Subject: A Christmas WI Date: Sun, 24 Dec 2000 16:20:08 +0000 From: philh@comuno.freeserve.co.uk (phil hunt) Organization: Comuno Newsgroups: soc.history.what-if In Britain, decorations in public places for Christmas all seem to be around the theme of Father Christmas or midwinter (snowmen, berries, etc) than overtly Christian themes. This trend has been happening for ages, but now seems almost complete: I don't recall seeing *one* overtly Christian decoration in a shop or public place over the holiday period. (I welcome this personally: we're reclaiming our midwinter festival from the Christians, who appropriated it). My question is: can anyone think of a recent PoD where this doesn't happen? -- *****[ Phil Hunt ***** philh@comuno.freeserve.co.uk ]***** "An unforseen issue has arisen with your computer. Don't worry your silly little head about what has gone wrong; here's a pretty animation of a paperclip to look at instead." -- Windows2007 error message Subject: Re: A Christmas WI Date: Sun, 24 Dec 2000 22:35:50 GMT From: takloufer@my-deja.com Organization: Deja.com Newsgroups: soc.history.what-if References: 1 In article , philh@comuno.freeserve.co.uk (phil hunt) wrote: > > In Britain, decorations in public places for Christmas all seem to > be around the theme of Father Christmas or midwinter (snowmen, berries, > etc) than overtly Christian themes. This trend has been happening > for ages, but now seems almost complete: I don't recall seeing *one* > overtly Christian decoration in a shop or public place over the > holiday period. > > (I welcome this personally: we're reclaiming our midwinter festival > from the Christians, who appropriated it). > > My question is: can anyone think of a recent PoD where this doesn't > happen? > > -- The PoD would have to cause the world to keep the whole Christian ideaology as a dominant nfluence. In this world public schools would probably teach creationism and the media would be rigously censored..sort of like the 50's I suppose. -ur pal -tak L Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/ Subject: Re: A Christmas WI Date: Mon, 25 Dec 2000 05:35:50 GMT From: DF (not@home.yet) Reply-To: nobody@home.yet Organization: EarthLink Inc. -- http://www.EarthLink.net Newsgroups: soc.history.what-if References: 1 , 2 takloufer@my-deja.com wrote: >phil hunt wrote: >>In Britain, decorations in public places for Christmas all seem to be around the >>theme of Father Christmas or midwinter (snowmen, berries, etc) than overtly >>Christian themes. This trend has been happening for ages, but now seems almost >>complete: I don't recall seeing *one* overtly Christian decoration in a shop or >>public place over the holiday period. (I welcome this personally: we're re- >>claiming our midwinter festival from the Christians, who appropriated it). >>My question is: can anyone think of a recent PoD where this doesn't happen? > The PoD would have to cause the world to keep the whole Christian ideaology > as a dominant nfluence. In this world public schools would probably teach > creationism... Been in Kansas lately? Subject: Re: A Christmas WI Date: Sun, 24 Dec 2000 22:54:50 GMT From: Allan Mac Donald Organization: Sympatico-Subscriber Newsgroups: soc.history.what-if References: 1 phil hunt wrote: > In Britain, decorations in public places for Christmas all seem to > be around the theme of Father Christmas or midwinter (snowmen, berries, > etc) than overtly Christian themes. This trend has been happening > for ages, but now seems almost complete: I don't recall seeing *one* > overtly Christian decoration in a shop or public place over the > holiday period. > > (I welcome this personally: we're reclaiming our midwinter festival > from the Christians, who appropriated it). > > My question is: can anyone think of a recent PoD where this doesn't > happen? idunno the nazis win? thatd wreck christmas....... -- When a cat is dropped, it always lands on its feet, and when toast is dropped, it always lands withx the buttered side facing down. I propose to strap buttered toast to the back of a cat. The two will hover, spinning inches above the ground. With a giant buttered