Beyond "happy holidays"

A few weeks back I did a post in which I said I prefer "Merry Christmas" "Happy Hanukkah" and "Happy Kwanzaa" and whatever else there is, over "Happy Holidays".

My rule of thumb is, if you know what holiday they celebrate it, make it personal by saying "merry or happy [insert holiday]) rather than "happy holidays". Kind of like when you find out the Native American tribe of an Indian, refer to them as that rather than "native american".

But going beyond just the issue of Merry Christmas, X-Mas, and Happy Holidays, is the issue of displays.

In schools, you can not just display 1 holiday (such as Christmas), without displaying the others.

Now I don't know if its a public school thing or not because I'd assume in a Hebrew school they aren't going to put up Christmas Trees, just like in a Christian and/or Catholic school, they are not going to be putting up a menorah.

But this issue kinda relates to the religious displays you see year round. Such as, is it alright to have a statue of Jesus in a park? or the 10 Commandments in a courtroom?

I am all for respecting peoples religions, but it angers me when someone makes a case out of something so innocent as hanging a copy of the 10 commandments in a courtroom, or a picture of God in some public facility.

We aren't talking about offensive things such as the confederate flag or the swastika (both in my eyes are the same thing). We are talking about religion.

It seems in the world of religions, people are too caught up having to be right and to assert that they are the only ones right to try to find understanding of other religions and how they work.

I mean how many times have we heard hateful "Christians" talk down about Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, and Islam?

I personally try to avoid making harsh judgments about religions that I honestly don't know anything about. Its easy when your in a group of like minded people to insult these religions and its followers and have people tell you what you say is fact. But when you enter more educated circles, you will only show how hateful you are as you make judgments about a religion you actually have no clue about.

Admit it, you just don't know much about other than the crap hate news channels like Fox News tells you.

But what is my opinion on displays? I think one should be very careful about the situation. As I said before, some people, if not most find offense and will make a case out of it when the reality is they aren't all that bothered by it.

I especially believe private buildings can put whatever religious displays they want up. I also think the history of a building, park etc should be taken into account.

Does it have a strong connection to a religion?

America isn't a christian country by no means, as there are different religions that comprise america. The forefathers didn't specify america would be a specific religion because of what happened in England.

Sometimes buildings, schools, etc are better off just avoiding bringing in religion or keeping it privately funded. Or at the least allow others to express their religion the same as you.

You see, its easy as a Christian to be upset, but think about it, what if Christianity wasn't a majority religion in America? Wouldn't you want someone to be considerate?