Be Tolerant of All...Except Christianity

In a culture that gets offended over anything and everything, it seems there is one thing that has come to be seen as offensive to all: Christianity. I do believe in the separation of church and state, but in this country, majority rules, and the majority religion here is Christianity. Not to mention, the country was founded by Christians, and it is a Christian country. I will never understand why it is seen as so offensive to wish someone a, "Merry Christmas," or even have a "Christmas tree." Nope. It has to be "Happy Holidays," and public places have to put up "Holiday trees."I'm not Jewish, but if someone wished me a "Happy Hanukkah" I wouldn't be offended. If you think about it, all it comes down to is a person wishing another person well. So what if they don't use the same terms to wish well--it goes back to the majority rules theme. People will generically wish others a "Merry Christmas" because that is what they are most likely to be celebrating. It seems like no one gets upset if a town wants to place a menorah or Star of David in the common, but everyone is up in arms if they want to display a Nativity scene.

On a similar topic, I also don't understand why prayer is banned in public schools. I understand why public prayer isn't done, but if someone wants to pray by themselves, or a group of students who choose to pray together, why is that such a bad thing? It seems like if it's a group of Christian students praying, they're told not to display their faith publicly, but if a Muslim, Jew, Hindu, et al, were to pray in school, nothing would be said to them for fear of being considered intolerant.

On Saturday, I did all of my Christmas shopping, and I was shocked (in a good way), walking through JC Penny, hearing the store playing Hark the Herald Angels Sing! Not only was it a Christmas song, but it was a religious Christian song. I ended up staying in the store, browsing a little more, just to listen and sing (very quietly) along with the song. It was a very refreshing change of pace.