Westboro Atheists

[Joe Guy]

I don't see Christmas being advertized as a religious day. It's a day that people need to prepare for by shopping and buying as many material things they can for their children and friends.

It's mostly advertized as a day when Santa Claus is coming to town.

It's a day that stresses people out every year because they think they might not have bought the right gift, or forgot to send a card to someone.

It has become a season in which many people seem to lose the ability to drive a car.

Fortunately, for some it's a season of giving to those who are less fortunate and in need of the basic necessities of life.

But even those who help others are not all doing it in the name of God. Many people help others all year and use this time of year to rally others to the cause.

Christmas may have been mostly about the birth of Christ somewhere in our history.

I certainly haven't experienced that, although I was taught it when I went to catholic school.

[loCAtek]

You know where they really know how to throw a Xmas bash without any stops?

Hong Kong is completely transformed in Christmas. The shoppers, visitors and tourists simply have too much to choose from. For the bullish yearend and Christmas shopping season the props have grown more extravagant and less traditional. A visitor wanting to sample the spirit of Christmas in Hong Kong had a wide range to choose from. There was a 20 feet tall replica of Barcelona’s La Sagrada Familia Cathedral at the Elements Mall in West Kowloon designed by a Dutch paper sculptor.

The Pacific Place mall in the Central district had shipped in 100 Nordam Fir Christmas trees from the Prince of Denmark’s private estate and practically created a forest for the shopper to wander in. The Times Square mall in Causeway Bay had commissioned street artist Michael Lau to create a two storey high wooden head that rotated to create a unique effect.

The tourists from mainland China find the Christmas in Hong Kong a lot of fun. It is still a novelty for them as Christmas is generally not celebrated in China. The number of tourists from mainland China to Hong Kong during this festive season is increasing year on year. The biggest beneficiary of this increase is the luxury brands which is evident by the long lines in front of high end flagship stores.

This is not a billboard or display; this is an entire building;



It's not just one building downtown, that gets this treatment;


It's the entire city;




There is no way, you can call it a Christian Holiday; Christ is nowhere to be found. Santa Claus certainly, he's every where, but Jesus isn't even an afterthought.
You may try to argue that; the grand festivities are because Christmas is so close to New Year's Eve, and the New Year has always been a very important holiday in China?
Yes, it is, but they celebrate it as part of the 'Spring Festival', since traditionally the Chinese believe the Lunar New Year, starts on the first day of Spring. So, that's an entire different reason for celebrating.
So, what are the Chinese celebrating in Hong Kong?

Commerce. Wealth. Buying lots of stuff.

[Scooter]

There was a 20 feet tall replica of Barcelona’s La Sagrada Familia Cathedral

"La Sagrada Famiia", as you would know, means the Holy Family i.e. Jesus, Mary and Joseph. And a cathedral, in case it wasn't obvious, is a church.

So clearly, a prominent display of a church has no religious significance whatsoever, and the fact that it is the replica of a chuch dedicated to Jesus' family means that Jesus is nowhere to be found, even as an afterthought.

So even in overwhelmingly non-Christian Hong Kong, they believe it necessary to prominently feature the religious side of Christmas. Go figure.

[quaddriver]

So even in overwhelmingly non-Christian Hong Kong,.

BS. The place is full of written and stamped stuff that says 'in god we trust'......

[loCAtek]

Prominately? You know how small twenty feet high is compared to the skyscrapers in Hong Kong? That's a small parade float to them. While the cathedral is almost unrecognizable as a church; they may have chosen it because it looks like the Disneyland castle. ...but OK, they gave a very small thought to Him, amongst the towering, flashing, animated edifices to Santa and his elves that blanket the city ...that's want makes the whole thing Christian.


ETA: BTW that must be new because when I visited Hong Kong at Christmas, with the US Navy, I didn't see so much as a Nativity Scene.

[Scooter]

So then you agree that when you said

Christ is nowhere to be found

you didn't know what you were talking about.

You could at least do other posters the courtesy of reading your own sources before providing distorted commentary on them.

[Joe Guy]

I'm going to disagree, because nearly all faiths and cultures celebrate the coming of the new year, while it may be held at different dates*; for example most Asian societies celebrate it on the first day of Spring.

New Years falls anywhere between Jan 21 & Feb 20 in those Asian countries. I learned only last year that Chinese new year is determined by the date of the second new moon following the winter solstice.

[loCAtek]

Yep, one and the same; the first day of Spring is determined Lunarly.

Scooter, you mean the ones as anal as you?

[Scooter]

If "anal" is the word you use to mean "someone who cares about the truth" then yes.

[loCAtek]

ThX

Anal retentiveness

In the psychology of Freud, the anal stage is said to follow the oral stage of infant or early-childhood development. ... Freud theorized that children who experience conflicts during this period of time may develop "anal" personality traits, namely those associated with a child's efforts at excretory control: orderliness, stubbornness, a compulsion for control.[2]

[Scooter]

Sneaked a peek at your file while in your psychiatrist's office, I see.

[loCAtek]

ThX again, but I'm not into anal.

[Scooter]

From what you remember in between blackouts, you mean.

For someone who isn't into it you sure obsess enough about it.

[loCAtek]

It's not up to me, if you want to keep acting like an ass LOL

[Scooter]

There she goes, with her continued obsession with all things anal.

[loCAtek]

'Obsession with all things anal.' would be providing distorted commentary, since of course I said, I wasn't into that. So, your first definition of anal is wrong, since you're not telling the truth. It's also not true; that one miniature cathedral is a prominent display, according to Hong Kong standards. Having been there I can tell you the most prominent spiritual feature, at 34 metres (112 ft) tall, and 250 metric tons (280 short tons), is the;

Tian Tan Buddha, also known as the Big Buddha, is a large bronze statue of a Buddha, completed in 1993, and located at Ngong Ping, Lantau Island, in Hong Kong. The statue is located near Po Lin Monastery and symbolises the harmonious relationship between man and nature, people and religion. It is a major centre of Buddhism in Hong Kong, and is also a popular tourist attraction.It really a magnificent site.

Size comparison: the stairs for average pedestrians are down to the bottom right. Even the statues of the Buddha's guardian/attendants are gigantic.

My visit there was very inspiring in that it houses a relic of Gautama Buddha.

It used to be the World's Tallest Seated Buddha, but I think that's changed.

The point was; a Major non-Christian society also celebrates Christmas; and that segment of society is growing. Back in '96[?] I was part of the Guinness Book of World Records' - 'World's Largest Christmas Party' ...held in Sasebo, Japan. Probably not a coincidence; that it was held in a mall.

[Scooter]

The point was; a Major non-Christian society also celebrates Christmas

And they do so by including explicitly Christian religious symbols, including a monument to Jesus and his family, contrary to your assertion that

Christ is nowhere to be found.

which has been proven false.

[Gob]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_Hong_Kong

[Sue U]

you are all getting coal.

anthracite.

At least it's the good stuff; none of that bituminous crap.

[loCAtek]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Religion_in_Hong_Kong

ThX Gob, for verifying via Wiki they are primarily non-Christian.