Re: Merry Christmas & Happy new year -- off-topic indeed!
Wow, thanks for enlightening me. That is pretty awful what happened to those women. Thanks for looking into that. But take a look at the history to Christmas traditions. It isn't as Christian as you may have thought. Not quite the same parallels but the origins of much of Christmas are not Christian. http://www.zenzibar.com/Articles/christmas.asp Even though I'm a Christian, and I celebrate Christmas, I do it in a certain spirit, the spirit of giving.life,love, and Christ. I am certainly not worshipping any other gods, nor doing any harm to anyone. The fact is, traditions are not easily forgotten in a culture. They kinda just get new meanings over many years. Sometimes the change is deliberate, sometimes not. I think it is more important to look at what the Kwanzaa holiday means today. If it gives validation to those who celebrate it, and if it is a good thing and does no harm to anyone, why fight it? There are so many other things in this life to fight over that are worth it. The holiday might be good, but the founder evil. Think too about the founders of this country and how some of them had slaves, many of whom may have died at the hands of their 'masters'. Bad practice. So does that fact mean that the US is invalid because it used slaves to build much of the wealth of white people and even our original leaders? No, it does not invalidate the US. It does, however scream out for justice against those who did the offending. Unfortunately, they're dead. I do hope, however, that Karenga was punished well for his crimes. Catherine Geier System Admin/IS support Northwestern College St. Paul, MN 651-631-5284 ckgeier@nwc.edu How blessed is the man who finds wisdom, And the man who gains understanding. For its profit is better than the profit of silver, And its gain than fine gold. She is more precious than jewels; And nothing you desire compares with her. Long life is in her right hand; In her left hand are riches and honor. Her ways are pleasant ways, And all her paths are peace. (The Holy Bible, Proverbs 3:13-17)
You might find this equally 'authoritative' source of information: http://www.bibliotecapleyades.net/sociopolitica/esp_sociopol_mj12_9.htm ( Note the reference under the topic RELIGION ) The point being that you can believe whatever you want to believe, that one source of 'authoritative' references are probably as good as others when it comes to religion and lore, and the Bible is no exception--one 'belief' not really being any more credible than the next one. Plus if you're a writer, there's so much good stuff to use for material. The Da Vinci Code movie is coming, I can't hardly wait! Maybe they will make a TV show out of it. See also: http://www.v-j-enterprises.com/mj12org.html Happy Holidays!