By SJ Otto
It is December and that means the Christmas season has begun.
People here in the US, and other similar countries, do a lot of shopping to buy
gifts for friends or family. They put up neat decorations and we start to hear
Christmas music everywhere.
I like this festive season but I’m not a Christian, I am an Epicurean.
Instead of celebrating a Christian holiday I celebrate the Winter Solstice—the
shortest day and longest night of the year. The symbols and traditions are
about the same. But I celebrate nature rather than a religious deity.
There are more people as me celebrating this season according to
their own religions or traditions today than in years past. That has led
to some Christian conservatives believing that non-Christians are out to
destroy their public holiday displays—and that leads them to believe it is a
plot to destroy Christian holidays altogether.
In years
past I have written about the so called “war on Christmas,” such as “I’m
celebrating the holidays without Jesus or God—So f*** anyone who doesn’t like
that!” Usually this so called war starts with people saying “Happy Holidays”
instead of “Merry Christmas.” This year critics made a stink about Starbucks
cups not being Christianly Christian enough.
“This year, we have
an early taste of the asinine arguments to come with a contrived controversy
over the choice that Starbucks has made for its holiday-themed coffee cup.
Eschewing its typical designs incorporating iconic wintry images of reindeer
and snowmen, the 2015 cup goes
for a minimalist approach of a plain bright red design with the green Starbucks
logo in the center.
With no pictures of
Baby Jesus or even snowflakes, the red and green cup evidently is not
“Christmassy” enough for some Christians, many of whom have taken to the
Internet to vent their outrage. In a viral Facebook post that
has received more than 10 million views, Joshua Feuerstein fumed: “Starbucks
REMOVED CHRISTMAS from their cups because they hate Jesus.”
It seems like a real stretch
to claim that plain red cups somehow show contempt for Jesus Christ. The “war
on Christmas” folks seem very touchy and seem to jump to conclusions easily.
This year as in years past, I am not out to tear down
someone else’s beliefs, (which seems to be the aim of some Christian warriors).
I simply celebrate my holiday, enjoy the festivities of the season and here at
my blogs I like to post thought-provoking and entertaining music clips.
Hopefully these musical clips can be enjoyed by non-Christians and people who
enjoy festivity without feeling offended.
"Weird
Al" Yankovic - Christmas At
Ground Zero
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