Censoring Christmas In The Workplace ("It's A Blair Witch Christmas!"

The Catholic League ^ | Dec. 14, 2004 | William Donohue

[d-back]

Anyone in Midtown Manhattan see the bunch of twigs on the Bar Building on 44th Street? It's a "holiday" concoction that makes an extreme effort to avoid any resemblance to traditional Christmas decorations.

"Diversity" indeed.

[2banana]

“Penelope Trunk, a columnist for a Virginia weekly, titled a recent piece, ‘Skipping Christmas: Erase Holiday from the Office.’ She says that ‘acting as if everyone has the ‘holiday spirit’ squelches the spirit of workplace diversity.’ She also objects that as a Jew she is forced to ‘take a holiday’ on Christmas. Why the anger? ‘No stores are open. There’s nothing on TV. Most restaurants are closed. It’s a boring day, a good day to be at work.’ Talk about oppression! Perhaps her boss could give her the keys to the office that day.

Lost in translation - Christmas is a FEDERAL HOLIDAY with legislation passed by congress. Either get it repealed or stop complaining...

[mhking]

recommends that all nativity scenes should be banned because they are ‘religion-centered.’ The menorah, which is a Jewish religious symbol, is ‘fine’ because it is really a ‘secular’ symbol.

Huh?!?

[d-back]

Good point.

[Tax-chick]

I'm conflicted, I admit. On one hand, I think all this nonsense is nonsense. On the other hand, I think Christmas, Hannukah, whatsididdle and the other thing should be celebrated in the home, community, and religious institutions, not in offices. I have a whole thesis underway about how the "office-centered" mindset is damaging our families and communities ... but I'll spare you :-).

[gidget7]

"‘if the workplace is permeated with religious symbols—presumably of another religion—to the extent that the employee feels intimidated, ridiculed or insulted, he or she could make the claim that the company has allowed or created a hostile environment.’ The bottom line: the bigot is not the problem.""

How bout we all make claims of being affended by the lack of Christmas, and the other symbols being displayed, but not Christmas displays?

""and increased religious activity in the workplace can lead to clashes during the holiday season.’"

So can the omitting of said religious activity!

[SkyPilot]

"Three distinct moods govern the shape of civilization in our time. To understand these, we must take a brief look at each of them."

"The first mood is Secularization. This is the idea that religion has no value or relevance in everyday life. To the secularist, the Bible cannot be the Word of God, for to grant even that possibility would be an admission of the supernatural. And to confess such a view of reality would mean surrendering the world view of a voiceless universe."

"No matter how much our society declares Christ irrelevant, he continues to hold all the authority and power."

Dr. Ravi Zacharias

[d-back]

Oh, you haven't heard this argument yet? Even though the Menorah symbolizes the Hannukah miracle of when God let a lamp burn for eight days with only one day of oil, it's a "secular" symbol in Judaism. Yet the Nativity scene, with its depiction of the historical birth of Jesus of Nazareth, is a "religious" symbol in Christianity that cannot be tolerated under the First Amendment.

Sad but true. And federal judges have adopted this argument in court cases.

[wideawake]

She also objects that as a Jew she is forced to ‘take a holiday’ on Christmas. Why the anger? ‘No stores are open. There’s nothing on TV. Most restaurants are closed. It’s a boring day, a good day to be at work.’

All my Jewish buddies go to Vegas or Atlantic City for Christmas. Clearly she didn't get the memo.

[ladyjane]

Last I heard you can have a menorah in the classroom in NYC but no Christmas decorations or celebrations. It was a decision of a judge a few years ago.

[d-back]

That's true, a federal judge in New York did adopt the same argument in permitting a menorah but not a nativity scene. The judge's decision was made last year, but the case is on appeal. I'll try to find a link for you.

[Map Kernow]

recommends that all nativity scenes should be banned because they are ‘religion-centered.’ The menorah, which is a Jewish religious symbol, is ‘fine’ because it is really a ‘secular’ symbol.

Huh?!?

Indeed. Supposedly, according to the secularists (=anti-Christians), the birth of Jesus was not a "historical event," whereas Chanukah, the Jewish festival represented by the menorah, commemorates the routing of foreign forces from the Temple by the Maccabeans.

Yet, the name "Chanukah" (I'm told) means "Dedication," and refers to the purification and re-dedication of the Temple after it was defiled---obviously a religious event. Also, Jewish or not, it is stretching things way beyond the truth to claim that people don't see the menorah as a Jewish religious symbol.

[d-back]

I think your "office-centered" theory seems interesting; expound upon it in a private email if you'd like.

The issue here, though, strikes me as non-trivial, and hardly nonsense: Should the religious expressions of the overwhelming majority be excluded from the workplace, when the religious expressions of the minority are not? And how is one who characterizes the celebration of Christmas as "offensive" anything less than a bigot?

Those cultural issues are extremely pertinent, IMHO.

[dog breath]

This is a free country, we should allow all religious symbols to be displayed. I see no harm in it and let me give an example. As a man, if I walk by a ad for a woman's product, I just ignore it for it doesn't apply to me. I can just as easily ignore other's religious symbols because I do not care. Now if someone would attack me for my religious beliefs that is a whole other issue. Think about how insecure a person would have to be about their own beliefs to be offended by others displaying theirs. This leads also to a question of where you would create a line. Many people are offended by mosques wanting to broadcast their call to prayers with loud speakers. Is there a line somewhere that needs drawn? Should it be based on noise levels or visibility beyond a given distance, if it should exist at all?

[Tax-chick]

I agree with your general point ... I meant that the objections to Christmas decorations were nonsense, not that the opposition to the objection to Christmas decorations was nonsense.

I'll make a note that you're interested in my "Whatever happened to life outside the office" thesis, and ping you when I have the outline done.

[EdReform]

It's okay to say Merry Christmas:

"Merry Christmas. Believe It. Say It. Wear it!"

[Tax-chick]

It's not Christmas yet. It's only December 14.

(Yeah, I know, I'm being a bore ...)

[d-back]

Ooops, sorry I misinterpreted what you meant by "nonsense"!

Ping me when your outline is done. ; )

[douglas1]

muslems and islam HAVE EARNED NOTHING, they deserve to be disrespected, and whats more ,if a CATHOLIC church started hollering out on loudspeakers every couple of hours, I would kave to disagree, and protest this intrusion, but walking by a CHRISTMAS display, does not infringe on anyones rights, and whats more we are a nation that is still a great majority of CHRISTIANS ,I wonder what intolerent people ,that think they have the right to make us the CHRISTIANS, tear everything down are thinking, SOONER OR LATER THIS SLEEPING DOG WILL WAKE ,and then you will see ass kicking, and the the religous intolerent asking what did they ever do to deserve the treatment they are getting, I say keep it up little doggie we will wake up.

[d-back]

Maybe the dog is starting to stir.