Woman fired for saying Merry Christmas

[DrBaltar]

Fox News, as usual this time of year is cramming xmas down everyone's throats. So they write about stories like this where xmas is being stolen from people. (It's the grown-up version of The Grinch that Stole Christmas).

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,471744,00.html

I find it very funny that she says "I said I have a problem with saying 'Happy Holidays,'" Thomas told FOXNews.com. "The world ... groups Christmas with other holidays, and that's offensive to me as a Christian."

Nevermind that the holiday she clings to so vehemently is already grouped in with other holidays. i.e., it's generally accepted that xmas was moved to December 25th to correspond to the Roman festival Saturnalia, and/or with the winter solstice. And in the article's photo, she stands in front of that xmas tree from the Germanic pagan winter solstice holiday with her goofy vacuous smile. She probably also tells her kids that Santa Claus (the mish-mash of the Christian St. Nicholas, and the pagan god Odin) is coming to town.

[Safe-Keeper]

She probably also tells her kids that Santa Claus (the mish-mash of the Christian St. Nicholas, and the pagan god Odin) is coming to town.Whoa, whoa, whoa, Santa is based partly on Odin? Could you elaborate?

ETA: Found this on Wikipedia:
1.2 Influence of Germanic paganism and folklore

http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/1/1d/Georg_von_Rosen_-_Oden_som_vandringsman%2C_1886_%28Odin%2C_the_Wand erer%29.jpg/120px-Georg_von_Rosen_-_Oden_som_vandringsman%2C_1886_%28Odin%2C_the_Wand erer%29.jpg (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Georg_von_Rosen_-_Oden_som_vandringsman,_1886_%28Odin,_the_Wanderer %29.jpg) http://upload.wikimedia.org/skins/common/images/magnify-clip.png (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Georg_von_Rosen_-_Oden_som_vandringsman,_1886_%28Odin,_the_Wanderer %29.jpg)
An 1886 depiction of the indigenous Germanic god (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germanic_paganism)Odin (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odin) by Georg von Rosen (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Georg_von_Rosen)



Numerous parallels have been drawn between Santa Claus and the figure of Odin (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odin), a major god amongst the Germanic peoples (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germanic_peoples) prior to their Christianization (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christianization). Since many of these elements are unrelated to Christianity, there are theories regarding the pagan (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Germanic_paganism) origins of various customs of the holiday stemming from areas where the Germanic peoples were Christianized and retained elements of their indigenous traditions, surviving in various forms into modern depictions of Santa Claus.[12] (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Santa_Claus&printable=yes#cite_note-11)

Odin was sometimes recorded, at the native Germanic holiday of Yule (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yule), as leading a great hunting party through the sky.[13] (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Santa_Claus&printable=yes#cite_note-AMERIODIN-12) Two books from Iceland (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iceland), the Poetic Edda (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Poetic_Edda), compiled in the 13th century from earlier sources, and the Prose Edda (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prose_Edda), written in the 13th century by Snorri Sturluson (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snorri_Sturluson), describe Odin as riding an eight-legged horse named Sleipnir (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sleipnir) that could leap great distances, giving rise to comparisons to Santa Claus's reindeer (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Claus%27s_reindeer).[14] (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Santa_Claus&printable=yes#cite_note-COLLISLEIP-13) Further, Odin was referred to by many names (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_names_of_Odin) in Skaldic poetry (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Skald), some of which describe his appearance or functions; these include Síðgrani,[15] (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Santa_Claus&printable=yes#cite_note-S.C3.AD.C3.B0grani-14) Síðskeggr,[16] (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Santa_Claus&printable=yes#cite_note-S.C3.AD.C3.B0skeggr-15) Langbarðr,[17] (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Santa_Claus&printable=yes#cite_note-Langbar.C3.B0r-16) (all meaning "long beard") and Jólnir[18] (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Santa_Claus&printable=yes#cite_note-J.C3.B3lnir-17) ("Yule figure").

According to Phyllis Siefker, children would place their boots, filled with carrots (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carrot), straw (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Straw), or sugar (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sugar), near the chimney for Odin's flying horse, Sleipnir, to eat. Odin would then reward those children for their kindness by replacing Sleipnir's food with gifts or candy.[19] (http://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Santa_Claus&printable=yes#cite_note-SIEFSLEIP-18)Christianization (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christianization#Middle_Ages_.287th-15th_centuries.29) and can be still seen in the modern practice of the hanging of stockings at the
chimney in some homes. This practice survived in Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands after the adoption of Christianity and became associated with Saint Nicholas as a result of the process of

This practice in turn came to the United States (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States) through the Dutch colony of New Amsterdam (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Amsterdam) prior to the British seizure in the 17th

century, and evolved into the hanging of socks or stockings (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas_stockings) at the fireplace. In many regions of Austria and former Austro-Hungarian Italy (Friuli (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friuli), city of Trieste (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trieste)) children are given sweets and gifts on Saint Nicholas's Day (San Niccolò in Italian), in accordance with the Catholic calendar, 6 December (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/December_6).

