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so many different groups now hold celebrations around the time of the soltice that they're bumping into each other and causing conflict in what should be a happy time.

christmas trees were removed from the Seattle-Tacoma airport because a rabbi threatened to sue about the absence of menorahs for instance, even though the tree is a pagan symbol and not really christian at all.

so why not just declare a generic public holiday, call it winterfest (or some other name if you have a better one in mind) and hype it for gift giving and Santa and Rudolph and Frosty and then let the different spiritual celebrations be held quietly and peacefully without interfering with each other?

I'm wiccan... so i celebrate Yule.... however my family is Christan..... So i get do both.... double the presents is all good!!!
But i like the idea of a winter holiday for all... i always felt bad about celebrating Christmas and Yule around people whose religion didn't have an excuse to give goodies...... Or maybe even one that celebrated all the winter holidays or something.......

Yea, and no one would want their religion to just be part of a mass celebration.

Exactly. But you would probably miss your traditions, and want them back, wouldnt you?

its human nature to war. Getting along was not built into us. We were designed to survive, and keep what we believe.

The warlike ones are just louder.

if you look at American politics it looks pretty extreme, right?

You're either a conservative Christian waiting for marriage and againts any kind of privacy or choice, also bureaucratic. Extremist right

Or

You're a liberal, following hippy ideals of free love, pot smoking, lazy and homosexual, also communist. Extremist left

Truth is most of America is neither. Most of America is moderate kinda on the line about most of it. The Extremists are just the loudest so it seems like they're everyone, but they're not.

IMO Everyone needs to chill out a little.
We should be concentrating on art and spirituality and living life to the fullest rather than stepping on as many people's rights as possible.

I honestly don't care about religion, but in keeping with the rest of my convictions, what goes on behind closed doors is none of my business.
Be whatever you want, just don't even think about lecturing me about how sinful I am or that I need to practice free love.

The moderates are the ones that watch from afar and shake their heads, cause they didn't think it mattered enough to die over. They're there, just not holding megaphones.

There's what you are then, a predator.

I think I would use the word hunter though.

I used to have this theory that everyone's personality can be typafied into some type of fighter, like a warrior or a soldier. I would consider myself a warrior, at least one in training. Theoretically though I will train to be a hunter and an assasin as well. I fear I have been losing the ideals that define a warrior and that I will become an assasin. I do not want to, I like my lofty ideals.

Everyone idolizes snipers.
They all fancy themselves to be snipers too.