Christmas cancelled in the UK

[secondhand]

Christmas should be downgraded unless other religious festivals are marked on an even footing, a Government think-tank has said.

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The Institute of Public Policy Research has suggested various ideas to make the UK more multicultural.

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Is this an April Fool? Seriously, I'm not sure what annoys me more, the PC brigade or the fact that people publish stories like this.

Who still thinks like this? Everyone, and I mean everyone I know cannot stand overly politically correct behaviour. The idiot that funded this "think tank" should be flogged. And "think tanks" in general should be sent to Iraq to help out the real tanks.

[stevewinn]

more

Is this an April Fool? Seriously, I'm not sure what annoys me more, the PC brigade or the fact that people publish stories like this.

Who still thinks like this? Everyone, and I mean everyone I know cannot stand overly politically correct behaviour. The idiot that funded this "think tank" should be flogged. And "think tanks" in general should be sent to Iraq to help out the real tanks.

The two guys (two white english) put this piece together, This is a prime example of the Government putting the feelers out to gauge public opinion, no doubt this whole idea will be binned,

The question needs to be asked whats this government trying to do to this country, we seem to be going to hell in a hand cart.

Edited November 1, 2007 by stevewinn

[Pandora7321]

That's preposterous!! I absolutely abhor all the PC crap. People just need to get back to good ol' common sense. So someone says something and you get offended. Get over it. If you're the one that accidentally offends, then you apologize if necessary and move on.

It's called socially interacting. You learn to get a thick skin or you learn to think about what you're saying before you say it. It's how the world works. You've got overly touchy people and you have people who are just jerky idiots. It's real life folks, not "Leave It to Beaver."

[secondhand]

Yeah of course, but I'm sick of hearing nonsense like this. No doubt it was publicly funded as well.

[Unlimited]

*sigh*...just another commie story...i'm serious if we arent careful, we will be calling each other comrade...why cant people just leave things alone?..

[Moon Monkey]

i have just been listening to a debate on this on the radio. Muslim after muslim and jew after jew have been coming on saying how ridiculous this proposal is, how much they like xmas and how reports like this only widen gulfs and make much more trouble than they could ever hope to solve.

Stupid people with nothing better to justify their ridiculous positions and incomes upon. Plenty of qualifications and zero common sense. New labour finds new problems.

[stevewinn]

This is a little of Topic but shows how the PC brigade are ruining the country,

A senior High Court judge has refused a government request to reconsider a tribunal's decision to prevent a murderer being deported to Italy.

It shows the murderes human rights are more important than the person he killed,

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/london/7071739.stm

[stevewinn]

i have just been listening to a debate on this on the radio. Muslim after muslim and jew after jew have been coming on saying how ridiculous this proposal is, how much they like xmas and how reports like this only widen gulfs and make much more trouble than they could ever hope to solve.

Stupid people with nothing better to justify their ridiculous positions and incomes upon. Plenty of qualifications and zero common sense. New labour finds new problems.

Moon was that Radio show Jon Gaunt ? because he had the chap behind this stupid idea on live, Gaunty give it to him,

[Stardrive]

Stupid people with nothing better to justify their ridiculous positions and incomes upon. Plenty of qualifications and zero common sense. New labour finds new problems.

Exactly. If it's not an issue to begin with, why make it one?

[Essan]

Christmas should be downgraded unless other religious festivals are marked on an even footing, a Government think-tank has said

No probs. We'll have a big holiday to celebrate the summer solstice as well then

(Let me guess, whoever thought up this daft idea thinks christmas is just a modern christian festival )

[Username Deleted]

I love it when these idiots come up with these ideas, at least you know what to do annoy them.

It's a 10 ft tree and a shed load of lights then for me this year

*reminds self he needs a bigger St Georges flag too, 6 ft isn't annoying enough*

[crtDzyn]

That's preposterous!! I absolutely abhor all the PC crap. People just need to get back to good ol' common sense. So someone says something and you get offended. Get over it. If you're the one that accidentally offends, then you apologize if necessary and move on.

It's called socially interacting. You learn to get a thick skin or you learn to think about what you're saying before you say it. It's how the world works. You've got overly touchy people and you have people who are just jerky idiots. It's real life folks, not "Leave It to Beaver."

Well said

People are trying to automate so much and make everything they can simple and easy, but this does NOT need to carry over into social interactions. I think that's really what it comes down to.

"Let's make it quick and easy to handle, so you don't say that about this and you don't say this about that. Now we will all get along."

Not how it works. People come in different flavors with different opinions. It's funny, I direct this at the people behind all this PC crap and really I feel like this should be directed at a five year old.

Such a silly world...

Edited November 1, 2007 by crtbud

[Ins0mniac]

*sigh*...just another commie story...i'm serious if we arent careful, we will be calling each other comrade...why cant people just leave things alone?..

