As a cultural Christian, i.e., someone who was raised a Christian and practices values learned from that tradition but who is no longer a "believer," I am perhaps another kind of case-study for the question under discussion. I love the Christmas tradition, and value it as the inherited version of much older and ancient winter celebrations. I don't like "happy holidays" or "xmas" (where did that come from, anyway?) or any other substitute that commercializes and erodes what should be (religious or not) preserved as representing a profound sense of the enduring human spirit. Such celebrations and symbols are important, and the worst thing that could happen is if in the name of political correctness we end up emptying them all of their deeper human significance. On the other hand, I recognize that other traditions exist to provide the same experience for their adherents as Christmas does for me, and to marginalize them does feel like a kind of cultural chauvinism that's not in keeping with the shared humanity these events represent. So, I'd say that every business, profit and non-profit, needs to survey its own demographic and determine wisely how best to balance its presentation at this time of year -- but I hope they would err on the side of risking some small offense-of-omission to some, rather than branding the season in such a way that it offends nobody and thereby defaults to being nothing more than a consumer holiday, an empty shell that honors no tradition and cheapens them all. _____________________________________ S t e p h e n N o w l i n http://xrl.us/WilliamsonExhibits Vice President,Director, Alyce de Roulet Williamson Gallery Art Center College of Design 1700 Lida Street Pasadena, CA 91103 626.396.2397 [log in to unmask] http://www.williamsongallery.net http://www.artandscience.us http://www.pasadena-culture.net _____________________________________ ========================================================= Important Subscriber Information: The Museum-L FAQ file is located at http://www.finalchapter.com/museum-l-faq/ . You may obtain detailed information about the listserv commands by sending a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "help" (without the quotes). If you decide to leave Museum-L, please send a one line e-mail message to [log in to unmask] . The body of the message should read "Signoff Museum-L" (without the quotes).