The War Against Christmas in Ludington?!

[XLFD]

When the Ludington City Council meeting met on December 5th, City Councilor A. "Pete" Engblade noted the absence of the mention of Christmas in this year's "Aglow on the Avenue" Holdiday Parade, and it was bantered about at the end of the meeting.  While not by any means conclusive of some anti-Christmas bias, the councilor had a point.

111205LCC from Mason County District Library on Vimeo.

 

Fox News' Bill O'Reilly coined the term "War on Christmas" just after the turn of the millenium.  His claim was that any specific mention of the term "Christmas" or its religious aspects was being increasingly censored, avoided, or discouraged by a number of advertisers, retailers, government (prominently schools), and other public and secular organizations. 

 

O'Reilly's claims often centered around a secular progressive movement which advocated a politically-correct term for December 25 which didn't mention any reference to anything Christian, particularly the fact that it is the celebration of Jesus Christ's birth.  Christmas is a federally recognized holiday, and many non-Christians celebrate the day in a mostly traditional way.  O'Reilly advocated the use of the word "Christmas" instead of the increasingly popular usage of "holiday", "winter day off", etc. 

 

It looks as if the City of Ludington had made a conscious decision to avoid using the term "Christmas" in its 'holiday' events.  The evidence of this happening is stark.  Consider the City's ad for this parade on their website:

Notice there is no mention of the word Christmas whereas the word Holiday is used throughout five separate times to refer to that day.  Undoubtedly, the carols that were sung were approved beforehand so as to not offend anyone by the mention of "Christ" or "Christmas".

 

But this is not the only indication of the avoidance of mentioning Christmas.  The Downtown Ludington Board in 2010 published their "Downtown Update" on preparations for Christmas celebrations without even mentioning Christmas once, but using the term holiday sixteen times!

http://www.ludington.mi.us/Ludington/Newsletter_October_2010.pdf

In it's Holiday Happenings they continued that trend, once again 16-0

http://www.ludington.mi.us/news/news_detail_T2_R335.html

 

Back in 2009, the same DU newsletter only mentioned Christmas once (as part of an event, 'Christmas Open House) and "holiday" was used the 15 other times

http://www.ludington.mi.us/Ludington/Newsletter_October_2009.pdf

 

At the same time our sister city on the lake, Manistee, proudly promote Christmas and market their parade as a classical Victorian Christmas parade.  In this advertisement they mention Christmas 17 times and holiday only once.  http://www.visitmanisteemichigan.com/stories/manistee_victorian_sle...

 

The long length of traditional Christmas activities in Manistee on the same weekend of Ludington's lackluster celebration of the winter solstice holiday that our Downtown Ludington Board has created makes it no surprise that even the Ludington Daily News had more coverage of Manistee's events than our own.  I know which one sounds more interesting to me.

 

Please Ludington City leaders, quit standing in the way of the people once again having a Christmas Parade in Ludington.  Remember what is the reason for the season.

[XLFD]

That's the way to look at it.  You don't have to become a Pagan to enjoy Halloween for the richness of its traditions-- and you don't even get a day off then.  And only the most uptight Christian will fear to actually utter the word "Halloween", like some PC people are for mentioning "Christmas".

[Dave]

Basically, if you want to say "Happy Holidays", cool... if you want to say "Merry Christmas", that's cool too. While I'm at work, I tend not to say anything other then "Thank You" when the transaction is done.. figure that way I avoid offending anyone, if the customer wants to wish me a "happy holidays" or a "Merry Christmas", I'll return the favor.

[Guidothesemipsuedocaptitalistpig]

I would say happy holidays is fine if it were not for the fact the actual holiday that is celebrated as a Federal holiday that occurs on the 25th of Dec each year is called Christmas. Yes.. there are several other holidays during this time of year. One older than, a several younger historically than Christmas is. If someone walked up to me on the street and wished me a happy Chanukah, Correct spelling is with a Ch by the way. I smile and wish them the same. If they would wish me a happy Quanza I would smile and do the same. So why is it so hard for mostly atheists to get over themselves and accept my holiday whether they personally celebrate it or not?

     I am quite sure most of the folks who got down to Orleans during the Marty gras are not there to celebrate the religious ramifications of this Roman Catholic holiday. Co-opted by Pagan or Cajan celebrations. Should I or anyone else get upset by that? I don't think so. It is a reason to forget about life's very petty issues and try to be happy. If you don't like ( or get)that concept, Don't expect me or anyone else to have feelings for your poor fragile lives with a reason to be happy.

       In the Christian faith the Bible Mark 8:38 says " If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his Fathers glory with the Holy angels.

       I am not a judge...The Bible tells us we are not suppossed to be, but I wouldn't want to be on the wrong side of that statement is I were a practicing Christian, true?

[Dave]

Hopefully, any atheist that wants to create such a stink about Christmas, doesn't participate in any gift giving or other activities associated with the season... it would make them very much hypocritical if they did.

[masonco]

Wait....Isn't that holiday Ludington celebrating Solistace which is a religious holiday too? 

If they are celebrating a holiday known for being opposite of Christian, why can't Christian be included?

[Dave]

It all comes down to stupidity... won't be surprised if down the road atheist want church's closed and knocked down because they offend them. You'd think they would be more worried about those being that a church is there 365 days a year and you only see Christmas stuff for about a month or so a year.

[AQUAMAN]

Dave, I think you touched on a very important point, that being, this is really a short-lived deal to begin with. It's a couple of weeks or stretching to a month at the end of the year, not something we show and say year around. No one is forcing everyone to acknowledge these traditions either. It's supposed to be a time of peace, harmony, love, and tossing the pressures of the rest of year away for a short while. But, it seems stupidities must prevail in the press on this issue, that never was any issue until recently when all the Nay-sayers got so much attention and praise for being so politically right.