamin Franklin wrote to some guy once that “If men are wicked with religion, imagine what they would be without?” [He said religion - NOT Christianity...]
See?
So now of course you are going to ask me why God is mentioned in the Constitution, the Declaration, and whatever else you can think of (my mom asked why it says “In God We Trust” on our currency...).
Honestly, the majority of the country at that point in time went to church despite beliefs (like Jefferson) because it was the right thing to do. Everyone recognizes that Christianity (or religion in general) has good morals wrapped around in it. It has good teachings, whether or not you believe in God. You have to forgive, treat people well, tell the truth...I can't really complain about any of these things, because they are GOOD.
And mom, the reason our currency says “In God We Trust” according to wikipedia is because it is our national motto.
The main point on all of this is we need to realize that just because our money says “In God We Trust” doesn't mean that we are a Christian country.
We aren't. Sorry to anyone who didn't realize.
The First Amendment: “Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion or prohibiting the free exercise thereof.”
Yup, we can all practice whichever religion we want. Yay!
The separation of church and state motto came from a letter Jefferson wrote in regards to a rumor about a national church being established. He said the First Amendment was created to “build a wall of separation between Church & State”. That's where that got started.
It has gotten twisted around over the years, because people evolve and change and become offended.
I don't want these people to leave the country though! They keep me on my toes and they are entertaining.
We are all supposed to coexist. There are a lot of us in this country. We're a pretty damn amazing country and so lets embrace the diversity and enjoy each other. We can learn so much from this experience. If I walk out of my apartment into the parking lot right now, I can interact with an Pakistani family, a Indian family, a Mexican family...and I can assure you they all have different life experiences to share that are amazing.
I will leave this as follows from an article just shared with me by a pretty awesome guy...
““Do unto others…” is a good rule of thumb. I live by that. Forgiveness is probably the greatest virtue there is. Buts that’s exactly what it is -‐ a virtue. Not just a Christian virtue. No one owns being good. I’m good. I just don’t believe I’ll be rewarded for it in heaven. My reward is here and now. It’s knowing that I try to do the right thing. That I lived a good life. And that’s where spirituality really lost its way. When it became a stick to beat people with. “Do this or you’ll burn in hell.” - Ricky Gervais
Although he was writing about how he is an atheist, I saw it appropriate to this whole entire thing.
Opinions? Thoughts? Ideas? Are you going to yell at me some more?
Check out the Coexist Movement.
Nuff said.
I will quick cite Dr. Edward Rauchut for shaping my thinking here. He is the chair for the Center of American Vision and Values at Bellevue University!
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