More wokeness, this time in Brighton where the use of the word ‘Christmas’ is not recommended and one shouldn’t use the term ‘Christian name’.
Apparently it’s too Christian-centric !
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They made it up Peter. Don’t fall for it !
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What did who make up? The document seems to be clear.
Though we can perhaps agree on one thing: I for one would be very happy to see the back of the “whatever it is community”, since it has always seemed a way of imposing an idea of homogeneity on groups.
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What’s actually wrong with the advice anyway - other than in the Mail’s jaundiced view?
If speaking to non Christians, I usually ask whether they are celebrating over the Christmas period, or similar. Some will, if only a family “do” as the national holiday period is, inevitably, timed for the Christian calendar so the odds are that even followers of other religions will have time off work.
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Agreed but how can you know if the person being addressed is a Christian or not ?
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One starts from the non-dom position, and it it transpires you are speaking to someone who relates to Christianity then you can swap carols to your hearts content.
It is, indeed, difficult to be sure which is why I err on the side of a generic “are you celebrating”.
There’s no problem talking about Christmas around here…
The school kids are excited. The end of term party (this Friday) just might see Father Christmas himself putting in an appearance… there are no guarantees, so they’ve all got their fingers crossed and trying to be on their best behaviour. 
Last weekend, up in Perigueux for an AG… we were a real mixed bunch from all over… and everyone seemed to be happily discussing Christmas Dinner and whose family was visiting… or who was going where… etc.
Christmas is Christmas… and it is whatever one makes of it… in my view.
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Exactly.
None of my Muslim, Hindu or other friends have ever expressed any awkwardness if I ask what they’re doing for Christmas—because it’s a specific time of year. The idea that I was suggesting they might celebrate Christmas as a festival wouldn’t occur to them. (It may help that I ask about Eid and Divali.)
I think it’s only the extreme humanists who like to give a kicking to those of other faiths.
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People do that to me all the time. They assume perhaps because I’m white that I must be.
I’m taking time off work because the vast majority of the company shuts down and it’s a chance to catch up with my partner’s family (who are all Catholics) but, as an atheist, if I had my way I’d work this period and take extra time off when the weather is better.
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I never understood why British Christians named their days after Nordic gods Tuesday Wednesday Thursday and Friday let alone Roman Gods Saturday Sunday and Monday
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The point being that because people are in general polite you probably don’t notice the inner sigh.
“probably don’t notice the inner sigh” What are you struggling to say then
The Mail really has a thing for Brighton at the moment eh? Like that ridiculous story about the primary school not being able to say mum and dad before that turned out to be nonsense. Perhaps if it renamed to Brightonshire, shot everything on 4 legs that moved, and voted for any and every simpleton or charlatan wearing a blue ribbon they’d be more keen.
They seem to have taken over from The Sun, who had some very delightful words about the town back in the day too…
A little ironic that they’re up in arms about someone refusing to curtsy for royalty, all these years later and they’re still whining about a Sussex duchess and curtsying for royalty. 
I’ll give you a moment to explain how you can possibly know what people you’ve never met are thinking.
I’m sure you can!
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This pretty much. A Muslim friend messages me to wish me and my family a happy Christmas. I message her about Eid and Ramadan. My Hindu colleague is very happy to spend the Christmas period with her family, and when we were in Delhi we enjoyed seeing the Divali celebrations (also when visiting a Hindu-owned business in Houston).
Most people of most faiths are secure enough to let other faiths get on with things. The exception usually seems to come when politics is involved, either openly or more often covertly, very often in order to acquire personal power and/or wealth. There was a time I might have said that religious extremists were the cause of problems, but now I’m much more inclined to believe it’s political people, doing things for very human reasons through the use of religion.
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Same here. My neighbours, on our left, are Muslim. We got on really well with the family from the start, but the first year we were here, we didn’t give them a Christmas card as we didn’t think it was appropriate. We got one from them about 5 days before christmas, which surprised us, so we went round with one the day after. Turns out they treated ‘Christmas’ as an excuse to have a good time as a family, regardless of the Christian connotations and bought their children presents and all. Can’t waste a good excuse for a celebration eh!
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This was the University’s response to the Brighton Argus question on why the document has been produced -
It was intended to help them understand how language can be a “fundamental part of upholding legal responsibilities and to avoid biases, slang, or expressions that discriminate against groups of people based on protected characteristics”.
The first bit (upholding legal responsibilities) sounds like arse covering to me.
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Given that less than half of Britons are Christians the use of “Christian name” does sound a bit archaic.
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Because the inhabitants of Britain were pagans, druids and the descendants of Vikings before Alfred united Wessex, Mercia and East Anglia and began Jesusifying the place?
In other news, traditional Christmas tree decorations are white because that’s what the ancient Saxons did because their gods were woodland gods and the more modern Germans followed suit. Christmas tress only became a thing in Britain when our German Empress Victoria made them popular.