War on Christmas is Over

[PhiLandShiR 18]

It’s time to pull out of the War on Christmas. It’s a quagmire. There are no winners, the victories are fleeting and the effort could be spent in better places.

Christmas hasn’t always been a battleground. President Ulysses S. Grant made Christmas an official holiday in 1870. So for a holiday whose literal meaning is the mass of Christ, a 2000-year-old religion, Christmas is a relatively new “most sacred day of the year now under attack by secularists and the ACLU.” The “traditional” holiday, was a celebration of the winter solstice. The customs were combined into a Christmas pudding with a very American brand on it. These days the holiday has evolved into an across the board economic mainstay. Two-thirds of our economy is consumer spending and Christmas in a tax calendar type of way, is all about waiting until the last minute to shop.

But in the last decade there’s been a war on Christmas. Those who have been fighting it the hardest, Christian leaders, are also the ones who claim the other side, the omnipotent “fundamentalist secularists” declared it by use of euphemism: “Season’s Greetings.”

Religious leaders decided the only way to mark the Christian significance of Christmas was to urge retail establishments to use the phrase “Merry Christmas” instead of “Happy Holidays.” So when Christians seeking the true spirit of Christmas, crowded on a shelf at the mega-mall, they wouldn’t have their religion of personifying a poor Jewish prophet mocked by hearing the phrase “Happy Holidays.”

It’s like insisting all pizzas be referred to as “air pockets” so you’ll be safe from ever blowing your diet.

There was a movement (hippies mostly) at one time who didn’t appreciate business co-opting their religion to turn a profit. The denounced the commercialization of Christmas. But that kind of sentiment clearly doesn’t sell well and it was dropped by the bullying buying power of the “Merry Christmas” insistent.

The War on Christmas is a weird hybrid of requesting only the proper kind of exploitation of a sacred holy day. The threat of not adhering to the request isn’t one of spiritual punishment, it’s of economic condemnation. And while the latter could be more effective in winning battles, its use as a strategy is clearly cynical. And in a major recession it’s ten-fold.

But let’s not look at who’s right and whose First Amendment rights are being trampled on. Scorekeeping is for games – this is war. It’s an exploration of what being offended actually entitles you to. I would call the conflict a “debate” but that seems a little too generous even for the Season of Giving. What has it gotten us? The only thing the War on Christmas has managed to accomplish is terrorizing a couple of seasonal workers out of muttering “Happy Holidays” as they stuff yuletide savings into America’s shopping carts.

Our winter celebration it’s not a fully Christian tradition. It’s not a purely secular one either. It’s surely an economic one. And it’s always been a way to boost morale during the thin months. Bronze-age man marked the shortest day of the year with a festival, a way of noting if they collaborate they could survive the darkness. And they did. Their offspring survived long enough to have a holy war about a corporate-sanctioned greeting at Wal-Mart.

Totally worth it.

The worst thing about the War on Christmas has become its own holiday pageant of misdirection. The American Family Association currently has up on their website a Naughty and Nice list consisting of companies for “Christmas,” companies marginalizing “Christmas” and companies against “Christmas.” There are no companies against Christmas. That’s like claiming an auto company is against tires because they don’t say otherwise. The effort spent on badgering the Gap for saying “Happy Holidays” in their first ads of the season couldn’t be spent elsewhere? Are resources being funneled to the War on Christmas distracting from more important Christian ventures like – feeding the hungry or helping the poor? Being you know, Christ-like on Christ-mass?

It’s time to withdraw the troops. Declare it a draw. Cut and run. Peace on Earth. Peace on wishing someone “happy holidays” because you include New Years in there too. Peace on Christmas. Peace to those who have less this year. We as a nation have to start ending wars that are pointless.

[Niels Bohr 72]

Hey,

I'm not religious, but, I celebrate Christmas. The point is not for religious reasons, it's because it brings everyone together.

[alienlovechild 75]

But in the last decade there’s been a war on Christmas. Those who have been fighting it the hardest, Christian leaders, are also the ones who claim the other side, the omnipotent “fundamentalist secularists” declared it by use of euphemism: “Season’s Greetings.”

I wouldn't call it a war for or against Christmas. Some people like the holiday and it gets on others' nerves. The jerks on one side get in your face about the celebration not covering everyone else's religion or non-religion and the other jerks want to follow some script from Christmases past.

We got some decorations up and and could less if our neighbors don't. I like to see the holiday stuff up for a while but I don't need it everywhere all the time during the season.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

The fictitious "War on Christmas" was concocted by the Religious Right as a political tool to get middle-of the-road Christians to run to the Right, under the perception that the evil, secular Left was trying to kill Santa Claus. They're not going to close the curtains on this Broadway show until people stop buying tickets.

[PlatyPius 5]

I don't get offended when people wish me a Merry Christmas. So, don't get offended if I wish you Happy Holidays, Happy Winter Solstice, or a Blessed Yule.

[alienlovechild 75]

The fictitious "War on Christmas" was concocted by the Religious Right as a political tool to get middle-of the-road Christians to run to the Right, under the perception that the evil, secular Left was trying to kill Santa Claus.

I don't know of a single poll that backs up the idea that people vote for the GOP to due to some "war" on Christmas. It's after the November elections so nobody votes based on that.

Santa Claus is a secular figure and he wasn't the one in the manger either or one of the three wise men. Ask a kid who went to Sunday school to clarify the distinction for you.

[one...two...tree 2,762]

The fictitious "War on Christmas" was concocted by the Religious Right as a political tool to get middle-of the-road Christians to run to the Right, under the perception that the evil, secular Left was trying to kill Santa Claus.

I don't know of a single poll that backs up the idea that people vote for the GOP to due to some "war" on Christmas. It's after the November elections so nobody votes based on that.

