I just recetly purchased a DVD titled "Rick Steves' European Christmas." It is a wonderful compilation of how Christmas is celebrated throughout Europe, namely in England, France, Germany, Italy, Austria, Norway and Switzerland, in both urban and rural areas.  Rick Steves is an American Lutheran Minister and Entrepenur who sells European tours and is on Public Television here in the USA. His DVD showed familys with children (and lots of them)celebrating with various traditions including going to church.  My question is if Europe is becoming this bastion of secularity and is abandoning Christianity, and want's to do away with Christmas, what am I seeing in this DVD?  Was it all show for the camera, or is this situation in Europe with the Islamization/Secularization/Shrinking birth rates thing being overblown???? Or is what I was seeing not the norm anymore? Is it all few and far between?  Because I have to tell ya, London, Paris, and Rome seem to do Christmas up big time.  And those churches with their bells ringing sure looked packed to me (was it just because it was Christmas?). Now this is not to say that there aren't a bunch of Islamo/Sociaist/Atheist/Politcal Leftist out there that don't have their (bad) agendas, but I can't help but wonder if there is much ambelishment out there over this Eurabia/Secular situation in the EU. Please, someone set me straight as this American Conservative Catholic seeks the truth! Oh and just so you know, the date on this video was 2005 so it's not very old either.

I do not see much religious background to Christmas, it's just a good time for celebration from our Sun orbit point of view. This date was logical for pre-christians and it was accepted by Christianity in order to convince the pagans to join.

For me it's a time I spend with my loved ones. And we will not change family reunion dates just because someone coming from elsewhere picked a less logical time of the year.

I anyone forcing the immigrants to skip THEIR celebrations? I don't think so.

By the way, yesterday I read a new prediction, saying that red-haired people will die out within 80 years and blond people in 200 years. I guess the research was based on the assumption that the Europeans will breed with their dark-haired immigrants on a somewhat random basis... silly idea, having babies with people who don't even bother to learn my language. :o)

.....reading John Gibson's (of Fox News/MSNBC fame) book "The War on Christmas."  It is an excellent survey on how the liberal left is slowy trying to remove Christmas as a celebration in the American Schools and in the Country as a whole, AND to even ban saying "Merry Christmas" in the shopping establishments! All in the interest of of PC, separation of church and state, and appeasment of minority religions.  It was a real eye opener. 

If these idiot leftists even knew the history of the holiday, none of this would be an issue.  I am sure you guys in EU are fully aware that Christmas stemmed from Pagan celebrations regarding the winter solstice centuries before Christ.  And that the Church did not know Jesus's actual B-day, so they offically made 12/25 (the pagan ritual of the Sun/Light in a dark world) the "Feast of the Nativity." Translation: Christmas is both a Secular holiday and a Religious Holiday. Why can't these Godless bitter liberals just accept it and let it go!!!  Why do we have to go through this every year????

I said this in the daily mail comments on Christmas yesterday, but it was not allowed, don't know why.

We have been living for the last ten years under the most corrupt, depressive and incompetent government since the signing of The Magna Carta.
Why don’t these people crawl back under their hole and leave us alone?

"The report robustly defends multiculturalism - the idea that different
communities should not be forced to integrate but should be allowed to
maintain their own culture and identities." It seems England is well on it's way to being balkinized. In 25 or 50 years at this rate you will have 10 or 20 little countries all fighting among themselves. I bet those who fought so long to unite England under one banner are desperately trying to get out of their graves to take hold of a mace and pound some sense into these government trolls. Unfortunately here in the US the repulsakins and demorats are doing the same.

You are quite right to say that people need to be defiant in the face of those seeking to destroy Christmas. However, I would question whether simply putting up lots of lights and decorating houses and gardens per se would achieve very much. What the liberal elite hate about Christmas is not the bright lights or the decorations on the tree. They hate the Christmas message lock, stock and barrel. The religiosity of it appals them. They are quite happy for you to have lights and trees. What they want to take away from Christmas is the ‘Christ.’ Therefore, if your defiance is to have any meaning whatsoever then the ‘Christ’ bit is what you have to make sure stays around.

In addition to lights and trees, I would suggest that those wishing to show defiance and defend the true meaning of Christmas need to be slightly more culturally assertive. You could display a nativity scene in your home - preferably lit up in your front window. Maybe put a miniature nativity scene on your desk in work. Perhaps this year leave the Santa and snowmen cards to the children and send something more grown-up - such as Christmas cards showing religious imagery [the nativity, angels, church scenes etc.]. Lastly, if you can, attend a Christmas Service at your local church.

Christmas is a Christian celebration and, if our culture is to survive, we need to be proud of that.

I'm itching to read what Peter Hitchens might have to say about this in his   Mail on Sunday column this weekend.Peter,if you happen to be reading  this,don't let me down.

I think the chattering classes in the UK are anti Christmas, we witness it every year with calls for Christmas lights to be called 'winter lights'.  I think that an act of defiance this year would be for people to make sure that they display Christmas lights on their house.  If the authorities want to destroy Christmas then we should make every effort to say 'no way!'.  Christmas is our tradition and we will defend it by decorating our houses and our gardens more brightly than ever before.  If the leftist establishment does not like this then tough!

This is something we can all do to show that we still believe in the traditions that we were brought up with. This might also be a way to get others involved in the preservation of our heritage.

umm, what does "race" have to do with Christmas? it doesn't make sense. How can there be a racial objection to Christmas, I can understand a cultural or religious objection, but racial?. How is banning a celebration enjoyed by the majority to please a minority going to help "race relations"?

Rural Britain, the report complains, "remains a largely white place". Much more needs to be done to "ensure access" to the countryside for black and ethnic minority groups, disabled people and children from inner-city areas.

Sounds like a good a definition of genocide as anything else.