Posted on 11/23/2007 11:29:53 AM PST by DogByte6RER
67% Prefer Merry Christmas while 26% Opt for Happy Holidays
Thursday, November 22, 2007
As the holiday season begins, 67% of American adults like stores to use the phrase “Merry Christmas” in their seasonal advertising rather than “Happy Holidays.” A Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey found that just 26% prefer the Happy Holidays line.
There is no gender gap on this question and few demographic differences. From a politically partisan perspective, 88% of Republicans prefer “Merry Christmas” while just 57% of Democrats favor the saying.
Heading into Thanksgiving week, only 27% say they have begun their Christmas or holiday shopping . Consumer confidence among American consumers has been sliding in recent months, giving retailers a cloudy profit forecast in 2007. Most Americans say they plan to spend less on holiday gifts this year. Rasmussen Reports will be updating those figures throughout the holiday season.
Meanwhile, 57% of respondents say they will attend a Christian service on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day this year. A little less than one-third (30%) won’t go to a special service. Women are more likely to attend a Christmas service than men.
(Excerpt) Read more at rasmussenreports.com ...
And I would be very happy if you wished me the same for any of the Jewish holidays. I just prefer that the specific holiday is stated rather than some generic politically correct thing. To my shame I am not familiar with the Jewish holidays so I need to do some further checking so at least if someone wishes me a Happy ?????, I will know what it is and when.
What’s the percentage of those who prefer (for example) Rasmussen over Zogby?
If it’s a Jewish community, say “Happy Hanukkah.” I haven’t gone wrong doing that yet.
The problems is that while two out of three prefer “Merry Christmas,” our elitists in the media and schools will still encourage “Happy Holidays.” You want to see a minority tyrannize a majority, there it is!
Forty years ago, Happy Holidays was popular with business, because of then-recent events (Margaret Murray O’Hair), and of course because there were those who don’t observe the religious Christmas. Christmas now (and then, for that matter) has a massive secular existence quite different from its origin. I think the march back from Happy Holidays may have resulted in part from lawsuits banning Halloween in schools.
To hell with “Happy Holidays”!
FWIW:
1323 "At the Last Supper, on the night he was betrayed, our Savior instituted the Eucharistic sacrifice of his Body and Blood. This he did in order to perpetuate the sacrifice of the cross throughout the ages until he should come again, and so to entrust to his beloved Spouse, the Church, a memorial of his death and resurrection: a sacrament of love, a sign of unity, a bond of charity, a Paschal banquet 'in which Christ is consumed, the mind is filled with grace, and a pledge of future glory is given to us.'"135...1363 In the sense of Sacred Scripture the memorial is not merely the recollection of past events but the proclamation of the mighty works wrought by God for men.184 In the liturgical celebration of these events, they become in a certain way present and real. This is how Israel understands its liberation from Egypt: every time Passover is celebrated, the Exodus events are made present to the memory of believers so that they may conform their lives to them.
1364 In the New Testament, the memorial takes on new meaning. When the Church celebrates the Eucharist, she commemorates Christ's Passover, and it is made present the sacrifice Christ offered once for all on the cross remains ever present.185 "As often as the sacrifice of the Cross by which 'Christ our Pasch has been sacrificed' is celebrated on the altar, the work of our redemption is carried out."186
1365 Because it is the memorial of Christ's Passover, the Eucharist is also a sacrifice. The sacrificial character of the Eucharist is manifested in the very words of institution: "This is my body which is given for you" and "This cup which is poured out for you is the New Covenant in my blood."187 In the Eucharist Christ gives us the very body which he gave up for us on the cross, the very blood which he "poured out for many for the forgiveness of sins."188
1366 The Eucharist is thus a sacrifice because it re-presents (makes present) the sacrifice of the cross, because it is its memorial and because it applies its fruit:
[Christ], our Lord and God, was once and for all to offer himself to God the Father by his death on the altar of the cross, to accomplish there an everlasting redemption. But because his priesthood was not to end with his death, at the Last Supper "on the night when he was betrayed," [he wanted] to leave to his beloved spouse the Church a visible sacrifice (as the nature of man demands) by which the bloody sacrifice which he was to accomplish once for all on the cross would be re-presented, its memory perpetuated until the end of the world, and its salutary power be applied to the forgiveness of the sins we daily commit.1891367 The sacrifice of Christ and the sacrifice of the Eucharist are one single sacrifice: "The victim is one and the same: the same now offers through the ministry of priests, who then offered himself on the cross; only the manner of offering is different." "And since in this divine sacrifice which is celebrated in the Mass, the same Christ who offered himself once in a bloody manner on the altar of the cross is contained and is offered in an unbloody manner. . . this sacrifice is truly propitiatory."190Eucharist
Catechism of the Catholic Church
He said “Do this is remembrance of Me”, not “Under pain of mortal sin you must believe that the priest has changed the bread into Jesus Christ’s flesh”.
The very wealthy and global Catholic corporation has appropriated the grace of God that it may dole it out for money and control, and that is one of two reasons she is called a “whore”, because she takes the spiritual things of God and makes worldly merchandise out of them.
The other reason she is a called a whore is because, while claiming to represent The One who said, “My kingdom is not of this world” she has always wheeled and dealed with the leaders of nations for her own financial profit and WORLDLY power.
Wow, your post has “CHRISTIAN CHARITY” stamped all over it.
Do you know the history of the Catholic Church?
I know the history of Catholic Church well enough to know your post was devoid of Christian Charity.
