Where is it written that reeking religious faith is any more courteous than reeking perfume?
I don't see how overhearing one Christian wishing another one Merry Christmas does the listener any harm. I agree that it's discourteous to wish someone Merry Christmas if you're not certain of his or her religious beliefs, and downright disrespectful if you know him or her to be of a non-Christian faith. When in doubt, which is often here in the tech worker melting pot of the SF bay area, I say Happy Holidays.
Banners aimed at no one in particular don't trouble me. Because, like, they're not aimed at anyone in particular, so if it doesn't apply to you, why not just ignore it? Anyway, I'm inclined to take any good-spirited holiday greeting I can get! Want to wish me a Happy Hanukah? Why, thank you, same to you!
It'd be different if someone were marching around with a placard defaming a religion. Entirely within their rights, and entirely ugly. I seem to recall some "art", shown at taxpayer expense mind you, involving excrement smeared on a painting of Mary. Now, that galls me!
Worse still, I'll bet many of the self-proclaimed civil libertarians defending such vulgarities would have no problem loudly condemning a Star of David or a copy of the Koran smeared in excrement. The palpable asymmetry in PC thought further reinforces the alienation Christians feel despite their majority status. |
