The War on Christmas

A religious organization recently announced that they were urging their members to boycott Radio Shack for one month.  The reason for this was that Radio Shack uses the phrase ‘Holidays’ rather than ‘Christmas’ in its advertising.  A popular television pundit has declared that there is a ‘war on Christmas’ and that there is a group of people who hate Christmas and are trying to eradicate it. 

I find it perplexing that religious people now decry the current diminishing use of the word ‘Christmas’ in the marketing of merchandize as a ‘bad’ thing.  I say this because having grown up in the Bible Belt and having spent many years as an active participant in evangelical Christianity, I remember that every year, the Christmas holidays brought thundering condemnation from preachers who said that a secular society was ‘co-opting’ Christmas in order to sell merchandize.  “Christmas is a manufactured holiday,” they would say which just gives people a chance to overindulge in spending as well as participating in all other manner of excess.  “Christians should shun such hypocrisy!” they admonished. 

One Christian denomination forbids it members from even celebrating Christmas in any religious manner (Rudolf is OK).  They do so because the Bible does not admonish Christians to celebrate Jesus’ birth (cannot deny this) and because there is no evidence to support the belief that Jesus was born on December 25, that in fact December 25 was originally a pagan holiday that was adopted as a date to celebrate the birth of Jesus (also true). 

I am approaching 60 years old, so I remember when America was much less diverse than it is today.  We had very few people around us who did not follow Christian traditions.  Expressions associated with the Christian holiday were everywhere present.  Society is quite different today.  Ease of travel between continents has brought to our country individuals who may not celebrate Christmas, but who bring other equally rich and interesting traditions.   Isn’t adjusting our greeting to something like ‘Happy Holidays’ saying to them that we want to accommodate their traditions and make them feel welcome in this country.  This seems consistent with the admonition of Jesus to treat others as we wish to be treated.

I am certain that the mission of Christianity is in no way advanced by insisting that Radio Shack or Wal-Mart use the word ‘Christmas’ in their advertising or that their employees say ‘Merry Christmas’ rather than ‘happy holidays.’  A couple of weeks ago, our neighbors invited us to their home for a ‘holiday party.’  They happen to be Jewish.  We were honored that they valued our friendship enough to include us in this event. Had we insisted on saying ‘Merry Christmas’ to them it would not only have been rather absurd, it would also have been unkind. 

I remember the Christmas parties and gatherings that my family attended when I was a child.  I suppose ‘Merry Christmas’ was spoken rather than ‘Happy Holidays’ but I don’t recall any talk of worshipping the babe in the manger.  Truthfully for many in those days, the holiday was just as secular as it is now.  It was mostly about gifts, parties, eggnog, yule-logs, deck the halls, Frosty the snowman, Kriss Kringle, fruitcake, Charlie Brown, etc, etc. Some, not all, may have attended a church service.

As much as I love to hear “Merry Christmas’ I also welcome ‘Happy Holidays’ as an expression of kindness and a wish of good will.  And that makes me feel good!  People waging ‘war’ usually do not want to spread cheer.

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