We (Christians) are commanded, by the Son of God to “love one another”. That means exhibiting Christian Charity toward one another. If we, by our actions, cannot exhibit this, how can we witness to unbelievers?
Why would a pagan or athiest believe that God so loved the world, that he sent his only Son to die if his followers cannot exhibit even a modicum love for each other?
“your post was devoid of Christian Charity.”
O.K. I left that out. Here it is. I love you Catholics with the love of The Lord. I want to see you set free from a counterfeit Christian church that suggests you might be saved but hasn’t the slightest notion how, when or by what means. It is sending hundreds of thousands of souls to Hell that way.
Scripture holds no Christian priests, prayer beads, praying to dead people, magic transubstantiation, convents, lent, Christmas or purgatory, to mention just a few of the pagan parts of Catholicism.
Don’t recite to me the official Catholic hierarchy’s views of these matters, because they’ve had centuries to concoct their verbose lies. They even are able to make them sound like truth. That’s called casuistry.
I haven't met a Protestant who doesn't celebrate Christmas. What are you, a JW?
” haven’t met a Protestant who doesn’t celebrate Christmas. What are you, a JW?”
Go ahead and accuse me of things like “mocking” (which I have not done) but I will explain without cnnodescending (which you also accuse me of) the difference between Protestant and Christian.
The first century Christians were sold out to Jesus Christ whom they knew, after his resurrection, by the spoken words of eyewitnesses to His glory, and by epistles written by these witnesses.
As the Cgristian Church became legal in Rome, the pagans flocked to it, bringing their statues, prayer beads and tons of other pagan stuff with them.
The Christians going by The Word Of God (which you call “Sola Scriptura”) were horrified, and so they left.
They subsequently hid in the hills and wherever the Popes legions couldn’t find them, and continued in The Word. Meanwhile the Catholic Church got more and more corrupt, adding to its bulls and dictums century by century, until, when John the Revelator saw her, he was aghast at the church without spot or wrinkle, painted up like a whore. And whore she was, because she was in bed with every king who could something for her (like slaughter Christians).
The Christians, meanwhile got on as best they could, some exeedingly well and in large numbers, until the Pope’s troops caught them and slaughtered men, women and children without mercy, and certainly without “Christian charity”.
These hill people of the hidden church survived to nouirsh and advise the Reformation, which begat “Protestants” or protestors against the Papal abuses.
You might think the Catholic Church is different today. It’s lying low. All the bulls and bloody edicts are in full force, largely written in the Council of Trent proceedings, which your browser can easily find on the ‘net.
Here’s my post after Spellcheck:
” haven’t met a Protestant who doesn’t celebrate Christmas. What are you, a JW?”
Go ahead and accuse me of things like “mocking” (which I have not done) but I will explain without condescending (which you also accuse me of) the difference between Protestant and Christian.
The first century Christians were sold out to Jesus Christ whom they knew, after his resurrection, by the spoken words of eyewitnesses to His glory, and by epistles written by these witnesses.
As the Christian Church became legal in Rome, the pagans flocked to it, bringing their statues, prayer beads and tons of other pagan stuff with them.
The Christians going by The Word Of God (which you call “Sola Scriptura”) were horrified, and so they left.
They subsequently hid in the hills and wherever the Popes legions couldn’t find them, and continued in The Word. Meanwhile the Catholic Church got more and more corrupt, adding to its bulls and dictums century by century, until, when John the Revelator saw her, he was aghast at the church without spot or wrinkle, painted up like a whore. And whore she was, because she was in bed with every king who could something for her (like slaughter Christians).
The Christians, meanwhile got on as best they could, some exceedingly well and in large numbers, until the Pope’s troops caught them and slaughtered men, women and children without mercy, and certainly without “Christian charity”.
These hill people of the hidden church survived to nourish and advise the Reformation, which begat “Protestants” or protestors against the Papal abuses.
You might think the Catholic Church is different today. It’s lying low. All the bulls and bloody edicts are in full force, largely written in the Council of Trent proceedings, which your browser can easily find on the ‘net.
And, both “sides” of the reformation were killing the Anabaptists!!
Just my 2 cents......
The mocking condencension bit is above. You also referred to the RCC as a "whore". I rest my case. I used to be a "Born Again" and before that a wannabe buddhist, and before that an agnostic. I've spoken religion with athiests, pagans, Jews, Muslims. You gain no ground and bear no witness by referring to their faiths as "lies" or "whore".
Nothing good will come of us discussing this further. How about I'll pray for you and you pray for me and God will leads both to his Will as He sees fit?
My word choices like “whore” are necessary because of the gravity of the situation. Nearly a million people have been hijacked by the lie that Simon Peter was the first Pope.
” I used to be a “Born Again” and before that a wannabe buddhist, and before that an agnostic. “
That statement softened my heart toward you. Truly here is an Israelite in whom is no guile. I perceive you are a seeker after God. The scripture speaks well of such: “For I know the thoughts that I think toward you, saith the LORD, thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give you an expected end.
12: Then shall ye call upon me, and ye shall go and pray unto me, and I will hearken unto you.
13: And ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me with all your heart.
14: And I will be found of you, saith the LORD: and I will turn away your captivity - Jeremiah 29:11
When you find Him you will be glad you weren’t looking for rubies and diamonds, or trying to win the lottery, because He is the most wonderful thing that can enter a human beings life!
Go for it! And I will pray for you. And I appreciate your prayers for me.
In this we can agree completely.
The Lord bless you.
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