Santa removed from Coke cans. Non-Christians find him "offensive."

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Originally Posted by 3RA1N1AC

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Originally Posted by Leeson

Now I'm not religious in any way or a racist either... but like it or not both the UK and the USA have always been Christian countrys

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wrong. england is a christian country, the u.s.a. is a country in which the majority population happens to be christian.

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True, however you could say the same for the UK, both the UK and the USA are multi-cultural, but what I meant was that they are christian country's in that the majority of the populations are christian

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Originally Posted by Rat Faced

Even the most devout UK Christian (and there arent a lot of them) is an Agnostic compared to some of your lot though. :P

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Sounds like we ought to do it your way, then.:)

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Originally Posted by Rat Faced

On the Intranet at work, they celebtrate every important day of every religion they come across.

They literally publish an article saying why the day is special, and to which groups of people.

Rather than trying to restrict religious or fun holidays, they try to include the staff in all of them.

To me, that is the way to go..

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wrong. england is a christian country, the u.s.a. is a country in which the majority population happens to be christian.

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Even the most devout UK Christian (and there arent a lot of them) is an Agnostic compared to some of your lot though. :P

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From my understanding, there will be a large movement away from religion.

This is not surprising. The UK lot on this forum seem to be atheists.

England is a Christian country, if you're an Anglican. It is also constitutionaly sectarian, which is nice.

The only "Job" I can think of that is constitutionally sectarian, is one you have to be born into anyway.. :rolleyes:

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Originally Posted by Rat Faced

The only "Job" I can think of that is constitutionally sectarian, is one you have to be born into anyway.. :rolleyes:

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They aren't allowed to marry "papists" either.

It is the only minority which this is the case for and it is specifically legislated.

If the case came up, the law would change these days.

We've already seen the interpretations change for Charles and the donkey he married.

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Originally Posted by Rat Faced

If the case came up, the law would change these days.

We've already seen the interpretations change for Charles and the donkey he married.

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It's still there but.

Wasn't she married to a "papist" btw. Which makes it a double irony.

Dunno about his religion...

Ugly, arrogant and rich twat tho... (Bit like his ex really :unsure: )

Its a joke no ? Hey I get two days off with pay to spend money I can't afford to enjoy with my little ones waiting for Santa , I say keep Santa he only comes once a year ( Poor basterd ) and it 's once a year my fucking neibour talks to me . :D

i only read the first page of this thread but it looks like the usual propaganda to me.

it isn't even interesting

Just bought a 2ltr bottle of coke. No polar bears but there is a Santa on both sides. This is clearly a localised US problem.

How will Mr Gibson cope? Degenerate Europe, over-run with Muslims, still have Santas and the US does not? How can this be :blink:

Presumably US shops still play Christmas Carols and have nativity scenes in the window displays though?

Christmas is a joint celebration in which Pagans and Christians and other religions can celebrate new life and new hope without much in the way of dogma. That would be an ecumenical matter then :lol: (one Father Ted fans)

Separate issue

Why do so many presenters on Fox News have dubious books to sell?

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Originally Posted by Biggles

Why do so many presenters on Fox News have dubious books to sell?

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Because they are so poorly paid (relatively speaking).:P

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Originally Posted by j2k4

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Originally Posted by Biggles

Why do so many presenters on Fox News have dubious books to sell?

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Because they are so poorly paid (relatively speaking).:P

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I did wonder :lol:

sorry for the long quote but I found this interesting

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This Season's War Cry: Commercialize Christmas, or Else

By ADAM COHEN
Published: December 4, 2005

Religious conservatives have a cause this holiday season: the commercialization of Christmas. They're for it.

The American Family Association is leading a boycott of Target for not using the words "Merry Christmas" in its advertising. (Target denies it has an anti-Merry-Christmas policy.) The Catholic League boycotted Wal-Mart in part over the way its Web site treated searches for "Christmas." Bill O'Reilly, the Fox anchor who last year started a "Christmas Under Siege" campaign, has a chart on his Web site of stores that use the phrase "Happy Holidays," along with a poll that asks, "Will you shop at stores that do not say 'Merry Christmas'?"

