In recent years there has been a lot of chatter about the “War on Christmas”. People (mostly on the far right of the political spectrum) are ranting about businesses and governments not saying “Merry Christmas”.
Well honestly, what is wrong with “Happy Holidays” and “Season’s Greetings"? Both phrases have been considered acceptable greetings for this time of year for decades if not centuries. So why is there all the fuss now?
Even if we ignore the fact that many of the symbols and behaviours that western cultures associate with Christmas have their roots in pagan tradition (i.e. carolling, decorating trees, mistletoe, holly, wreaths, and Yule logs), it seems to me that some people go through life looking for reasons to be offended.
Ironically, the very people who are complaining about the perceived attack on Christmas are doing more damage to the holiday than anyone else. Christmas is supposed to be a time of peace, love, and goodwill towards others. To walk around like Scrooge complaining about someone’s choice of words doesn’t sound very Christmas-like to me.
Article comments
— go to most recent comments1 - David Malbuff
Well, PJ, the short answer is that we don't live in a vacuum. In case you haven't noticed, open community celebrations of Christmas have come under increasing attack in recent years-- removal of Christmas trees, nativity scenes, and such from town parks, children disciplined in school for handing out Christmas candy canes, "Christmas Vacation" changed to "Winter Vacation" in schools, endless anti-Christmas lawsuits by the ACLU, and so forth. Perhaps you havent noticed these things. However, they have been and are happening, and unfortunately once-innocent greetings such as "Happy Holidays" have been co-opted by government and corporate America as part of the increasing aggressive secularization of our public life.
So the insistence on "Merry Christmas" by some of us may seem a bit defensive, indeed, but in the context of modern times I daresay it is understandable.
Let's be clear. No one, but no one, is or ever has been offended, hurt, or excluded by another's celebration of Christmas. It does not happen. It has never happened. Yet our governmental and corporate leaders seem determined to ensure that this fiction be accepted as fact, and that "diversity" and "inclusion" demand that all Christian speech, symbology, and tradition be excluded from the public square.
So, allow me to wish you a Merry Christmas!
2 - Mike N
Happy Christmas!
3 - James Hong
Let's keep the ho in ' who cares'?
4 - Al Black
"Happy Holidays" was the only offensive term I was shocked by in the United States. Get this straight - Everywhere else it is "Merry Christmas!" Only in the supposedly Christian country of America is this cowardly agnostic "greeting" used, and it grates on the ears of any Christian.
Muslims and Jews think we no longer have pride in our faith, or are too weak to express it. Words are important, and there is nothing more Christian than to witness for your faith. If I was ordered to greet people with "Happy Holidays" I would refuse to obey. It would be an interesting test of religious freedom were I to be fired for wishing someone a "Merry Christmas!"
5 - Doug Hunter
"It seems to me that some people go through life looking for reasons to be offended."
You mean like the people who claim offense and threaten lawsuits when they find Christmas trees and other decorations on display?
6 - El Bicho
"'Happy Holidays' was the only offensive term I was shocked by in the United States."
Quite the sensitive fellow, ain't ya. Maybe if you were better informed about things, such as the U.S. not being a Christian country, you wouldn't be so easily put off. Though why you would care what Muslims and Jews think about your faith demonstrates how insecure and unstable it must be.
Happy Holidays
7 - Jordan Richardson
Get this straight - Everywhere else it is "Merry Christmas!"
Bullshit.
8 - zingzing
i'm not christian, but i don't care if someone says "merry christmas" to me. how someone can get offended that someone choose not to make the assumption that you're automatically a christian, even if it doesn't really matter in the least, is beyond me.
get over yourself. unless you're walking around with a giant cross on or a t-shirt that says "i'm with jesus" or some shit like that, how's a person to know? and if that person's not christian, why the hell should they wish you a happy day they don't particularly believe in?
really, you people (the christians who choose to get all fucked up over a few words) are far too sensitive.
"You mean like the people who claim offense and threaten lawsuits when they find Christmas trees and other decorations on display?"
if it's on public property, someone can legally sue to get it removed or get paid. such is the society that we live in that you know someone's going to see the opportunity. mmm, capitalism.
9 - Jordan Richardson
Oh, and nice article. I woke up to a finger-wagging about my own use of the dreaded Happy Holidays on Facebook. Lovely.
10 - Cindy
Or as the Brits might say, "appy ollidays!"
11 - Jon Sobel
It's amazing to me the offense that people take over this silliness, on both sides. We live in a pluralistic society, most definitely NOT a "Christian country." That's a simple fact. It is, however, the majority/dominant religion of the culture, and that's just a fact too.
