Showing posts with label Grant. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Grant. Show all posts
30 May 2012
Praise: Barack Obama on Jewish American Heritage Month
Although I am Jewish, I was not aware of the history of Presidents Lincoln and Grant that President Obama describes here. Very interesting. The United States slowly is becoming a more perfect union, with greater equality for all. All benefit from equality.
07 December 2011
Praise: Christmas in the United States
This may seem like a very strange blog post for a Jew to write. It is the season once again for the supposed War on Christmas and I find myself getting ready to wish friends, family, students, and colleagues "Merry Christmas" as I always do. The controversy now includes a War on Christmas website. Really??!? They need a website to focus just on "Merry Christmas" instead of "Happy Holidays"?
There are some reasons for a Jew to not take any of this seriously. For starters, the religious holiday is not my holiday. Jesus was supposed to have been Jewish, but Jews do not worship fellow Jews. Christians worship Jesus; good for them. New 2 Torah, not a Jewish website, has a funny article and cartoon about Christmas. Here's the cartoon:
If you are curious, Jeremiah 10:1-5 really does prohibit Christmas trees. And television personalities like Bill O'Reilly really do believe that American society is losing the Christian roots of Christmas. But, this is not a twenty-first century phenomenon, it has its origins in the nineteenth century.
In 1870, President Ulysses S. Grant declared Christmas a federal secular holiday. It had to be a secular holiday because of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. So, the 26th of December 2011 will mark 141 years of Christmas being a secular holiday in the United States.
If you are wondering why it isn't the 25th, that is because the purpose of the secular holiday is to give federal employees a day off. The 25th is a Sunday and is already a day off. Because of public employee unions, this year federal employees will also enjoy Monday the 26th as a day to spend with their families.
Because Christmas is a federal secular holiday in addition to (not instead of) being a religious holiday for Christians, I feel very comfortable wishing everyone a Merry Christmas, even in school.
19 December 2011, FollowUp Apology. This cartoon has been modified from the original, full explanation and the original art is included with my apology.
There are some reasons for a Jew to not take any of this seriously. For starters, the religious holiday is not my holiday. Jesus was supposed to have been Jewish, but Jews do not worship fellow Jews. Christians worship Jesus; good for them. New 2 Torah, not a Jewish website, has a funny article and cartoon about Christmas. Here's the cartoon:
If you are curious, Jeremiah 10:1-5 really does prohibit Christmas trees. And television personalities like Bill O'Reilly really do believe that American society is losing the Christian roots of Christmas. But, this is not a twenty-first century phenomenon, it has its origins in the nineteenth century.
In 1870, President Ulysses S. Grant declared Christmas a federal secular holiday. It had to be a secular holiday because of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment to the United States Constitution. So, the 26th of December 2011 will mark 141 years of Christmas being a secular holiday in the United States.
If you are wondering why it isn't the 25th, that is because the purpose of the secular holiday is to give federal employees a day off. The 25th is a Sunday and is already a day off. Because of public employee unions, this year federal employees will also enjoy Monday the 26th as a day to spend with their families.
Because Christmas is a federal secular holiday in addition to (not instead of) being a religious holiday for Christians, I feel very comfortable wishing everyone a Merry Christmas, even in school.
19 December 2011, FollowUp Apology. This cartoon has been modified from the original, full explanation and the original art is included with my apology.
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