This campaign - which is being hyped on Fox and conservative talk radio - is an odd one. Christmas remains ubiquitous, and with its celebrators in control of the White House, Congress, the Supreme Court and every state supreme court and legislature, it hardly lacks for powerful supporters. There is also something perverse, when Christians are being jailed for discussing the Bible in Saudi Arabia and slaughtered in Sudan, about spending so much energy on stores that sell "holiday trees."

What is less obvious, though, is that Christmas's self-proclaimed defenders are rewriting the holiday's history. They claim that the "traditional" American Christmas is under attack by what John Gibson, another Fox anchor, calls "professional atheists" and "Christian haters." But America has a complicated history with Christmas, going back to the Puritans, who despised it. What the boycotters are doing is not defending America's Christmas traditions, but creating a new version of the holiday that fits a political agenda.

The Puritans considered Christmas un-Christian, and hoped to keep it out of America. They could not find Dec. 25 in the Bible, their sole source of religious guidance, and insisted that the date derived from Saturnalia, the Roman heathens' wintertime celebration. On their first Dec. 25 in the New World, in 1620, the Puritans worked on building projects and ostentatiously ignored the holiday. From 1659 to 1681 Massachusetts went further, making celebrating Christmas "by forbearing of labor, feasting or in any other way" a crime.

The concern that Christmas distracted from religious piety continued even after Puritanism waned. In 1827, an Episcopal bishop lamented that the Devil had stolen Christmas "and converted it into a day of worldly festivity, shooting and swearing." Throughout the 1800's, many religious leaders were still trying to hold the line. As late as 1855, New York newspapers reported that Presbyterian, Baptist and Methodist churches were closed on Dec. 25 because "they do not accept the day as a Holy One." On the eve of the Civil War, Christmas was recognized in just 18 states.

Christmas gained popularity when it was transformed into a domestic celebration, after the publication of Clement Clarke Moore's "Visit from St. Nicholas" and Thomas Nast's Harper's Weekly drawings, which created the image of a white-bearded Santa who gave gifts to children. The new emphasis lessened religious leaders' worries that the holiday would be given over to drinking and swearing, but it introduced another concern: commercialism. By the 1920's, the retail industry had adopted Christmas as its own, sponsoring annual ceremonies to kick off the "Christmas shopping season."

Religious leaders objected strongly. The Christmas that emerged had an inherent tension: merchants tried to make it about buying, while clergymen tried to keep commerce out. A 1931 Times roundup of Christmas sermons reported a common theme: "the suggestion that Christmas could not survive if Christ were thrust into the background by materialism." A 1953 Methodist sermon broadcast on NBC - typical of countless such sermons - lamented that Christmas had become a "profit-seeking period." This ethic found popular expression in "A Charlie Brown Christmas." In the 1965 TV special, Charlie Brown ignores Lucy's advice to "get the biggest aluminum tree you can find" and her assertion that Christmas is "a big commercial racket," and finds a more spiritual way to observe the day.

This year's Christmas "defenders" are not just tolerating commercialization - they're insisting on it. They are also rewriting Christmas history on another key point: non-Christians' objection to having the holiday forced on them.

The campaign's leaders insist this is a new phenomenon - a "liberal plot," in Mr. Gibson's words. But as early as 1906, the Committee on Elementary Schools in New York City urged that Christmas hymns be banned from the classroom, after a boycott by more than 20,000 Jewish students. In 1946, the Rabbinical Assembly of America declared that calling on Jewish children to sing Christmas carols was "an infringement on their rights as Americans."

Other non-Christians have long expressed similar concerns. For decades, companies have replaced "Christmas parties" with "holiday parties," schools have adopted "winter breaks" instead of "Christmas breaks," and TV stations and stores have used phrases like "Happy Holidays" and "Season's Greetings" out of respect for the nation's religious diversity.

