What do you SAY?

[Q-rious]

What do you say to someone that says merry or happy Christmas to you if you are a non-believer?
Do you say Merry Christmas back to them or not say anything at all?

Are you being hypocritical if you say Merry Christmas back to them??

[CaptainOfOuterSpace]

Originally posted by Q-rious
What do you say to someone that says merry or happy Christmas to you if you are a non-believer?
Do you say Merry Christmas back to them or not say anything at all? Try "happy holidays."
Are you being hypocritical if you say Merry Christmas back to them?? Well technically, they're insulting you when they wish you a Merry Christmas, because they're assuming that you celebrate it. You saying "Merry Christmas" back to them does not imply that you believe in it.

[xsquid]

I say "Happy Holidays", usually, especially if I know the person. To paraphrase Kin Hubbard, it makes them feel good and it don't hurt me.

[variant 13]

"what do you mean by that then!":mad:

No usually say merry christmas back, just to be polite. Remember it's not just to celebrate the supposed birth of jesus (as they moved it.) It's also about helping the economy too :D

Do the same sort of thing when people sneeze (not that I say Merry christmas) - its automatic like when I stub my toe and either swear or say "Jesus!".

[Sarpedon]

It is a fact that Christmas is december 25. Whether you believe in Jesus or not does not alter that fact. You are simply hoping that some one will be happy on December 25. I like it when people are happy. I wish people a merry christmas, but only when they bring it up.

[factfinder]

Personally, I don't think it matters what you say (as long as it is nice).

If you are living on a system of unbelief then what is the harm in saying Merry Christmas to someone. It bears no malice or ill-will & is no more hypocritical than saying Goddammit!. Especially if saying the words makes someone feel a wee bit better in this shitty world.

Just my 2 cents.

[crazyfingers]

I usually say "Happy Holidays". But I don't mind if someone says merry christmas to me given that we do have Christmas in my house. We just do a secular Christmas. No reason to change the name of the nonreligious holiday called christmas that we do in my home.

[Jamie_L]

Christmas is a holiday. Whether you believe in its religious foundations or not, it is still a holiday - and, it's a holiday with LOTS of non-religious traditions to boot. Sure, there are pagan roots to a lot of them, but as practiced today, you don't have to believe in anything to take pleasure in:

Giving and receiving gifts.
Decorating and tree and/or your house.
Getting together with family and friends to share a big meal.
Enjoying the spirit of mutual goodwill with other people.

I am an atheist, and I love Christmas. Of course, I was raised on a fairly secular Christmas to begin with. I view Christmas as a celebration of generosity and of family and friends. Sure, it's got some god's name attached to it, but so what?

Which is a long way of saying: "Just say Merry Christmas back."

There's no hypocrisy in wishing someone well and in enjoying the non-sectarian aspects of seasonal celebration.

Jamie

[AJ113]

If someone wishes you a "merry christmas", you could reply "and a happy new year to you."

[Rational BAC]

If you are going to get picky about it I don't see how Happy Holidays works either.

Maybe if you are Christian or Jewish or possibly Muslim (I think Ramadan is close enough for government work). But how would it work for an atheist?

Doesn't Happy Holidays really mean Happy Holy Days?

[getalong]

Originally posted by Q-rious
What do you say to someone that says merry or happy Christmas to you if you are a non-believer?
Do you say Merry Christmas back to them or not say anything at all?

To not say anything in reply would be rude. I ususally say 'thank you, and you too', or 'have a great vacation, see you when you get back', or 'happy new year' depending on the circumstances.

getalong

[Harumi]

I don't get it...

I like Christmas! And I'm an atheist.

Besides, Christmas isn't about the religion anyways. It's all about the presents! :D

Oh, and I would just say "You too!" if I was ridiculously sensitive to silly stuff like that. But since I'm not, I just say "Merry Christmas!"

[The Cromwell Institute]

The True Meaning Of Christmas, by Penny Arcade:

As foretold in Revelations (http://www.penny-arcade.com/view.php3?date=2003-12-12)

[logictrip]

I said "thank you" in reply to "Merry Christmas" when I was a Jehovah's Witness. I give the same reply as an atheist.

[Mr. Neutron]

"Happy Festivus! Have you seen the pole?"

[southernhybrid]

I say Merry Christmyth to you too! ;)

[blindwatchmaker]

Christmas is a tradition for many people rather than a religious day. It has thus become part of popular culture as well as religion.

On that basis, even a non believer could say merry xmas back without feeling hypocritical.

[Queen of Swords]

I'd say, "Ho ho ho." And if I had a bad cold, I might say it especially hard. ;)

[Waning Moon Conrad]

I really like the Gospel of Thomas and the Sermon on the Mount.