Santa Claus is a secular figure and he wasn't the one in the manger either or one of the three wise men. Ask a kid who went to Sunday school to clarify the distinction for you.

Follow the money.

As for Santa Claus - are you saying he didn't deliver toys to baby Jesus? Get out of here.

Christian groups raise funds as they sell items to counter a perceived assault on the holiday

Los Angeles Times December 23, 2006

The "War on Christmas" has never been so profitable.

For the fourth year running, conservative Christian groups have spent much of December

mobilizing against what they see as a liberal plot to censor Christmas.

But this year, it's more than a cause. It's a heck of a fundraiser.

The American Family Assn., a conservative activist group, has rung up more than $550,000

in sales of buttons and magnets stamped with the slogan "Merry Christmas: It's Worth

Saying."

Liberty Counsel, a nonprofit law firm affiliated with the religious right, has taken in more

than $300,000 with its Help Save Christmas Action Packs. The kits include two buttons, two

bumper stickers and "The Memo that Saved Christmas," a guide to defending overt religious

expression, such as a Nativity scene in a public school classroom.

Also for sale through conservative websites: Christmas bracelets, tree ornaments and lapel

pins intended to send a defiant message to those who would turn Christmas into a multi-

cultural mush of "winter parties," "seasonal sales" and "Happy Holidays" greetings.

http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/nation/la-na-ch...

[Chica Yeyé 41]

We are not religious, and we do not celebrate Xmas.

I don't get offended when people wish me a Merry Christmas. So, don't get offended if I wish you Happy Holidays, Happy Winter Solstice, or a Blessed Yule.

AMEN!!!

[christeen 966]

I have a neighbor who's lit up Joseph was apparantly broken, so he put the lit up figure of Mary, baby Jesus and Santa... He told me that he received a note in his mailbox that this was sacrilege and that he should remove it immediatly... He did not and his santa was stolen one night!!! Sometimes I just dont understand...

I am a photographer and I have many non-christian clients who all do some sort of "Holiday" cards, I believe this time of year is a time to get together with family, take a step back from the regular day to day and enjoy... regardless of whether they say Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays... its' the thought that counts...

[one...two...tree 2,762]

I have a neighbor who's lit up Joseph was apparantly broken, so he put the lit up figure of Mary, baby Jesus and Santa... He told me that he received a note in his mailbox that this was sacrilege and that he should remove it immediatly... He did not and his santa was stolen one night!!! Sometimes I just dont understand...

That's hilarious...not that Santa got stolen, but that someone left a threatening note in his mailbox. I would contact the police and show them the letter. Chances are, the two incidences are connected.

[Chica Yeyé 41]

I have a neighbor who's lit up Joseph was apparantly broken, so he put the lit up figure of Mary, baby Jesus and Santa... He told me that he received a note in his mailbox that this was sacrilege and that he should remove it immediatly... He did not and his santa was stolen one night!!! Sometimes I just dont understand...

That's hilarious...not that Santa got stolen, but that someone left a threatening note in his mailbox. I would contact the police and show them the letter. Chances are, the two incidences are connected.

OMFG

[christeen 966]

I have a neighbor who's lit up Joseph was apparantly broken, so he put the lit up figure of Mary, baby Jesus and Santa... He told me that he received a note in his mailbox that this was sacrilege and that he should remove it immediatly... He did not and his santa was stolen one night!!! Sometimes I just dont understand...

That's hilarious...not that Santa got stolen, but that someone left a threatening note in his mailbox. I would contact the police and show them the letter. Chances are, the two incidences are connected.

He did report it to the police, however, they said that the note was not a direct threat... I am sure Santa would disagree, after all he was just babysittin until Joe came home and BAM... Kidnapped!!!

[one...two...tree 2,762]

I have a neighbor who's lit up Joseph was apparantly broken, so he put the lit up figure of Mary, baby Jesus and Santa... He told me that he received a note in his mailbox that this was sacrilege and that he should remove it immediatly... He did not and his santa was stolen one night!!! Sometimes I just dont understand...

That's hilarious...not that Santa got stolen, but that someone left a threatening note in his mailbox. I would contact the police and show them the letter. Chances are, the two incidences are connected.

He did report it to the police, however, they said that the note was not a direct threat... I am sure Santa would disagree, after all he was just babysittin until Joe came home and BAM... Kidnapped!!!

Poor Santa.

You know what I'd do? I get another Santa and set up a security camera to catch them in the act.

[Chica Yeyé 41]

I have a neighbor who's lit up Joseph was apparantly broken, so he put the lit up figure of Mary, baby Jesus and Santa... He told me that he received a note in his mailbox that this was sacrilege and that he should remove it immediatly... He did not and his santa was stolen one night!!! Sometimes I just dont understand...

That's hilarious...not that Santa got stolen, but that someone left a threatening note in his mailbox. I would contact the police and show them the letter. Chances are, the two incidences are connected.

He did report it to the police, however, they said that the note was not a direct threat... I am sure Santa would disagree, after all he was just babysittin until Joe came home and BAM... Kidnapped!!!

OMG u r funny!!!

[one...two...tree 2,762]

I have a neighbor who's lit up Joseph was apparantly broken, so he put the lit up figure of Mary, baby Jesus and Santa... He told me that he received a note in his mailbox that this was sacrilege and that he should remove it immediatly... He did not and his santa was stolen one night!!! Sometimes I just dont understand...

That's hilarious...not that Santa got stolen, but that someone left a threatening note in his mailbox. I would contact the police and show them the letter. Chances are, the two incidences are connected.

He did report it to the police, however, they said that the note was not a direct threat... I am sure Santa would disagree, after all he was just babysittin until Joe came home and BAM... Kidnapped!!!

OMG u r funny!!!

She's in the trenches...tellin it like it is.