The Christmas that Mr. O'Reilly and his allies are promoting - one closely aligned with retailers, with a smack-down attitude toward nonobservers - fits with their campaign to make America more like a theocracy, with Christian displays on public property and Christian prayer in public schools.

It does not, however, appear to be catching on with the public. That may be because most Americans do not recognize this commercialized, mean-spirited Christmas as their own. Of course, it's not even clear the campaign's leaders really believe in it. Just a few days ago, Fox News's online store was promoting its "Holiday Collection" for shoppers. Among the items offered to put under a "holiday tree" was "The O'Reilly Factor Holiday Ornament." After bloggers pointed this out, Fox changed the "holidays" to "Christmases."

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Sad bunch of people.

Quote:

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Originally Posted by vidcc

sorry for the long quote but I found this interesting

Quote:

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This Season's War Cry: Commercialize Christmas, or Else

By ADAM COHEN
Published: December 4, 2005

Religious conservatives have a cause this holiday season: the commercialization of Christmas. They're for it.

The American Family Association is leading a boycott of Target for not using the words "Merry Christmas" in its advertising. (Target denies it has an anti-Merry-Christmas policy.) The Catholic League boycotted Wal-Mart in part over the way its Web site treated searches for "Christmas." Bill O'Reilly, the Fox anchor who last year started a "Christmas Under Siege" campaign, has a chart on his Web site of stores that use the phrase "Happy Holidays," along with a poll that asks, "Will you shop at stores that do not say 'Merry Christmas'?"

This campaign - which is being hyped on Fox and conservative talk radio - is an odd one. Christmas remains ubiquitous, and with its celebrators in control of the White House, Congress, the Supreme Court and every state supreme court and legislature, it hardly lacks for powerful supporters. There is also something perverse, when Christians are being jailed for discussing the Bible in Saudi Arabia and slaughtered in Sudan, about spending so much energy on stores that sell "holiday trees."

What is less obvious, though, is that Christmas's self-proclaimed defenders are rewriting the holiday's history. They claim that the "traditional" American Christmas is under attack by what John Gibson, another Fox anchor, calls "professional atheists" and "Christian haters." But America has a complicated history with Christmas, going back to the Puritans, who despised it. What the boycotters are doing is not defending America's Christmas traditions, but creating a new version of the holiday that fits a political agenda.

The Puritans considered Christmas un-Christian, and hoped to keep it out of America. They could not find Dec. 25 in the Bible, their sole source of religious guidance, and insisted that the date derived from Saturnalia, the Roman heathens' wintertime celebration. On their first Dec. 25 in the New World, in 1620, the Puritans worked on building projects and ostentatiously ignored the holiday. From 1659 to 1681 Massachusetts went further, making celebrating Christmas "by forbearing of labor, feasting or in any other way" a crime.

The concern that Christmas distracted from religious piety continued even after Puritanism waned. In 1827, an Episcopal bishop lamented that the Devil had stolen Christmas "and converted it into a day of worldly festivity, shooting and swearing." Throughout the 1800's, many religious leaders were still trying to hold the line. As late as 1855, New York newspapers reported that Presbyterian, Baptist and Methodist churches were closed on Dec. 25 because "they do not accept the day as a Holy One." On the eve of the Civil War, Christmas was recognized in just 18 states.

Christmas gained popularity when it was transformed into a domestic celebration, after the publication of Clement Clarke Moore's "Visit from St. Nicholas" and Thomas Nast's Harper's Weekly drawings, which created the image of a white-bearded Santa who gave gifts to children. The new emphasis lessened religious leaders' worries that the holiday would be given over to drinking and swearing, but it introduced another concern: commercialism. By the 1920's, the retail industry had adopted Christmas as its own, sponsoring annual ceremonies to kick off the "Christmas shopping season."

Religious leaders objected strongly. The Christmas that emerged had an inherent tension: merchants tried to make it about buying, while clergymen tried to keep commerce out. A 1931 Times roundup of Christmas sermons reported a common theme: "the suggestion that Christmas could not survive if Christ were thrust into the background by materialism." A 1953 Methodist sermon broadcast on NBC - typical of countless such sermons - lamented that Christmas had become a "profit-seeking period." This ethic found popular expression in "A Charlie Brown Christmas." In the 1965 TV special, Charlie Brown ignores Lucy's advice to "get the biggest aluminum tree you can find" and her assertion that Christmas is "a big commercial racket," and finds a more spiritual way to observe the day.

