Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Ash Pryce on November 15, 2011 at 7:14am

The "X" is a valid contraction, as others have said derived not from atheist offensiveness but from Christianity itself.  I rarely use it, in fact I only use it in regards to x-mas.  Xian for me has always been too close to Zion and I simply worry about confusing the point of the conversation.

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Permalink Reply by Robert Karp on November 15, 2011 at 8:56am

Since when does christianity deserve our respect or tolerance? Or any other religion for that matter. Am I intolerant of christianity? Absolutely. I can like a chrisitan, and have many christian friends. I can admire some of their literature and music and art.  But am I tolerant of their apologetic stance towards their religion? No. Would I call them a xian to their face? No because I'm not an a-hole. But saying "atheists should be above that sort of thing" ?  I have no reason to be.

 

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Permalink Reply by Dennis Weaver on November 15, 2011 at 5:13pm

 +1, Admiral.

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Permalink Reply by Craig Nomazlab on November 15, 2011 at 10:00am

It's just short. It's got nothing to do with being anti-christian. Christians use the word "x-mas" when refering to christmas, but do you claim that they're too anti-christian to use the word christ? Would you claim that somebody who says "k" instead of "ok" is too anti-the-letter-o to use it in a word?

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Permalink Reply by Rocky Oliver (LotusGeek) on November 15, 2011 at 12:13pm

HEY - I'm an OKian, and I find the shortening of OK to just K to be offensive. What, you are so intolerant of OKians and you hate the word OK so much you can't bring yourself to simply type the extra letter? Atheists should be above that thing.

 

(excuse me while I go get a towel to wipe up the sarcasm dripping from my keyboard...)

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Permalink Reply by Andrew Lafont on November 15, 2011 at 11:48pm

+1

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Permalink Reply by erik112358 on November 17, 2011 at 2:20am

I support the use of XXXmas and XXXians.  Their holiday parties are always a blast.

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Permalink Reply by STEVIE NICHOLL on November 15, 2011 at 5:11pm

What a waste of bytes.... take this rubbish thread down!... a non-xian

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Permalink Reply by Dylan Martin on November 15, 2011 at 5:49pm

Well, the guy DID want to be shown where he's wrong.

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Permalink Reply by Jerica O'Hagan on November 15, 2011 at 10:58pm

I've heard actual Christians use the term 'xian' to refer to themselves. But black people casually refer to each other as n***s, as a term of endearment. I think it's kind of a way to make fun of those who gave it to them. As in a way to mock them. 

For instance, I read in "Emotional Bulls***" a book not related to religion but to how people treat others disrespectfully, a couple with children divorced. The dad complained to the son about how the boy's mom was asking for too much child support, how she wanted it to buy herself some new nice clothes and a souped up car... etc. When the boy visited his mom and he relayed the message to his mom, she laughed and joked. "Yeah, like I really need new clothes- I got a closet full already! And I don't need a Jaguar, my Ford's good enough for me!" They boy laughed. When he returned to his dad, who inquired on the child support, the boy honestly told his dad that his mom laughed. What did the mom do? She turned her ex-husband's unkind remarks into humor. Bullies can't carry a comeback to an insult-made-joke....

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Permalink Reply by Artor on November 16, 2011 at 12:53am

X is actually Chi, the Greek letter for CH, and is used in many Bibles as shorthand for CHrist. Also, X-mas. It's handy that one letter can replace six, so people use it, particularly when writing alot.

Oops, I see above someone already explained this. nvm.

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Permalink Reply by Helen Pluckrose on November 16, 2011 at 11:40am

It's shorthand. It has no positive or negative connotations.  Why would it? Lots of things are shortened to initials or abbreviations for no other reason than convenience. My husband is Dave and I am Hels and my daughter is Lu and no-one feels remotely offended by this. I also call myself a carer rather than a domiciliary care worker and I study Eng Lit at uni.

I understand that a Christian may feel a certain reverence for words with the name Christ in it but they are under absolutely no pressure to shorten the name in any way.

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