[r9etb]

He told me that last Saturday, they sang "Silent Night" at a Starbucks, and people actually got up and left. What is so wrong with singing "Silent Night"?

I think that "Silent Night" evokes fear in a way that almost no other carol can do.

IMO, folks who are "offended" by it, are often the ones who are being pressed hardest by God, and they're fighting against it. "Silent Night" scares them because it is something against which they have no argument -- it embodies the Peace that passeth all understanding, and it draws them in.

[Alberta's Child]

I think there's another side to it.

"Silent Night" was originally written in German ("Stille Nacht") by an Austrian in the 19th century. As such, it probably symbolizes -- better than any other Christmas carol -- the heavy Germanic/Anglo-Saxon influence in our Western Christmas traditions (Christmas trees and candles, for example).

[tarheelswamprat]

I think that "Silent Night" evokes fear in a way that almost no other carol can do. ... IMO, folks who are "offended" by it, are often the ones who are being pressed hardest by God, and they're fighting against it. "Silent Night" scares them because it is something against which they have no argument -- it embodies the Peace that passeth all understanding, and it draws them in.

Well said, and IMO, dead-on correct...