December 9 2012

Is Celebrating Christmas Publicly Offensive to those of Other Religions?

A company in London stopped paying overtime to its workers claiming that this was offensive to those from other religious backgrounds. So I asked, Mandeep, a girl from a Sikh background with a Muslim Uncle if anyone in her family would be offended if they were paid extra for working on Christmas day…

It is simply not true that those who follow other religions in this country are offended when we celebrate Christmas. I have received Christmas greetings from Hindus, Sikhs and Muslims, including cards with Christian themes! (There may be exceptions, but then we also encounter some people who call themselves Christians and have strange ideas). Thus, the Hindu Council once sponsored a traditional nativity scene at Westminster Abbey to dispel this myth. Rather, this is the claim of lazy secularists, who would leave us living in a joyless society without any values or principles to guide us, after all Ebenezer Scrooge was the arch-secularist.

At Christmas we can celebrate with joy. Whilst we respect the right of those to hold other religious views, or none at all, we still affirm with joy and conviction “Glory to God in the Highest and on earth peace to men on whom his favour rests.”