For a non-Christian to take offense at being innocently greeted "Merry Christmas" is crude and churlish. For a Christian to take offense at "Happy Holidays" is just plain absurd. Everybody needs to just relax.
12 - Gino De Lucia
"CHRISTMAS" is a christian holiday~ it's that plain and simple! The word Christmas itself comes from 2 words: Christ & Mass; and it is actually a day set aside by the Christian church to to have a special Mass to celebrate the birth of the one whom they believe to be their savior: Jesus of Nazareth! If others of different faiths choose not to celebrate it, then that's their right. However, those same people & the US Government do not have the right to change the name of this holiday into whatever they feel is politically correct just to suite themselves because it is what it is: It's Christmas! And so... with that being said: "Merry Christmas!" Oh, one other thing... if you don't like it then don't celebrate it!
13 - Jordan Richardson
Nobody's "changed the name of the holiday." People just adapt their greetings accordingly by their own free will, not for any "government" reason.
Honestly. We go through the same nonsense every single year and have for decades now. How does this petty bickering honour the "reason for the season" at all?
There are MANY ways to offer holiday greetings to people of all sorts of different views and beliefs. This should not be offensive; it should be exciting. Celebrating our diversity should be something we cherish, not something we fear.
14 - zingzing
i wonder if these people have ever heard of hanukkah or new year's. when people say "happy holidays," they're being inclusive of other people and other days. they don't mean "merry christmas," and it's highly possible that they aren't exclusively talking about christmas.
the "holidays" includes a lot more than just christmas. (think about boxing day!)
thinking christmas is all there is is just ignorance. that some people don't understand that is just sad. such hubris! such arrogance! such myopia! such self-centeredness! such redundancy...
15 - zingzing
gino, if the phrase is "happy holidays," what makes you think that's the name of a particular day? no one's trying to change the name of christmas (although you'd be surprised about how many names it went through to get there).
next time you are greeted with a "happy holidays," rip into that person. see how it makes you feel.
and happy holidays.
16 - Brian aka Guppusmaximus
Happy Festivus....For the rest of us:)
17 - Cindy
such redundancy...
lmao!
(joyous jubilee to all)
18 - Christine
Merry Christmas to all the BC family!
19 - Dr Dreadful
Christine (and I say this quite happily as someone who isn't particularly religious and hasn't set foot in a church (other than as a tourist) for at least a couple of years), Merry Christmas to you and yours.
20 - Victor Lana
Whether it's "Season's Greetings," "Happy Holidays," "Merry Christmas," or even "Happy Festivus," it's the intention - glad tidings and good cheer - that is important here. Life is too short to bicker about the semantics of a greeting of good will.
21 - Dr Dreadful
I say "Merry Christmas" because it is Christmas, whether you're a Christian or not - just the same as it's Easter when it's Easter and St Patrick's Day when it's St Patrick's Day.
It's also Independence Day on the Fourth of July. I'm not going to call it something else just because I'm not American. (Although if I didn't actually live here, it would just be July 4th.)
The problem is that there are those among us who want to frame this as a conflict between Good and Evil, which, as Jordan so succinctly observed, is bullshit.
22 - zingzing
"I say "Merry Christmas" because it is Christmas..."
except when it's the first day of hanukkah, the second day of hanukkah, the third day of hanukkah, the fourth day of hanukkah, the fifth day of hanukkah, the sixth day of hanukkah, the seventh day of hanukkah, the eighth day of hanukkah, christmas eve, boxing day/the first day of kwanzaa, the second day of kwanzaa, the third day of kwanzaa, the fourth day of kwanzaa, the fifth day of kwanzaa, the sixth day of kwanzaa/new year's eve, the seventh day of kwanzaa/new year's day, and any other holiday i might have missed.
i sincerely hope you don't say "merry christmas" on new year's eve. but i think i might this year just to piss in somebody's champagne.
23 - Dr Dreadful
except when it's the first day of hanukkah, the second day of hanukkah...
In which case I'll just as gladly say "Happy Hanukkah", as the occasion demands.
Which, as the Jewish community in this part of the world is rather tiny, isn't often.
24 - Nancy
Happy Holidays acknowledges there are more celebrations in December than Christmas. It doesn't take away from anybody, and you never run the risk of telling someone "Merry Christmas" when they observe something else.
25 - zingzing
"In which case I'll just as gladly say "Happy Hanukkah", as the occasion demands."
what about when one of the days of hanukkah happens to be on christmas day? must be a confusing day in the dreadful house. i just wouldn't go outside. or, what if you decided to vacation to foreign lands at christmas time, which i hear many people do? is it christmas day wherever you go? does "merry christmas" even translate in many languages around the world?