Quote Originally Posted by MMI View Post
I also have memories of being made to stay at the table in the school canteen and not allowed to leave until I had eaten all of the disgusting mess they called a lunch. I don't know if a note would have excused me, my mother had no sympathy for my plight.
We ate in the class room but same problem - AUGHH - disgusting!!

As for all the comments about atheists not wanting to destroy Christmas, but to celebrate the holiday season, fine: create your atheist feast day and celebrate that. Otherwise you're doing what you're accusing Christians of doing, hijacking a religious feat and imposing it on everyone.
Nonsense, calling your own holiday what you want is not the same as blocking what others do.

Or, to put it another way (or maybe to answer a different point) if you merge all religious festivals into a non-religious one, you are appealing only to the non-religious and you are destroying the religious elements, not widening them.
Now that is an interesting perspective: more than one religious symbol, and they cancell each other out and become non-religious??? That must be black magic ;-)