Re: Country Related: Christmas

[Padraic Brown <pbrown@POLARIS.UMUC.EDU>]

On Wed, 23 Dec 1998, John Cowan wrote:

> Padraic Brown scripsit:
>
> > A Hindu friend of mine summed it up pretty well: 'It's stupid.  This is
> > the USA, a Christian country.  I am Hindu, but living here, I would
> > _expect_ people to say Merry Xmas.  How can I be offended at that?'
>
> Ahem.  The Treaty of Tripoli (ratified 1792, the first between the
> U.S. and a Muslim power) says "The United States is in no sense
> founded on the Christian religion"; like other treaties, this
> forms part of the "supreme law of the land" (U.S. Constitution
> Arcticle VI section 2).  I have also found this phrase
> attributed to George Washington.

Hey, Iowan!  I never said "founded on the Xian religion"!  That would make
us the "Kingdom" on Earth, would it not? ;^)  The majority are at least
nominally Xian, and that makes us a Xian country.

>
> There are a lot of Christians here, but it is not a Christian country.

Simply a matter of interpretation.

>
> > Apart from which, there is _no_ USA over *there* to pollute the world with
> > some of its screwball ideas.  They've got screwball ideas go leor as it
> > is.
>
> Sorry, Charlie.  The League of N.A. is in some ways more multicultural
> than the U.S.

MC and PC are not the same thing, Sam I Am.  But it's not PC.  That's a
differnt kettle of sardines, plus another poster has indicated that PC may
well have started out as a joke, I believe at Brown U.  Even less likely
to happen *there*.

Padraic.

>
> (Brithenig reference)
>
> --
> John Cowan      http://www.ccil.org/~cowan              cowan@ccil.org
>         You tollerday donsk?  N.  You tolkatiff scowegian?  Nn.
>         You spigotty anglease?  Nnn.  You phonio saxo?  Nnnn.
>                 Clear all so!  'Tis a Jute.... (Finnegans Wake 16.5)
>