Numerous other influences from the pre-Christian Germanic winter celebrations have continued into modern Christmas celebrations such as the Christmas ham (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas_ham), Yule Goat (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yule_Goat), Yule logs (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yule_log) and the Christmas tree (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas_tree).

Neat.

[NewtonTrino]

Retarded. The woman that is. I doubt she's that great of a worker anyway. In my state at least employment is at-will but you can still get sued for violating peoples rights.

[paximperium]

Did you know that St. Nicholas help write the Bible? Yup Santa Clause helped write the Bible.

[Safe-Keeper]

Did you know that St. Nicholas help write the Bible? Yup Santa Clause helped write the Bible.So that's why Jesus is supposed to be so meek and mild.

[Pardalis]

Nevermind that the holiday she clings to so vehemently is already grouped in with other holidays. i.e., it's generally accepted that xmas was moved to December 25th to correspond to the Roman festival Saturnalia, and/or with the winter solstice. And in the article's photo, she stands in front of that xmas tree from the Germanic pagan winter solstice holiday with her goofy vacuous smile. She probably also tells her kids that Santa Claus (the mish-mash of the Christian St. Nicholas, and the pagan god Odin) is coming to town.

And I'm sure she has a Nativity crib under the tree with snow on its roof.

[Kthulhut Fhtagn]

I find it very funny that she says "I said I have a problem with saying 'Happy Holidays,'" Thomas told FOXNews.com. "The world ... groups Christmas with other holidays, and that's offensive to me as a Christian."

Emphasis mine.

*sigh*

Why do people think they have a right to not be offended?

[Zep]

It's actually the lawyers' way of getting a little bit of extra Christmas cheer. For them.

[AkuManiMani]

Emphasis mine.

*sigh*

Why do people think they have a right to not be offended?

Really, I don't understand why everyone makes such a big deal about it either way. As a customer I really wouldn't care whether a store employee wished me a "Merry Xmas" or a "Happy Hanukkah". I suspect people who make such a big deal about which holiday greetings they receive are probably neurotic to begin with.

[steve s]

I get a chuckle from the people who complain that we secular humanists are trying to remove Christ from Christmas because of the word Xmas. It's a shame that they don't know more about the religion they profess. The term dates back nearly 500 years and is based on the fact that the Greek letter Chi (X) was often used as a symbol for Christ.

Steve S.

[KingMerv00]

In my state at least employment is at-will but you can still get sued for violating peoples rights.

If you get fired for your religious beliefs, you can sue in every state thanks to Title VII (http://www.eeoc.gov/types/religion.html).

Let's assume she got fired for not saying "Merry Christmas". I don't see it as a free exercise of religion issue. This is more about freedom of speech. It looks like she works for a private employer so I think she is screwed. It varies by state, but private employers can usually limit the hell out of your speech while you are on the clock.

[Rasmus]

If you get fired for your religious beliefs, you can sue in every state thanks to Title VII (http://www.eeoc.gov/types/religion.html).

Let's assume she got fired for not saying "Merry Christmas". I don't see it as a free exercise of religion issue. This is more about freedom of speech. It looks like she works for a private employer so I think she is screwed. It varies by state, but private employers can usually limit the hell out of your speech while you are on the clock.

Good thing, too. I wouldn't want employees cussing and swearing and shouting at customers. I wouldn't want them to tell them how bad the company is or how much better the competition is ...

[Lothian]

What a sad story. It is awful when companies behave like this. Employing women just encourages them.

[LarianLeQuella]

This is just down the road from me. The locals are having quite a time with this...
http://www.nwfdailynews.com/news/company_13720___article.html/woman_fired.html

Snoopygirl is a special case in the area. It requires registration to post (luckily I haven't seen any spam from this newspaper, so that at least seems good). I have found a new friend there though as a result. Finally, someone who has a rational thought on the subject!

[DrBaltar]

Thomas has found another job, but she makes less than the $10.50 an hour she earned with the rental company. She said the trauma of being fired and the pay cut has made for a tough holiday season for herself, her husband and their 6-year-old son.

Now she says it's a "holiday season" and not a Christmas season lol. The 'trauma' was due to her own actions. Her husband and son should sue her for making their holiday season tough.

[Big Les]

I get a chuckle from the people who complain that we secular humanists are trying to remove Christ from Christmas because of the word Xmas. It's a shame that they don't know more about the religion they profess. The term dates back nearly 500 years and is based on the fact that the Greek letter Chi (X) was often used as a symbol for Christ.

Steve S.

Me too. I come across it in 80-200 odd year-old documents at work. Of course you could argue that it's been appropriated by us pagan (by which I mean non-christian) types. But that's not what most of them mean. They think it's a modern invention from the insidious hippies that brought us "Winterval".