Apologies
I owe Digi, Dave, and placebo all apologies. What started out at a cross between curiosity/venting about the secularizaion of a religious holiday degenerated into something I did not intend. The posts have been deleted due to this.
However, since my offense was public, my apologies should be as well. (I did try to email them as well, but I somehow am missing email addresses . . . probably because I couldn't send email for nearly 3 months due to issues with Outlook.)
Digi, apparently I was rude in my response to you. I did not intend to be. My main point was supposed to be that while I think it is great you (and others) take the time to celebrate people you love, I wish society in general (not just you) could refer to it as something other than Christmas. I think that is best way to respect the Christian belief about the holiday as well as letting you celebrate without having the Christian religious overtones added to your celebration. I in no way meant to disparage your beliefs or traditions. I apologize for said implication and offense. You kind of got the blunt end of my rant/frustration in general and that isn't right. You are a wonderful person who I care very much about and I should be more considerate towards you. Please accept my apologies and assurances I will try to do better in the future.
Placebo, I do not like to be accused of rudeness or intolerance, especially when it comes to religious beliefs. I highly value every person's right to choose for themselves what to belief, or not to believe. (That doesn't mean I think other beliefs are right just that other people have a right to believe them.) For the record, I was not intending to try to tell anyone what to belief, or how to "have a relationship with their deity." It was a hard pill to swallow, being told I was being rude and intolerant and such. I will take your word that I came across that way, because I don't see you normally saying those things just to be spiteful. But, instead of walking away and thinking about what you said, I responded in anger rather snittily. Not only should I not have gotten upset, I should never speak in anger - or in this case, type in anger. I'm sorry for that. You did and do not deserve the tone or words I used with you. Thank you for calling me out on it, and correcting me. I hope you will forgive me, and will continue to call me on it when I appear to be rude and intolerant.
Dave, you brought up many good points. Some I agree with and some I don't . . but that is the way the world works. It would be boring if everyone always agreed on everything. However, I read placebo's response to me (in which it was brought to my attention I was being rude) at the same time I read yours, and his comment about rudeness bothered me and some of that anger unintentionally got thrown your way. Please accept my apology.
Now, all that being said, I stand by my belief that there should be two separate terms used for religious holidays (whatever they may be) and any non-religious holiday that occurs at the same time. Is this an unrealistic view? Absolutely, it will never happen. Doesn't stop me from thinking it should, though. After all, I think there should be world peace and an end to hunger, and those aren't gonna happen either. However, (and you might want to mark this day down on your calendars, this is a first), I was wrong to speak the way I did to and about others in regards to their personal beliefs and/traditions. If anyone else out there took offense to anything I said, please accept this general apology to all.
However, since my offense was public, my apologies should be as well. (I did try to email them as well, but I somehow am missing email addresses . . . probably because I couldn't send email for nearly 3 months due to issues with Outlook.)
Digi, apparently I was rude in my response to you. I did not intend to be. My main point was supposed to be that while I think it is great you (and others) take the time to celebrate people you love, I wish society in general (not just you) could refer to it as something other than Christmas. I think that is best way to respect the Christian belief about the holiday as well as letting you celebrate without having the Christian religious overtones added to your celebration. I in no way meant to disparage your beliefs or traditions. I apologize for said implication and offense. You kind of got the blunt end of my rant/frustration in general and that isn't right. You are a wonderful person who I care very much about and I should be more considerate towards you. Please accept my apologies and assurances I will try to do better in the future.
Placebo, I do not like to be accused of rudeness or intolerance, especially when it comes to religious beliefs. I highly value every person's right to choose for themselves what to belief, or not to believe. (That doesn't mean I think other beliefs are right just that other people have a right to believe them.) For the record, I was not intending to try to tell anyone what to belief, or how to "have a relationship with their deity." It was a hard pill to swallow, being told I was being rude and intolerant and such. I will take your word that I came across that way, because I don't see you normally saying those things just to be spiteful. But, instead of walking away and thinking about what you said, I responded in anger rather snittily. Not only should I not have gotten upset, I should never speak in anger - or in this case, type in anger. I'm sorry for that. You did and do not deserve the tone or words I used with you. Thank you for calling me out on it, and correcting me. I hope you will forgive me, and will continue to call me on it when I appear to be rude and intolerant.
Dave, you brought up many good points. Some I agree with and some I don't . . but that is the way the world works. It would be boring if everyone always agreed on everything. However, I read placebo's response to me (in which it was brought to my attention I was being rude) at the same time I read yours, and his comment about rudeness bothered me and some of that anger unintentionally got thrown your way. Please accept my apology.
Now, all that being said, I stand by my belief that there should be two separate terms used for religious holidays (whatever they may be) and any non-religious holiday that occurs at the same time. Is this an unrealistic view? Absolutely, it will never happen. Doesn't stop me from thinking it should, though. After all, I think there should be world peace and an end to hunger, and those aren't gonna happen either. However, (and you might want to mark this day down on your calendars, this is a first), I was wrong to speak the way I did to and about others in regards to their personal beliefs and/traditions. If anyone else out there took offense to anything I said, please accept this general apology to all.