[WikiEN-l] Re: Announcing a policy proposal

Wed May 18 18:23:22 UTC 2005

Poor, Edmund W wrote:

>Are we STILL discussing this?
>
>If you THINK that use of AD/BC implies "endorsement of the truth of
>Christianity", then you're in a fantasy world. It's just a habit. Many
>retail stores gear up for the Christmas holidays and even derive a
>substantial fraction of their income from the Xmas season. Does this
>mean they ENDORSE Christianity? 
>
Is there any support in Jewish tradition for the idea of a Chanukah 
bush?  One fine tradition of ancient times was to adopt the timetable of 
local pagan festivals and gradualy subvert its purpose so that the 
festivals celebrated the traditions of the new masters.  To be effective 
subverters do not announce their intention.  At this rate we can expect 
that in due time the name "Christmas" will be changed to "Marketing Day".

>Even the ANTI-RELIGIOUS Soviet Union continued to use the same numbering
>system for years as the (Christian) West. Nobody EVER thought that this
>usage implied any endorsement (or even TOLERANCE) of religion on their
>part.
>
They did not just continue it; they adopted it.  Before the revolution 
Russia was still using the Orthodox Julian calendar.  The Soviet 
government brought the country into line with everybody else on this point.

>This whole thing smacks of an "anti-religious agenda", rather than any
>sincere effort towards neutrality. 
>
Not really.  Those belonging to non-christian religious traditions are 
the ones more likely to find offence.  The anti-religious are more 
likely to be content with the present system.  That makes for a strange 
alliance of convenience between atheists and fundamentalist Christians.