Hmm I think it would be weird to celebrate something like Christmas without including a reference of Christ (unless you called it plain "mas" or something). =D
2.) I believe the secular forms of religious holidays are rich cultural forms that have merit in their own right
First of all, how much culture is found in these religious holidays that they could stand alone? Then, didn't the culture arise because of the religion. Wouldn't divorcing one from the other make the cultural aspect worthless?
After all, we do have secular holidays (like that President's Day thing and Thanksgiving). Why not leave those secular, and keep the religious holidays to commemorate religious events?
For the record, the commercialization/de-religionization of holidays like Christmas and Pascha annoy me... but if you wanna do something about the other holidays, like Hannukah, I wouldn't mind (c'mon, how cool would it be to have a guy dress up in a rabbi suit, sit under a big menorah in the mall, and give out presents). ;)
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2.) I believe the secular forms of religious holidays are rich cultural forms that have merit in their own right
First of all, how much culture is found in these religious holidays that they could stand alone? Then, didn't the culture arise because of the religion. Wouldn't divorcing one from the other make the cultural aspect worthless?
After all, we do have secular holidays (like that President's Day thing and Thanksgiving). Why not leave those secular, and keep the religious holidays to commemorate religious events?
For the record, the commercialization/de-religionization of holidays like Christmas and Pascha annoy me... but if you wanna do something about the other holidays, like Hannukah, I wouldn't mind (c'mon, how cool would it be to have a guy dress up in a rabbi suit, sit under a big menorah in the mall, and give out presents). ;)