'Merry Christmas' or 'Happy Holiday'

[Elspode]

Originally Posted by Kitsune

Why is it that when the system references nothing and permits people to observe anything that this small group of Christians think they are being expressly excluded?

This is the unfortunate byproduct of believing that your way is Right, and that you hold Truth. When there is no allowance for any other way of belief or thinking that doesn't involve burning in Hell, one begins to get a bit touchy when one does not get things one's way. This is pretty much why Theocracies are born. If you've got all the power, you don't need to muck around with worrying about what anyone else thinks, because after all, you are Right, you are in sole possession of Truth, ;*and* you have Power.

These things come in pretty handy when you start killing off everyone else who fails to take advantage of the various benefits offered by Truth (i.e., those who fail to agree with your point of view). How can it be wrong to off others when you and your ilk have cornered the market on Truth?

Curiously, being able to do away with people who disagree with your theology also comes in pretty handy should those people have, say, enormous land holdings or large bank accounts and big houses, since you can also seize those things in the name of All That Is Good and True. And, if you need to have a handy servant class at the ready, denying people equal employment and such because they don't agree with you guarantees a ready pool of manpower for that next Crusade to convert the rest of the ungodly.

Now I have to wonder which came first...the Government or the Religion?