Greetings to all
As is customary at this time, I wanted to send you seasons greetings, but I was conscious of the potential pitfalls in expressing such greetings without unknowingly offending anyone's sensibilities. After due consultation with my solicitor, we concurred that the following text is sufficiently "politically-correct" to allow its distribution to a wide range of family and friends without (hopefully) transgressing anyone's deeper feelings. Apologies in advance should this objective not be met, despite our sincere endeavours.
Please accept with no obligation, implied or implicit, my best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low stress, non-addictive, gender neutral celebration of the winter solstice holiday, practiced with the most enjoyable traditions of religious persuasion or secular practices of your choice with respect for the religious/secular persuasions and/or traditions of others, or their choice not to practice religious or secular traditions should this be the case.
I also wish you a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling and medically uncomplicated recognition of the onset of the generally accepted calendar year 2007, but without disregarding the calendars of choice of other cultures whose contributions to society may have helped make our society what it is and without regard to the race, creed, color, age, physical ability, religious faith or sexual preference of the wishee.
If you accept this greeting, you are agreeing to the following terms:
This greeting is subject to clarification or withdrawal and is revocable at the sole discretion of the wisher. It may be transferred free of charge by the wishee to other parties but implies no promise by the original wisher to actually implement any of the transferred wishes and is void where prohibited by law. This wish is warranted to perform as can be reasonably expected within the usual understanding of "good tidings" for a period of one solar year or until superseded by a subsequent holiday greeting. Warranty is limited to replacement of this wish or issuance of a new wish at the discretion of the wisher.
Disclaimer: No trees were harmed in the sending of this message; however, a significant number of electrons were regrettably inconvenienced.
I bet even this gets me into trouble :giggle:
Bloody Radicals are everywhere lol....
Just a quick update as we have been using taxi's the last few nights.. we decided a straw poll was in order lol.. we asked the mainly Asian drivers first if they were Muslim and then if they found Christmas in anyway or form offensive.. Then just to be 100% asked if wishing them a Merry Christmas was offensive at all and each and everyone laughed and said No... and any Muslim who did was nuts.. or just looking for trouble..
Not a perfect way of testing the waters but goes some way to prove that some.. and some from all race religion and creeds will want to spoil the party no matter what... BUT can only sploil things IF we let them and take any notice to start with...
Merry Christmas... Like it or Not lol....
Mike xx
sounds to me like this guy just had a chip on his shoulder!
If the black Lab is the one I think it is, it belonged to Guy Gibson. What I find offensive is the lack of tolerance for other peoples beliefs/cultures/lifestyles, (as long as they are legal) wherever it comes from.
I stand corrected. My point, however, remains...little is offensive until we put a name to it that 'offends' someone else.
I am deeply saddened by the way people so readily entrench themselves in dogmatic confrontation. The future of society must be based on tolerance and respect FOR OTHERS!!!!!!!!
Unfortunately people view respect as a selfish concept ...other people must respect MY position.
Therefore I see it that the muslim should have respected
the christians guys sentiment in wishing him a happy xmas and should have returned the greeting acknowledging the culture and beliefs of his colleague .Simple as.
He could also have added mubarak eid if he wished to have his own beliefs respected .
I think Dave Allan summed up this whole issue when he closed his programmes with .
"May YOUR god go with you"
Respect and tolerance is our only hope
I am deeply saddened by the way people so readily entrench themselves in dogmatic confrontation. The future of society must be based on tolerance and respect FOR OTHERS!!!!!!!!
Unfortunately people view respect as a selfish concept ...other people must respect MY position.
Therefore I see it that the muslim should have respected
the christians guys sentiment in wishing him a happy xmas and should have returned the greeting acknowledging the culture and beliefs of his colleague .Simple as.
He could also have added mubarak eid if he wished to have his own beliefs respected .
I think Dave Allan summed up this whole issue when he closed his programmes with .
"May YOUR god go with you"
Respect and tolerance is our only hope
So it appears youre' saying that if you "choose" to be a Christian you're fine as you and the culture are as one, but if you "choose" to be agnostic, atheist, Muslim, Pastafarian or any other belief (or lack thereof) system then you must suffer the way things are and not protest at what you might see as injustice or oppression.
I will stand up to injustice and wrong doing, I don't care what religion you are, right is right. I am fed up with being told that I cannot do this/that in case it offends a certain minority/religious group.
well put while i would defend absolutely anyones right to their faith unless it affects others in a negative way,i am unable to respect the actual religion itself,which i see as a delusion. how do you respect something you dont believe exists ?
just read today where teachers at a state school,not a church school, barred a child from the christmas party and getting a prezzy from santa cos his parents objected to his being taught any religion in school ffs. these are poeple we entrust the most open and vulnerable minds in our society to ffs.
At the true root of the thing Christmas is a religious celebration to mark the birth of Jesus Christ.
So if you don't want to have your kids taught R.E at school thats your right and choice as a parent but the school were probably making a point of not including your child in the religious celebration of Christmas.
You probably think of the whole Christmas thing as a social celebration i assume? Many people do your not the only one. I think Christmas is far too commercialised these days and the social pressure to give gifts is more driven by big business' idea to get your money into their tills rather than any religious connotation.
I don't want to get into the religious argument as the the wave of opposition is far too great a tide for me to try and surf and I could be called a heretic!!
Lets not forget that most of us don't even realise that in reality Jesus wasn't actually born on the 25th December. The date we use to mark the birth of Christ was moved to this date to suit the Christian Astrological calendar, it is thought through the Gospels of Mark and Luke he was born on the 11th or 12th of September in the 3rd century toward the reign of King Herod when there is documented proof written in stone (pardon the pun)that a census was compiled of all the inhabitants of Jerusalem and names Jesus of Nazareth living there. :shock:
I would't say anyone is right or wrong, peoples religious beliefs are their own business. Christmas as a mass commercialised social celebration or celebration of the birth of possibly the most important figure in history?
I dunno lets just have a good time and make Christmas about whats really become important, being with the ones you love and making it about what you want it to be!!