Oh god, the Commies again. You're 17 years late dude, the 80's are over.

P.S This 'downgrading' Christmas idea is the stupidest thing I've heard in a long time. And that's saying a lot. The government enforcing what people celebrate... No way in hell I'd ever let them try that sh** on me.

Edited November 1, 2007 by Ins0mniac

[Lt_Ripley]

Pagan Holidays Added to Excused Absences

By TOM BREEN Associated Press Writer

Nov 1st, 2007 | CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- When George Fain visits a grave to mark a pagan holiday, she won't have to worry about the work she's missing in her classes at Marshall University.

That's because her absence Thursday on the Samhain holiday has been approved by the Huntington school, which for the first time is recognizing pagan students' desire to be excused from class for religious holidays and festivals.

The university with an enrollment of about 14,000 may be the only school in the country to formally protect pagan students from being penalized for missing work that falls on religious holidays, although others have catchall policies they say protect students of every religious faith.

But as members of the eclectic group of faiths gathered under the term "pagan" become more willing to publicly assert their beliefs, other schools may follow Marshall's example, Fain said.

"I think we may have opened a door," she said. "Now that we know we can be protected, that the government will stand behind us and we feel safe, it's going to be more prevalent."

The decision to allow pagan students to make up missed work from classes on holidays was simply an extension of existing university policy toward members of other religious groups, said Steve Hensley, Marshall's dean of student affairs.

"I don't think there are a lot of students here who have those beliefs, but we want to respect them," he said. "It was really just a matter of looking into it, and deciding what was the right thing."

Students are responsible for establishing that they are religious believers and that the holiday in question is important to their respective tradition by filing a written request with Hensley. The university is aware of the potential for some students to falsely claim to be pagan, he said.

Paganism experts say they aren't aware of any other university with such a policy. A call to the American Association of Collegiate Registrars and Admissions Officers was not returned Wednesday.

Some schools have blanket policies that allow students to be excused for any religious holiday. Lehigh University in Pennsylvania has had such a policy for about eight years, said Lloyd Steffen, a religion professor and the university's chaplain.

Such an accommodation for pagan students is rare in Britain, the birthplace of modern paganism.

"Nobody yet gets any holiday for pagan festivals in the United Kingdom. It seems to be an American original," said Ronald Hutton, a history professor at the University of Bristol in England.

By specifically including pagans, Marshall is taking an important step toward recognizing the validity of their beliefs, said Jason Pitzl-Waters, an authority on paganism who edits the Wild Hunt Web site, a blog about religion, politics and culture.

"That's part of the struggle for modern pagans," said Pitzl-Waters, a pagan. "Even though modern paganism has been in public since the 1950s, a lot of people still see it as a rebellious teenage activity, not necessarily something you do as a religious observance."

That's starting to change, according to Helen Berger, a sociology professor at West Chester University in Pennsylvania.

She cited the recent decision by the Department of Defense to agree to pagan requests that the five-pointed star — sometimes called the pentacle — be allowed on the gravestones of veterans in national cemeteries.

"That was a major win, and it's encouraged them to start looking for areas where they can gain the rights and recognition that other religions have," Berger said.

The term "pagan" encompasses a diverse array of faiths that can include Celtic, Druid, Native American and various earth-centered and nature-based beliefs.

"What binds us together isn't our theology, necessarily," Pitzl-Waters said. "What binds us together is a sense of communal practice and togetherness."

Marty Laubach, a sociology professor at Marshall and adviser to a group of pagan students, said he's seen fliers advertising pagan meetings ripped down by others.

But actions like the university's decision on absences encourage pagans to be more vocal, he said.

"You'll have more people now who are willing to say, `These are my beliefs,'" he said. "The American neopagan movement is a lot stronger than you think."

<a href="http://www.salon.com/wires/ap/us/2007/11/01/D8SKOB400_marshall_pagans/index.html" target="_blank">http://www.salon.com/wires/ap/us/2007/11/0...gans/index.html</a>

instead of getting rid of christmas ( which is actually a pagan holiday to begin with , having nothing to do with the birth of christ in it's origins) maybe other holidays need to be uniformly observed.

with that said - Happy Holidays !

Edited November 1, 2007 by Lt_Ripley

[IronGhost]

It's all pretty stupid, to be sure, and I think that any "Think Tank" is wasting time on nonsense like this and makes he term "Think Tank" into an oxymoron.

However, I also think that Christmas is an extemely stupid concept that has long since lost whatever meaning it originally had, and has morphed into a nothing more than an orgy of materialism, especially here in the United States.

I mean, imagine, Christmas is supposedly the "birthday" of an ancient desert god (Jesus) when in fact, Dec. 25 is an arbitrary date and even Christians agree that no one really knows that date Jesus was supposedly born on -- and the date probably was orginially the festival of a pagan Roman deity -- and the date closely coincides with the Winter Solstice.