This year's Christmas "defenders" are not just tolerating commercialization - they're insisting on it. They are also rewriting Christmas history on another key point: non-Christians' objection to having the holiday forced on them.

The campaign's leaders insist this is a new phenomenon - a "liberal plot," in Mr. Gibson's words. But as early as 1906, the Committee on Elementary Schools in New York City urged that Christmas hymns be banned from the classroom, after a boycott by more than 20,000 Jewish students. In 1946, the Rabbinical Assembly of America declared that calling on Jewish children to sing Christmas carols was "an infringement on their rights as Americans."

Other non-Christians have long expressed similar concerns. For decades, companies have replaced "Christmas parties" with "holiday parties," schools have adopted "winter breaks" instead of "Christmas breaks," and TV stations and stores have used phrases like "Happy Holidays" and "Season's Greetings" out of respect for the nation's religious diversity.

The Christmas that Mr. O'Reilly and his allies are promoting - one closely aligned with retailers, with a smack-down attitude toward nonobservers - fits with their campaign to make America more like a theocracy, with Christian displays on public property and Christian prayer in public schools.

It does not, however, appear to be catching on with the public. That may be because most Americans do not recognize this commercialized, mean-spirited Christmas as their own. Of course, it's not even clear the campaign's leaders really believe in it. Just a few days ago, Fox News's online store was promoting its "Holiday Collection" for shoppers. Among the items offered to put under a "holiday tree" was "The O'Reilly Factor Holiday Ornament." After bloggers pointed this out, Fox changed the "holidays" to "Christmases."

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I've known most of this for decades. Good post vid.;)

Most of these defenders of Christmas probably don't even mention Jesus on that day and should STFU!!!:angry:

I only celebrate it 'cause of my gf and child. My mother and gf always ask what do I want and I say, "nothing but peace".

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Originally Posted by j2k4

I wonder if Gibson would mind if dear old Santa were merely relegated to the caffeine-free diet can? :huh:

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gibson might complain that the conspiracy is trying to ruin christmas by depriving santa of the delicious sugar and caffeine that helps him maintain his voluptuous ursine figure? :P

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Originally Posted by 3RA1N1AC

Quote:

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Originally Posted by j2k4

I wonder if Gibson would mind if dear old Santa were merely relegated to the caffeine-free diet can? :huh:

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gibson might complain that the conspiracy is trying to ruin christmas by depriving santa of the delicious sugar and caffeine that helps him maintain his voluptuous ursine figure? :P

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Actually, that's all lost on me; I prefer Pepsi.

http://www.blabworld.com/devildesign/card6.jpg

WHY ISN'T THIS GUY ON COKE CANS!!

http://www.pernicky.cz/bitmaps/vyrob...t_mikulas_.jpg

he's part of christmas. :chris: :devil: :chris:

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Originally Posted by 3RA1N1AC

http://www.blabworld.com/devildesign/card6.jpg

WHY ISN'T THIS GUY ON COKE CANS!!

http://www.pernicky.cz/bitmaps/vyrob...t_mikulas_.jpg

he's part of christmas. :chris: :devil: :chris:

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While he has a relatively high "Q" rating, he's just not that popular; neither is there any seasonal aspect to his presence in our lives.

Last time I was in the store (which was before this was posted, admittedly), Santa was on the Coke packaging...

I've to go again this morning, and since I can't make a Long Island without cola, I'll report on Santa's whereabouts. ;)

I did, however, nick his cap.

:shuriken:

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Originally Posted by j2k4

While he has a relatively high "Q" rating, he's just not that popular

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the chicken or the egg.

he's not on coke cans because he isn't popular?

or

he isn't popular because he's not on coke cans?

i mean. take santa off the coke cans and his popularity's prolly going to take a dive, too. coke cans are very important to upholding our seasonal traditions, i heard something to this effect on foxnews.

