Quote:
Originally Posted by GGG
The roots are religious but so are the roots of all our holidays. Victoria day celebrates the birthday of the Monarch appointed by God. For Christmas there are two distinct holidays being celebrated. Otherwise why would devout athiests give Christmas presents.
1 is the secular Christmas that the state sponsors the other is a religious festival.
A country with christian roots shouldn't toss out the cultural aspects of its history just because they were based on a religious festival. Halloween is a loosely religious festival as well. However it has been embraced as a secular day for kids. We didn't rename Halloween Costume and Canday day. It kept the name of the festival as it became secular. Instead of warding of evil spirits it became about scary movies and cute kid and animal costumes.
The same should be done with Christmas. Encourage participation in the secular holiday of giving.
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Linking the birth of a monarch to religion is a much bigger stretch than linking Christmas to religion. Even if people aren't celebrating the purely spiritual aspects (although many still are), they are still practicing the ceremonial aspects. Ceremony is a large part of religion.
Honestly, I have no problem with places like Starbucks having cups that are Christmas themed or people saying Merry Christmas. But it's another step forward to say that everyone should conform to the dominant religion and practice Christmas traditions, merely because some people don't consider it religious anymore. Are you going to enforce that somehow?
Edit: You're also wrong about Victoria being appointed by God. During Victoria's reign the UK officially became a constitutional monarchy, which gave the parliament the ability to dismiss or appoint a new Monarch. Although in practice the parliament had supreme power over the monarchy since the late 1600s.
So Christmas and Easter remain the only religious holidays in Canada.