Here in the United States, the retail economy depends on millions of Americans getting out their credit cards to spend, spend, spend themselves into debt -- big box retialers like Target, Wal-Mart, Macy's, Best Buy and many others rely on the Christmas spending rush to "get them over the hump" at the end of their fiscal years.

The big retailers rely on pure guilt -- using the concept of Christmas -- to get people to spend money they don't have, supposedly to celebrate some kind of god concept.

Christmas is a time when millions set up an ancient Druid tree-worship symbol, and then bow to the "god" or crass materialism -- millions of homes also festoon their yards with wasteful, energy sucking Christmas lights and decorations which tax the power grid at a time -- winter -- when energy demands are at their highest.

Is it PC and stupid to attack Christmas. Probably. But is Christmas a stupid, wasteful time that has lost all original meaning -- definitely.

Of course, I think all other religious celebrations are bogus as well, no matter what false religious belief system they come from.

[Pandora7321]

Replying to IronGhost: Couldn't have said that better myself.

Edited November 1, 2007 by Pandora2173

[Essan]

I also think that Christmas is an extemely stupid concept that has long since lost whatever meaning it originally had, and has morphed into a nothing more than an orgy of materialism, especially here in the United States.

Well, originally what we now call christmas (modern name, but hey, lets keep up with the times eh?) was all about eating, drinking and making merry. So really, it's not changed as much as some folk think.

Just thought: did Native Americans have a winter festival? Or is it primarily a Eurasian thing?

[Bill Hill]

Christmas is all about... Turkey, Drinking loads...getting drunk and sitting back to watch the Bond movie...

It a sacred tradition..

[IronGhost]

Replying to IronGhost: Couldn't have said that better myself.

Thank you, my friend.

It should also be said their is plenty of "PC" pressure on both sides.

Right wingers want to impose their religious holiday's on everyone else, Christian or not, and they demand that taxpayer money be spent promoting their religion. They want 10 Commandment monuments in Court houses -- they want a gigantic Christmas tree in the White House, etc. They want Christianity to be the "official religion" of America -- if you are a Buddhist Americanor an Atheist American, for example, they think some of your tax money should go toward paying for a Nativity Scene in front of public institutions like schools and court houses.

What if a local Buddhist sect demanded that taxpayes buy a statue of the Buddha and place it in front of the County Courthouse? Christians suddenly would be howling for separation of church and state.

[Moon Monkey]

Moon was that Radio show Jon Gaunt ? because he had the chap behind this stupid idea on live, Gaunty give it to him,

Yeh it was mate.

[Unlimited]

Christmas is all about... Turkey, Drinking loads...getting drunk and sitting back to watch the Bond movie...

It a sacred tradition..

hohoho..i'm going to billys house...

[Moon Monkey]

Christmas is all about... Turkey, Drinking loads...getting drunk and sitting back to watch the Bond movie...

It a sacred tradition..

You forgot scoffing your way through a big tin of quality street.

[Ins0mniac]

Thank you, my friend.

It should also be said their is plenty of "PC" pressure on both sides.

Right wingers want to impose their religious holiday's on everyone else, Christian or not, and they demand that taxpayer money be spent promoting their religion. They want 10 Commandment monuments in Court houses -- they want a gigantic Christmas tree in the White House, etc. They want Christianity to be the "official religion" of America -- if you are a Buddhist Americanor an Atheist American, for example, they think some of your tax money should go toward paying for a Nativity Scene in front of public institutions like schools and court houses.

What if a local Buddhist sect demanded that taxpayes buy a statue of the Buddha and place it in front of the County Courthouse? Christians suddenly would be howling for separation of church and state.

Well you don't have to be a Christian to enjoy Christmas. I'm agnostic and I like it just fine.

Also, Christmas was originally a pagan festival. And what does a Christmas tree in the white house have to do with Christianity? Last I looked, nothing.

Also, I'd point out nobody is forced to have anything to do with Christmas.

And lastly, my understanding was that the separation of church and state is more about preventing the church from having too much power over the state or the state enforcing religion rather than the state having nothing to do with religion at all.

P.S I don't think the Buddha statue in from of a country courthouse would be such a bad idea.

Edited November 1, 2007 by Ins0mniac

[Lt_Ripley]

Christmas is all about... Turkey, Drinking loads...getting drunk and sitting back to watch the Bond movie...

It a sacred tradition..

for once we agree !

but you can't forget the planning of the regifting that crappy useless gift Aunt Martha sent you.

[Bill Hill]

hohoho..i'm going to billys house...

you're more than welcome... and your dog as well.

for once we agree !

but you can't forget the planning of the regifting that crappy useless gift Aunt Martha sent you.

It doesn't feel right... ripley. we're ying and yang.. I'm Darth Vader to your Luke Skywalker..