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Originally Posted by 3RA1N1AC

...i heard something to this effect on foxnews.

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Surely not! :O

I believe President Bush has fallen foul of the "Holiday Syndrome" and can expect a call from Mr Gibson.

Apparently the Whitehouse Christmas Card neglects to say the word Christmas and opts for the word Holiday instead. This has bent a number of people out of shape it would seem.

Although not a Bush fan I would have some sympathy with him if he said "there is no pleasing some people" :)

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Originally Posted by Biggles

I believe President Bush has fallen foul of the "Holiday Syndrome" and can expect a call from Mr Gibson

Although not a Bush fan I would have some sympathy with him...

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Surely not! :O

crazy stuff happening...

You'd be better off complaining about what's IN a can of coke, not what's printed on the outside :huh:



Anyway, Back to dear old Santa, an old man with a thick bushy beard, who sneaks into childrens bedrooms in the middle of the night, and gives them sweets and prezzies....

Does this sound right to you? :paedo:

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Originally Posted by Barbarossa

You'd be better off complaining about what's IN a can of coke, not what's printed on the outside :huh:



Anyway, Back to dear old Santa, an old man with a thick bushy beard, who sneaks into childrens bedrooms in the middle of the night, and gives them sweets and prezzies....

Does this sound right to you? :paedo:

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Too true.

Had a buddy lose a really nice custom paint-job to a bunch of Coca Cola wielding idiots at his wedding reception.

Ruined his honeymoon.:huh:

probably not a good link for people without broadband but this was on CNN. The most sane thing i have seen so far in the news about this "war on christmas" myth

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Originally Posted by vidcc

probably not a good link for people without broadband but this was on CNN. The most sane thing i have seen so far in the news about this "war on christmas" myth

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What kills me is that Bob mentioned Christians and Christmas in the same sentence yet I don't a thing about religion at Christmas time.

Bob mentioned "spending billions of dollars" though.:dry:

If you ain't talkin' about Jesus with Christmas, shut the hell up.

People who don't even religiously celebrate Christmas are talkin' shit about an attack on their religion. Wtf!!??

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SEDER: Listen, as far as the war on Christmas goes, I feel like we should be waging a war on Christmas. I mean, I believe that Christmas, it’s almost proven that Christmas has nuclear weapons, can be an imminent threat to this country, that they have operative ties with terrorists and I believe that we should sacrifice thousands of American lives in pursuit of this war on Christmas. And hundreds of billions of dollars of taxpayer money.

PHILLIPS: Is it a war on Christmas, a war on Christians, a war on over-political correctness or just a lot of people with way too much time on their hands?

SEDER: I would say probably, if I was to be serious about it, too much time on their hands, but I’d like to get back to the operational ties between Santa Claus and al Qaeda.

PHILLIPS: I don’t think that exists. Bob? Help me out here.

SEDER: We have intelligence, we have intelligence.

PHILLIPS: You have intel. Where exactly does your intel come from?

SEDER: Well, we have tortured an elf and it’s actually how we got the same information from Al Libbi. It’s exactly the same way the Bush administration got this info about the operational ties between al Qaeda and Saddam.

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...:lol:

In the UK, the Red Cross has decided that their offices can't have items which celebrate Christmas. Perhaps they should remove the word Cross from their name.

santa has a posse. at least in the netherlands, he does. and i mean "posse" in the most urbandictionary.com sort of way.

christmas rallies back against the grinches with a full month of christmas-themed television.

http://www.holylemon.com/NightBeforeXmas.html

why is larry the cable guy so unfunny?

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Originally Posted by HeavyMetalParkingLot

http://www.holylemon.com/NightBeforeXmas.html

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That was great. :lol:

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Originally Posted by HeavyMetalParkingLot

http://www.holylemon.com/NightBeforeXmas.html

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:lol: :lol: Hilarious!!!

Bill O'riely's head must explode when he sees the "Happy Honda Days" adverts