Christ seems to have some definite Sun-God parallels in his myth.

Merry Solstice, Merry Christmas. It's fine with me.

Funnily enough, even though I'm a Buddhist and don't believe in Christianity and certainly won't have it rammed down my throat, I dislike the secularisation of Christmas.

As an example, I would rather hear "Joy to the World" than "Jingle Bells" any day. The only songs I hate more than "Jingle Bells" are "Jingle Bells Rock" and anything sung by Slim Dusty.

[Katarzyna]

Originally posted by southernhybrid
I say Merry Christmyth to you too! ;) :notworthy :notworthy :notworthy

I usually taylor my greeting to the person I'm greeting--I'll say Good Yule to the pagans, Merry Christmas to most christians (Happy Christmas to those who prefer that), Happy Haunukkah to the Jewish, etc. After all, just because I wish someone a Happy Birthday, doesn't mean it's my birthday as well. :)

Kat

[Viti]

Originally posted by crazyfingers
I usually say "Happy Holidays". But I don't mind if someone says merry christmas to me given that we do have Christmas in my house. We just do a secular Christmas. No reason to change the name of the nonreligious holiday called christmas that we do in my home.

When talking to customers, as a courtesy, I say Happy Holidays first. I don't know their religious beliefs so this works.

That being said, like crazyfingers, we celebrate Christmas. It's just a name of a conglomerated holiday now. We don't freak out because the days of the week are named after mythical gods ::shrug::

BTW, this belongs in SL I think/

[Viti]

Originally posted by Rational BAC
If you are going to get picky about it I don't see how Happy Holidays works either.

Maybe if you are Christian or Jewish or possibly Muslim (I think Ramadan is close enough for government work). But how would it work for an atheist?

Doesn't Happy Holidays really mean Happy Holy Days?

The word Holiday generally means any day of celebration nowadays. I am sure many words have religious roots...like I said before, the days of the week are named for Norse gods, and the names of the Months are from various gods as well.

[Postcard73]

Originally posted by LadyShea
BTW, this belongs in SL I think/
I agree, so it's been moved with my first official act as a moderator. I feel so... moderate. :D

[tracer]

Originally posted by Jmebob
Remember it's not just to celebrate the supposed birth of jesus (as they moved it.)
"Moved it," nothing! They had no idea of when Jesus's birthday was in the first place.

[Malagasy Rain]

I just give an innocent "You, too". Short, sweet, and to the point.

[Gawen]

I say Happy Holidays...even if I think it's not a real Holy-day.

[House of Games]

I say nothimg............

[Postcard73]

My fundy relatives were over tonight, and we were watching the ABC national news. At the end of the broadcast, the anchor (not sure who it was- wasn't Peter Jennings) said "Merry Christmas." My relatives were shocked that the liberal American media would allow their anchor to use that phrase instead of "Happy Holidays." I'd never really given it any thought until I started reading this thread, and I've been saying "Happy Holidays" to everybody. After that, though, I just couldn't bring myself to say anything besides "Merry Christmas" when they were leaving. I'm sure part of it was that I didn't want to start an argument in which I would have been outnumbered ten to one, but I mainly didn't want to hurt their feelings...

[Z500]

i say "Merry Generic Wintertime Holiday"

no, i don't say anything. everyone's too scared to talk to me :P

[JohannGoodflag]

I've come to decide that I want to enjoy Christmas --- just not the christian interpretation of it. Heck, I'm not going to let a religious cult from Judea that hit the big time steal my enjoyment of a winter festival.

Christmas is the biggest christian holiday. It is the second most important for the religion, but it is by far the most important (as far as I have seen and experienced) in terms of activity. And to many christians, Christmas is about so much more than Jesus. He may be the reason for them, but he's not the purpose, if you get my meaning. It's really about decorating the house with red, green, and gold, about trees and bits of various plants with spiky or spiny leaves, about having five parties in one week with different groups of friends and family, and in northern climes, about white crystalline winter beauty. And everywhere, you can witness the ritual consumption of sweet and unnecessarily rich food, just because it's the time of year set aside to do specifically that!

Nothing outdoes Christmas in terms of sheer fuss and importance, and very little of the fuss and importance really needs any religious basis. If the message can be put across that you can have Christmas traditions even if you're an atheist --- well, that will be one less emotional roadblock for potential atheists.

Therefore, I say Merry Christmas.

[Bright Life]

I say Merry Christmas to you too. I don't care. I like giving presents :)

[Albion]

I usually say "Season's Greetings" (just like in Santa Claus The Movie).

[lowmagnet]

"And the same to you."

