The 'Merry Christmas' Debate

Two years ago I wrote a post called "A Christmas Story", which deals with the "controversial" term "Happy Holidays" over something more specific such as "Merry Christmas".  Each year, at this time, I hear the same arguments and receive the same headaches--so each year I repost "A Christmas Story" to whatever digital means I can in hopes that it provides some with perspective. It's fairly short and I feel as though I left out a few things to aid focus, but it's my own sort of annual tradition that I'd like to share with you now.


_A Christmas Story

We rapidly approach Christmas, a holiday that's proved to be an issue of resentment in the last few years. Although I'd often encourage rational debate on theological issues--being of the belief that such conversations benefit theists and atheists alike--the usual "discussion" this time of the year is over an issue far more trivial then it's made out to be: "Happy Holidays" vs "Merry Christmas".

You see, there are people that feel that a term like "Happy Holidays" diminishes a sacred religious holiday such as Christmas. The argument is that when a store clerk, television station, etc. doesn't include "Christmas" in their greetings, it makes it seem like their faith is something of which they should be ashamed. In short, they take it personally.

I do understand this. There are some business that don't say "Merry Christmas" or openly decorate accordingly in fear of angering their customers. So "Merry Christmas" becomes "Seasons Greetings" and the annual office "Christmas Party" becomes the "Holiday Party". This, of course, fools no one and usually angers some of the Christians in the audience. However, these businesses and people aren't fighting a "war on Christmas" and are at best fighting a "war of political correctness" or simply attempting to be polite.

Still, I'd argue that Christmas is under attack, but not by secular humanists or "big business"--rather by the faithful Christians who took the holiday exclusively, allowed it to become federal, and fight to have corporations use the holiday in their advertising and store-fronts. Allow me to explain.

First, the birth of Christmas wasn't centered around Christians alone. It was a holiday created as an olive branch given by a largely pagan society to the emerging Christian faith. The idea of the holiday was to combine the winter solstice celebration of Yule (hence "Yule tidings") that the pagans had been celebrating with the birth of the Christian savior, Jesus of Nazareth--who, by the way, wasn't even born December 25th (the date was picked by Pope Sixtus III to "facilitate the acceptance of the faith by the pagan masses"). The holiday, of course, was later claimed as a sacred day by the Christians (and the Christians alone).

It could be said that the first REAL assault on the [Christian version of the] day came as time passed and Christmas became a day of more economic importance then spiritual. During the Great Depression, for example, Franklin Roosevelt proposed moving Thanksgiving to extend the holiday (see: Christmas) shopping season--an attempt greatly opposed by religious leaders at the time. Why? Well, the feeling was that their holiday was too sacred to be used as commercial fodder for businesses and the economy.

Strange how times change, huh?


What people have long failed to understand is that ideas like the separation of church and state was devised to protect the church as much as it was the state. If you really believed your faith to be of such value, then you wouldn't want it tainted by commercialism and politics. Instead you'd keep such valuable possessions close to your heart--far away from the sins of society.

"Happy Holidays" isn't devised to make you ashamed of who you are, it's devised to best exemplify the original meaning of Christmas--inclusion of different faiths. And, as an added benefit, it also allows those of you with faith to celebrate Christmas in an untainted form.


...That is, unless you faith really does require approval from Wal-Mart first.