More on the invented War on Christmas

In case you doubt that a certain Christian mindset has invented and is waging the War on Christmas despite bemused reactions from absolutely everyone else, here is a clip so hilarious that it is indistinguishable from satire. If I didn't know some of the protagonists of old, I'd think it was satire:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9y17pyVzHhM&eurl=&feature=player_embedded

Bill, atheists still say 'Merry Christmas'. As a rule, they don't want to ban Christmas. They look forward to their midwinter holiday. They just don't believe the mumbo-jumbo some people associate with it. The name of Chrismas comes from Christianity, to be sure, but that is plainly revisionism and the holiday existed long before that. You Christians used that holiday to suit your purposes, how dare you object when anyone else does the same thing?

And once again, there's this blustering about 'disrespect'. The only thing atheists are saying is that we don't believe in any god and we don't think religion should be respected solely because some people think it should be. It has always seemed to me that the religious need this 'respect' because at some level they know that their faith is ridiculous and indefensible. What they mean by 'respect' is 'threat'. They want to stop people casting doubt on their fairytales because they cannot stand the scrutiny. By insisting on 'respect', they are trying to stop enquiry.

The most telling part is where the Fox News presenter says something like "I'm all for freedom of speech, but just don't practice it at Christmas" (total paraphrase). That's right: you Christians get to decide when the rest of us are allowed to practice our freedom of speech.

These people are serious. And by using easy and sensational targets like Christmas, they enrage people who would not otherwise have cared less. They fuel the inferno they have created. Atheists as a rule have no problem with Christmas. We love our midwinter holiday and its silly, sentimental trappings. We are happy to use the word 'Christmas', although some of us also like to use older or newer terms. It's all the same to us.

Finally: what is the 'true meaning of Christmas'? Is it that 'Christ was born upon this day' or is it 'goodwill towards everyone'? These are clearly incompatible for Christians such as those in the video. I'd be very surprised if the majority of atheists weren't behind the goodwill interpretation though.