What War on Christmas?

One of silliest headlines in the news these days is about some alleged war on Christmas. As if there is some concerted effort on the part of the media or maybe non-Christians to eliminate Christmas from American culture. Or perhaps just to eliminate the religious part of Christmas.

And you know that by saying there's a religious part of Christmas means there's part of Christmas that's actually not religious, right?

But if there is any sort of war on Christmas, then I think Christians lost it a long time ago. Maybe they lost it when they decided to hold the celebration around the time of the winter solstice in the first place. Or maybe they lost it when they started making Santa and home decorations more important than any religious symbol. Even when you find a nativity scene in the home of a religious family, when is it not dwarfed by the scope of other decorations? We see wreaths, lights, garland, lawn decorations and of course the huge Christmas tree (or trees, some homes now erecting more than one) boasting its own lights and shiny ornaments.

To me, most of the myths surrounding Santa Claus seem to violate religious principles. For instance, telling children that it is Santa who knows whether they're being behaving correctly or not ascribes to him a power which should belong only to God. Doesn't it compromise a child's moral compass when he's told that he needs to be good because Santa will know rather than because God will know?

And let's not forget that because Santa does not exist, just telling children that he does is already a lie. And I'm sure it's a practice in many households that some if not all of the gifts parents buy for their children are assumed to have been delivered from the NorthPole. Consequently children don't learn to express gratitude as they are instructed to believe that a mythical figure is bringing their gifts rather than their parents or other family members.

And I really wonder when it became so offensive for somebody to say "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas." Personally, I don't mind somebody telling me "Merry Christmas" even though I don't celebrate it as a holiday. But what I don't understand is the logic that says the person who celebrates Christmas should only say "Merry Christmas" instead of "Happy Holidays." I don't go out of my way to tell people "Happy Eid" when I know that they're non-Muslim.

But I have a theory. It seems that a quick and reliable way to turn people's opinion against someone or something is to start by telling them that they are already enemies. ("Why do they hate us?") Telling them that the other side already hates them. And then they are led to believe that the best response to the hatred that supposedly already exists is more hatred in response. I think that is how FOXNews is poisoning its audience against Muslims (for starters) and also others who don't share their same worldview.

 

Finding the right app

Now that I'm going to try to blog more, I needed to find a practical way to do it. While I'm out here visiting my family, I don't have my laptop. Because it doesn't work that well anymore I didn't even bring it, but that means I'm having to get by doing more on my iPad for now. And now that I have voice recognition on my iPad, a world of composition has opened up, as we all know how tedious it is typing on the iPad.

So I asked my darling husband to find me a good app for blogging on the iPad, and what he came up with is Blogsy. This is my first post with Blogsy, and I'm still getting the hang of all its features. But already I can tell that it's a class above any other apps that I've tried so far.

Hopefully, now that I have a better tool for blogging, it will be easier for me to blog more frequently. That's my goal for now.

 

Holiday Visit

I know many Muslim converts struggle during the holidays with how to maintain family ties without celebrating in a way that conflicts with Islam. And I, too, have conflicted feelings about what is appropriate for me during the holidays. One year, for example, I completely skipped my family's Thanksgiving gathering. I regretted it almost immediately, and caused some hard feelings. That same year, I had to push to attend the Christmas gathering, and even fight (verbally) with one relative to just get in. Consequently, I decided to make my family's holiday gatherings a time for me to renew and strengthen relationships with my family, who I see rather infrequently. Now that I live on the other side of the country, I find doing this to be even more important.

I generally abstain from the Christmas gift-giving traditions, and it should go without saying that I also abstain from ham and alcoholic drinks that might be around. But the holidays provide me a natural opportunity to socialize with my family members that I wouldn't otherwise get to see. So my visits around Thanksgiving, Christmas, and New Year's, when I'm able to make them, tend to be more fruitful than at other times of the year. Although, I do avoid Easter entirely.

This year, since I have a little baby as a travel companion, I expected it to be more difficult to travel more than once, and as the family is expecting another baby in early December, I decided to take one long trip from late November through New Year's, and spend several consecutive weeks with my family. My husband graciously agreed to my plan, so here I am.

Having a few extra hands to watch the baby is nice, and I'm becoming more self-sufficient, though I do have somewhat fewer responsibilities here. But now that I can handle the essential things that have to get done on a daily basis, I'm ready to spend more time visiting family and friends. Hoping things go well!

Getting started... again

For several years I shared my thoughts on another blog, and for a while I stopped, unsure if the thoughts I'd like to share fit with the other content I had been posting. So now I'm starting this purely personal blog to share anything I want, and to generally continue writing.

Now, a few things about me:

I'm from North Carolina, where I lived until I got married, when I moved to the Seattle area. Now I've celebrated my 3-year wedding anniversary and the birth of my son, Zakariyya. I converted to Islam in my early 20's and my faith remains an important part of my life.

I'm looking forward to writing again, and hope it's worth a read!