When people sneeze, I say "Gesundheit". Oft times I say nothing. What I say in these moments really has no bearing on their health or the holiday.

This year I didn't celebrate Christmas. Or Xmas for that matter, that being the holiday when you'd better stay inside because Santa Claus returns to punish the mildly naughty.

I don't celebrate Easter, either. I usually go to sleep early on New Year's day, primarily because the world is a second older, not a year older.

I just talked to my mom about this, mainly because I wasn't forceful enough it telling her I wanted to be left out of the holiday this year since I just moved, and I'm still putting my life back together. I don't know if I'll do the same next year or not. For some reason, others like buying and giving gifts.

I'm an 'optimizer' so I always have to get the 'best' of whatever I'm getting, instead of a 'satisfier' who goes for what's "right enough". It makes holidays rough for me, because I try too hard.

And I'll stop now before I crash the thread off of a bridge. ;)

[Jeffrey Formosa]

Just have fun at Christmas, every one can have fun at Christmas, who cares what is right or wrong, Christmas is fun and we all want fun so do it.

[cjack]

Throw me in with the "merry (fill in the blank) holiday to you, too" crowd.

We've always celebrated Christmas as a traditional holiday in my family. The whole birth 'o the baby Jeebus thing never really came into the picture.

In fact, the "reason for the season" was so completely obscured in my family that I was suprised and somewhat confused when I learned that people actually went to church on Christmas!

Christmas was just a time to get together with family and (for some reason or another) actually try to be extra-nice to other people for a change.

So I just say whatever they say back to me. Nothing wrong with returning a polite greeting...

In the past, when I was asked to record the little "staff holiday greetings" that we played on the radio station on Christmas, I always said "Merry Christmas, Happy Hannukah, Good Kwanzaa, and if you're an atheist, Have a Nice Day!"

[KoopaFanatic]

I feel your pain, Postcard.
This year, every time my mother heard "Merry Christmas" on the radio or TV, she'd flip out. "Wow! I can't believe I just heard them say that on the <type of media>! I thought it was a dirty word now!" Which would've been amusing once. But every ten minutes?

Christmas Day I finally got fed up with it after, "Wait, they NEVER say Merry Christmas on NPR!" I calmly told her to give it a fucking rest, considering we were listening to an NPR station licensed to a Catholic university, and it was the same station we'd been listening to the last five times she made her little observation. She got beet red and shut up. My father gave me some quiet applause.

[Infidelettante]

I have found a simple non-sectarian response to any such offering. 'And you.'

'Merry Christmas!' 'And you.’

'Happy Holidays!' 'And you.'

‘Yuletide Greetings!’ ‘And you.’

‘Seasons Greetings’ ‘And you.’

‘Joyful Xmas’ ‘And you.’

It serves but doesn't encourage conversation.

JT

[NonHomogenized]

I say "Jesus says; suck it!", then stip naked, and cavort off, gibbering like a loon. :D

Well, not really, but I think it would be quite funny to do. In reality, though, I usually just say "and to you as well", or something.

[Thesto Neroses]

"Happy Holidays" is such an ugly turn of phrase to refer to the Winter Festival.

In the UK the word "holiday" is more commonly used to describe the period of time taken off school or work during the Summer.

Thus, when I hear someone say "Happy Holidays" I immediately assume that they are referring to a forthcoming expedition to sun, sea and sand.

As such, it is jarring to my pedant's sensibilities when I realise that they are referring to Yuletide. It sounds crass and weak, and unbearably insipid.

[Taffer]

I say "merry Christmas" back, and AFAICT, I'm not being hypocritical since the phrase carries almost no christian undertones in my eyes. It's a popular holiday that can be enjoyed by theists and atheists alike. Other people can read religious stuff into it if they want, but that's all it is to me.

[adf1972]

Originally posted by JohannGoodflag
It's really about decorating the house with red, green, and gold, about trees and bits of various plants with spiky or spiny leaves, about having five parties in one week with different groups of friends and family, and in northern climes, about white crystalline winter beauty. And everywhere, you can witness the ritual consumption of sweet and unnecessarily rich food, just because it's the time of year set aside to do specifically that!

Hey, you forgot about the giving and receiving of presents part!

I agree with you, I love Christmas for all the festive decorations and music. I just think of it as based on mythology. I think the myth is silly, but I like the cultural celebration.

[The Bearded One]

There aren't very many Jews in the DC area where I work, so when I'm greeted with a "Merry Christmas," my reply of "Happy Chanukah" is just unexpected enough to make them think. Also, Chanukah is a secular festival which is celebrated by a cultural group rather than a religion.

-- The Bearded One