cat array, a high-speed monorail could easily link New York with Chicago. Subject: Re: A Christmas WI Date: Mon, 25 Dec 2000 03:23:19 GMT From: jackpoint@my-deja.com Organization: Deja.com Newsgroups: soc.history.what-if References: 1 In article , philh@comuno.freeserve.co.uk (phil hunt) wrote: > > My question is: can anyone think of a recent PoD where this doesn't > happen? > Maggie Thatcher is a proselytising Christian who encourages overt displays of Christian symbols, etc.? Dunno enough about British politics to know if a) a proselytizing Christian could be elected and re-elected in the '80s or b) if Thatcher's influence is enough to make a thing like that stick. Jack Point Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/ Subject: Re: A Christmas WI Date: Sun, 31 Dec 2000 11:30:28 +0000 From: charlie@nospam.antipope.org (Charlie Stross) Reply-To: charlie@antipope.org Organization: foobar quux Newsgroups: soc.history.what-if References: 1 , 2 Stoned koala bears drooled eucalyptus spittle in awe as declared: >Maggie Thatcher is a proselytising Christian who encourages overt >displays of Christian symbols, etc.? Tony Blair wears his religion on his sleeve (very irritatingly, IMO -- as a non-co-religionist). Thatcher was sufficiently Christian for High Tory political purposes, but didn't get on with the C of E, who in her opinion were a bunch of pinko commie atheists. But in general, the UK population tends to yawn (or sneer) at displays of religiosity by politician. Must be something to do with roughly 50% of the population being atheists and the rest being largely non- observant (except for the Catholics, Moslems, and chassidic Jews). There is probably a higher per-capita level of religious observance in Russia than in the UK. For this POD to work you really need to prevent the precipitous decline in religiousity that ran through the UK from around 1920 onwards. -- Charlie Stross, aka charlie(at)antipope.org "When your only tool is a Perl interpreter, every problem looks like a CGI script with a MySQL back-end" Subject: Re: A Christmas WI Date: Sun, 31 Dec 2000 13:04:27 +0000 From: Alison Brooks Organization: Dis Newsgroups: soc.history.what-if References: 1 , 2 , 3 In article , Charlie Stross writes >>Maggie Thatcher is a proselytising Christian who encourages overt >>displays of Christian symbols, etc.? > >Tony Blair wears his religion on his sleeve (very irritatingly, IMO -- >as a non-co-religionist). Thatcher was sufficiently Christian for >High Tory political purposes, but didn't get on with the C of E, who >in her opinion were a bunch of pinko commie atheists. > >But in general, the UK population tends to yawn (or sneer) at displays >of religiosity by politician. Indeed, if the close 1992 election had gone the other way, Britain would have had an openly atheist Prime Minister. And no-one would have cared much. -- Alison Brooks http://www.flin.demon.co.uk/ Subject: Re: A Christmas WI Date: Sun, 31 Dec 2000 13:02:45 +0000 From: Alison Brooks Organization: Dis Newsgroups: soc.history.what-if References: 1 In article , phil hunt writes > >In Britain, decorations in public places for Christmas all seem to >be around the theme of Father Christmas or midwinter (snowmen, berries, >etc) than overtly Christian themes. This trend has been happening >for ages, but now seems almost complete: I don't recall seeing *one* >overtly Christian decoration in a shop or public place over the >holiday period. > >(I welcome this personally: we're reclaiming our midwinter festival >from the Christians, who appropriated it). > >My question is: can anyone think of a recent PoD where this doesn't >happen? > Well, not a recent PoD, but, if I recall correctly, I understand that Cromwell had felt that Christmas was becoming too much of an excuse for loose-living and immorality and excessive commercialism, and so made it illegal to celebrate Christmas. It may be just one of those myths that get spread around, so I would appreciate confirmation (or otherwise) from someone who knows about these things. I'm not sure if that was ever officially repealed. -- Alison Brooks http://www.flin.demon.co.uk/