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Comment by aes256 | Hacker News Reader

"Anti-discrimination" is part of political correctness.

The example you provide falls under both categories, and it falls under political correctness precisely because it would be discriminatory to celebrate one religious festival without celebrating all of them. It is not politically "correct" to partake in discrimination.

I don't know if you're from the UK, but society today is highly secular. A British Humanist Association poll last year had 65% of respondents answer the question "Are you religious?" negatively. Of those who claim to be religious, most do not attend church on a regular basis, or take part in other religious rituals. Not to mention many of them are not Christian.

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I meant anti-discrimination as the law that keeps the GP from being fired for admitting he's gay.

As for the number of Brits being religious, I think it's easy to conclude that more than 35% of Brits celebrate Christmas. Given the origin of the poll, I would not be surprised if the question was phrased very narrowly.

It's not discriminatory to celebrate Christmas by default if your company is in a culture that predominantly observe Christmas. It would be discriminatory to make special arrangement for time off on Christmas, but not accommodating seasonal holiday requests from Muslims on Eid and Hindus on Diwali.

The question was "Are you religious?", and 65% answered negatively. You can't really frame something as fundamental as that.

I personally think the 35% figure is inflated by people who identify with Christianity but don't practice it, or people who do practice it but out of fear more than faith.

Britain is no longer a Christian country, and that's not a bad thing. Give it another two generations and Christians will be a small minority (5-10%)

> It's not discriminatory to celebrate Christmas by default if your company is in a culture that predominantly observe Christmas. It would be discriminatory to make special arrangement for time off on Christmas, but not accommodating seasonal holiday requests from Muslims on Eid and Hindus on Diwali.

You can't justify discriminatory actions by deferring to the culture in which they take place. Suppose we replace religion with race. Christmas is now a racial festival celebrating white culture. Is it appropriate to foist these celebrations on black people in the office? Of course not.

Does the fact the company operates in a predominantly white culture justify the practice? Of course not.

1) Many people who identify themselves as non-religious celebrate Christmas anyway.

2) Christmas existed in virtually all European cultures before Christianity. Under different titles though.

I don't disagree. Christmas occupies a peculiar place in British culture because it is part religious festival, part cultural tradition.

Rather like the monarchy, people tend to go along with it, despite the fact it's an anachronistic and unjust system, because it gives people a warm fuzzy feeling.

I think that's part of the reason so much vitriol is aimed at "politically correct" attitudes towards Christmas. It angers both religious and non-religious people because they see it, more than anything else, as an attack on a national pastime.

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