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If I wished you a merry Christmas, you might answer "Well, how bold and how politically IN-correct! Are you trying to throw your religion in my face?" Well, I hope I'm not, because to me the story of Christmas is a message about love and forgiveness. And it seems to me that means tolerance and respect for others. These are 'warm and fuzzy' concepts, very admirable indeed.

I am very suspicious of ALL organized religions. I am so because they profess to know the mind of God and I don't believe anyone can know that. I believe the greatest problem with organized religion is all those 'holier-than-thous' who try to impose their beliefs on others and teach their children they are somehow superior to those who do not believe as they do. Somehow, it seems to me that this is missing the whole point of the intended purpose of religion in the first place. Rather than arguing over the details, wouldn't we all be better off to focus on the values that all great religions have in common? We'll all find out later who got the details right.

I'm a believer in Jesus. But I'm not a Christian. I don't believe Jesus was born of a virgin, that he fed ten thousand with a few loaves and a couple of fish, that he raised himself from the dead, that he saves my soul or is the great redeemer of sinners or the long awaited Jewish Messiah. If he was (or is) such, I'm sure he'll make it known to me somehow before I die. I do believe, however, that Jesus was a spiritual adept who we can all learn a great deal from. And I believe that the world would be a much better place if we disregarded all the 'urban legend' bull-crap written about him in the New Testament and focused on what he really wanted us to know. Two things I know for certain are that

( 1 ) Christmas reminds me that I am happier when I try to be forgiving rather than revengeful and helpful rather than judgmental, and ( 2 ) as a non-Christian it doesn't offend me in the least when someone wishes me a Merry Christmas. In fact, I like it. A lot!

So I wish EVERYONE a MERRY CHRISTMAS! I hope that's OK with all of you PC freaks. If not, well . . . . I guess you can take your 'political correctness' and go to wherever it is that all self-important, politically correct do-gooders go when they die.

Gavas 121504

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