nyssa@terminus.UUCP (The Prime Minister) (12/23/87)
A word about the newsgroups: soc.singles: Where I happened into this discussion talk.religion.misc: A cross post (initial) talk.bizarre: A cross post (initial) soc.women: Later articles were cross posted here. alt.flame: Later articles were also cross posted here. att.workplace: There is a discussion about Christmas going here, too. My machine only gets soc.singles and att.workplace from the above group. All followups are directed to talk.religion.misc. This discussion got my attention from a discussion titled "How to keep JW (Jehovah's Witnesses) off your back". It contained several amusing ideas on what to do when they come knocking at your door. I did not partake in this discussion, although I did read it. One user posted a comment that atheists were more intolerant than any religion. I took offense to that comment, and said so. I also suggested some possible changes to society to reduce the overwhelming Christian culture which may oppress those who are not Christian. They were (1) Removing the clause "under God" from the pledge of allegience. (2) Removing Christmas from the set of National holidays. For these suggestions I have been flamed, claiming that I am intolerant. I guess my lack of tolerance comes from the fact that I am not willing to let the majority dictate to me when I do and do not have my holidays. So be it. If people view that as tolerance, then I am glad that I am intolerant, and would encourage others to show similar intolerance! Alas, here, they lock up the building Thursday at 12 noon or so, and don't unlock it until Saturday. This is not done for other holidays, so the idea of making a deal with supervision to work Friday for a day off later is no good. I have to take Friday off, whether I want to or not. Of course, I can accept the argument that it has become a cultural rather than religous holiday. I may not like it, but I'll bet that there are many people who don't like other holidays as well. BUT, if it is secular, let me suggest changing the name of the holiday from Christmas to something more appropriate. (Feast of Mammon, perhaps?) I do not want to prevent anyone from excercising their religion as they so choose. I object to being forced to "celebrate" that day with them. Actually, an aspect of my utopia would include the elimination of all mandatory days off, and replace them with the floating days to compensate. That way, a member of any religion can take the days needed without prejudice. People who want to work through a holiday can, and use the holiday more productively later. I know this will never happen. (Although one company I know does practice that; they're not hiring.) I'm sorry about wasting your time, I just wanted to clear the air.