Christmas is really a stolen holiday. It is a holiday created by people who stole a good many stories from other cultures and rewrote them to fit their own theories. December 25 is also the birthday of the gods Mithra and Bacchus. Like Christ, those gods were born of virgins in caves. They were gods of the sun, gods of light.

In years past, I celebrated Christmas. Then, I simply showed respect for the important day for my Christian friends by giving some gifts and sending cards to all. Not anymore! It is not my holiday. I will send my friends Halloween cards and presents. I will send letters on Christmas, perhaps on secular type holiday writing paper. A good number of Christians have become militant about their beliefs. I am going to become militant about mine. I don't want to hear that stuff anymore! Why should I show respect for those who show no respect for my choices in matters of faith? Why am I not entitled to the faith that serves me well? Nobody who does not grant others freedoms should have no freedoms of their own.

I do not understand why a faith that has led to millions of deaths by crusade, or inquisition, or "righteous" wars, or "Manifest Destiny", or accomodations to dictators simply because that dictator allowed their own people special status, has a claim to superiority. An apology, a big deal for Christians, just doesn't cut it. It is just words! Words change nothing. It doesn't give life back to the slaughtered. It only makes the Christian feel superior and give those who do not accept the apology an inferior status as a "tool of the devil".

I am certainly not going to celebrate this holiday ever again. I am fed up with it. Call me SCROOGE or THE GRINCH! Those are just words, too. As a matter of fact, so is Merry Christmas.