Mitchell Surprenant

Living in God’s town has its perks. I’m just a short distance from Liberty University, home of Liberty Council, the highly-litigious arm of the Christian Right.

I had a short discussion with a coworker about his belief (disclosure: he attends Liberty) that there is indeed a war on Christmas. It went something like this

Me: So wait, you think there’s an actual war on Christmas?
Him: Well, I mean, if you look at the retailers who aren’t saying “Merry Christmas” anymore and people fighting nativity scenes on public property…
Me: As is their right to do. But a war really?
Him: Well, you have to look
Me: A WAR, though?

And that retort of mine handled most of his objections to my satisfaction, anyway.

Also, recently I unfriended (defriended?) someone on Facebook for this very reason. It might be easier to lay it out here, and some have called what I did an over-reaction (I disagree), but here’s how it went. The person used their status update to tell people to “remember, Christ is the reason for the season, so wish people a Merry ‘Christ’mas.” This followed with several people agreeing, with one remarking how silly it was that people of other religions could get offended.

I’ll admit in that case, maybe I did fan the flames, but there are a few things I don’t get about the ‘war’ on Christmas.

1. Nobody is trying to remove your right to celebrate Christmas as you choose. Want a Christmas tree (note: I haven’t seen them called Holiday trees)? Go ahead. Want to trade gifts on December 25? That is your right.
2. We’re not gonna change the name of the holiday to “Holiday.” Try as we might, on calendars everywhere it will still be marked “Christmas” on December 25.
3. The GOSH DARN FEDERAL GOVERNMENT made it a national holiday on June 28, 1870.

Not everyone in America is a Christian. Sorry. And we who are not probably aren’t going to start any time soon. The United States government serves people of many faiths: Buddhism, Islam, Christianity, Judaism, Atheistm, Agnosticism, Hinduism and even Scientology (yes, it’s a religion — believing in such things is harmless).

We of non-Christian faiths already endorse a government that recognizes you over us, so why should we accept retailers (whose will we can control with our spending dollars) do the same? A catch-all phrase like “Happy Holidays” INCLUDES YOU. Why should retailers only acknowledge their Christian customers around this time of year?

The inspiration for this post came largely from the front page of the News & Advance today (in addition to the comments — always a hoot) and this post from WhoIsIOZ (which includes some wonderful graphics on how the war is expected to go).