The chronicling of incidents has begun for this season of the year over the contention that Christmas is insufficiently observed or recognized. The events and related grievances noted, and the anger they trigger among some, are both general and specific in nature.
Among what has occurred this year are a dispute involving a billboard sign put up by an atheist organization in New Jersey visible to drivers approaching the Lincoln Tunnel, Republican U.S. Sen. James Inhofe of Oklahoma refusing to participate in a Tulsa “holiday” parade of lights because “Christmas” was taken out of the name in 2009, a Christmas village in Philadelphia removing the word “Christmas,” a North Carolina school board leaving Christmas off its official calendar for the coming year, and a JP Morgan Chase Bank branch in Southlake, Texas, a Fort Worth suburb, deciding to remove a customer-donated Christmas tree saying it violated bank policy against accepting gifts (and then reversing its decision under pressure).
Objections to “Holidays” Replacing “Christmas”
These instances are seen by critics as part and parcel of a larger trend of seasonal neutrality, if not hostility, in calling Christmas parades holiday parades, using the term “winter break” for when public school students are on vacation over Christmas and New Year's, and using “holiday” as an overall substitute for “Christmas” in a number of workplace and public contexts.
Many of the objections cite a religious basis but where the opposition seems to manifest itself is in the retail sector. A Christian organization now ranks retailers in terms of whether employees wish customers “Merry Christmas” and if stores have clearly delineated Christmas displays.
The American Family Association’s color coded “Naughty or Nice” guide determines acceptable national company advertising practices regarding how frequently the word “Christmas” is used and has been featured on the Fox News Channel to make its case. Included on AFA’s list of Companies Against Christmas for 2010 are Banana Republic, Gap, and L.L. Bean.
“At stores, low-level cashiers risk alienating customers by saying the wrong thing after thanking them for their purchase. A generic ‘happy holidays,’ for instance, will offend people who are so consumed by the need to be wished a merry Christmas by strangers that they become jerks about it,” said Troy Reimink in “Why the ‘War on Christmas’ retail controversy is so absurd” in the Grand Rapids Press December 3, 2010.
Those who insist Christmas has become taboo often argue others are intolerant of Christian beliefs and expect observant Christians to keep their own views to themselves while accommodating practices they do not share.
Evidence of Commercial Aspects of Christmas
The frequent response to this claim is that the retail marketplace is where the dominance of Christmas is most evident: Christmas shopping day promotions and advertising--not to mention music--on TV and radio, all the pre-Thanksgiving fixation on low-priced items on Black Friday and Cyber Monday, Santas and decorations at shopping malls, and the strictly and overtly Christmas festive and display sights.
A related concern is that the emphasis appears to be on spending money and wanting presents and merchandising, rather than on any sense of appreciation or good will, the kinds of traits that the holiday is intended to encourage. Some have criticized Christmas for a lack of meaning beyond consumerism.
In a December 10, 2010 column, “Man up and admit there’s no war on Christmas,” in New Jersey’s Asbury Park Press, staff writer Michael Riley, an ordained minister, wrote: “Why not just leave Jesus out of the mass greed and pettiness part of the holidays altogether so that you can concentrate on, I don’t know, the holiness of the season and the theological significance behind the Bethlehem baby?”
Those who question why retailers try so hard to avoid offending Jewish and Muslim customers think that stores may be overestimating the degree to which non-Christians are probably troubled by the seasonal presence of Christmas. They point to Christmas as a traditional and worldwide holiday that has religious significance to those who wish to observe it in that manner.
Some retail employees who have wished non-Christians a Merry Christmas say their only intent is to express hope for an enjoyable day on December 25 as a federally recognized day in the United States and to cause no offense. Most of the objections still seem to come from those insisting that everyone be required to wish them a “Merry Christmas” because most of the population is Christian.
Accommodating Other Customs at Christmastime
Aside from the issue of whether to say “Happy Holidays,” “Merry Christmas,” or “Happy Hanukkah” in stores, other efforts to reach accommodation have proved difficult. As an example, tollbooth attendants on the Florida Turnpike were barred from displaying any holiday decorations in their booths because of prior opposition from Christians to Halloween displays.
In addition, the Catholic League of New York has protested that the city of Boca Raton, Florida, which has a sizable Jewish population, discriminates against Christians, Palm Beach Post staff writer Frank Carabino wrote in a December 8, 2010 column, “Christmas ‘war’ anger replaces joy.” “The gist of the complaint is that the city’s decorations in its public buildings included a religious symbol for Jews (menorahs) and only secular symbols for Christians (trees, snowflakes, garland and lights.)”
The debate there came down to whether the menorah is acceptable as a counterpart decoration for a Christmas tree or if a more balanced display must be a Nativity scene instead along with a menorah.
As in the Baton Raton case, Catholic League President William Donohue has routinely accused others of bias against Catholics and his organization while insisting his own group is not hostile toward non-Christians.
But Donohue among others has said that in order for tolerance to truly exist, it must be uniform and equally exercised as they see it. Some non-Christians have said they have seen the denigration of other customs such as Hanukkah or Kwanzaa to which some Christians insist that Christmas is being subjected as well.
To an outside observer, an element of defensiveness and spite at times could be part of a season that is supposed to embrace the very opposite. No side in this question is likely to ever find the views of those with whom they disagree fully acceptable when it comes to giving equal time to various holidays.
Ultimately, it is a matter of perception and the importance attached to preferred greetings, definitions of retailers as “Christmas friendly,” how swayed someone is by advertising, and how attached people’s deepest beliefs about Christmas are to the shopping experience.
John Seidenberg - John Seidenberg has worked on newspapers, newsletters, radio news, and produced specialized news publications as well as freelance ...
