Tuesday, December 14, 2004
death to "Chrismukkah"
I'd just like to say, since it's been in the news way too much lately, that I think "the interfaith holiday of Chrismukkah" is a damn stupid idea and one we should discard before it goes any further.
I've celebrated Christmas and Chanukah (spell them right, you idiots!) with my family my entire life, always as secular holidays, and ALWAYS, ALWAYS separately! First of all, the dates are different, and only very rarely do they ever coincide. Second of all, let's not forget that while Christians and Jews may be intermarrying like crazy now, the two religions directly contradict each other and the very least we can do is acknowledge their differences and perhaps even celebrate them.
Let's not forget that Christians have and in some places continue to make a very profitable living out of persecuting Jews and making sure that they remain alive but miserable, and Jews don't exactly like the whole "Jesus is Lord" thing either.
That said, my mother happens to have been raised Anglican, and my father was raised Jewish. Both are incredibly bitter about their religious upbringings and brought me up so that I could choose one religion or the other, or (probably more likely) neither. While I have evolved into a healthy atheist, I have at least been educated in aspects of both traditions.
But let's not kid ourselves and pretend that Judaism and Christianity are now compatible religions, because they're not. The reasons are invariably complicated, but attempting to combine the two is dumb, and an insult to everyone, secular or religious, Jewish or Christian.
People like this dude: http://www.chrismukkah.com/misc/blog/ need to get a life in a big way.
That, and he should learn to spell his holidays.
End of rant.
-N
