"Happy Holidays" or "Merry Christmas"

I will honor Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all year. - Charles Dickens

"Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas?" If you listen to the pundits it seems there is a war going on to secularize America, a war being fought on the airways, at City Hall, at retailers, and other places of public gathering. It is a war on traditional values and the true meaning of Christmas.

A recent Gallop poll found more than 60% of Americans believe that saying "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas" is not a good thing. The people in my world here in Middle America (Tulsa, Oklahoma) are mostly conservative, evangelical Christians. And many of them are concerned that the celebration of Christmas is giving way to a secular winter holiday. They point to multi-national conglomerates removing "Christmas" from their advertising; schools banning red and green napkins from "winter" parties; Christmas trees being renamed; and hundreds of other happenings that make them believe Christians are losing ground.

This is nothing new. For a number of years Christians of every stripe bemoaned the commercialization of Christmas. They felt the message was being lost under the sheer weight of holiday gifts, food, decorations and cheer. The Christian Christmas was so intertwined with the secular holiday that the two seemed inseparable: Silent Night blared over the shopping mall's speaker system, Rudolph and the wise men found a home on the same decorated lawn, and office parties led to shenanigans prohibited at other times of the year, but were overlooked in the "spirit" of the season. Preachers thundered from the pulpits cautioning their parishioners that the true meaning of Christmas was being absorbed into all things secular.

Oh look, yet another Christmas TV special! How touching to have the meaning of Christmas brought to us by cola, fast food, and beer conglomerates. Who'd have ever guessed that product consumption, popular entertainment, and spirituality would mix so harmoniously? It's a beautiful world all right. - Bill Watterson

But today, it seems like we've had enough. "Happy Holidays" simply won't do. So we are up in arms ... arguing, chastising, challenging, berating, and boycotting anyone and anything that so much as mentions "Happy Holidays" instead of our blessed "Merry Christmas." In our haste to stem the secular onslaught, we've missed some important things about the meaning and message of Christmas.

First, isn't Christmas about good will towards all? How can the Christmas message be losing ground when we broaden our greeting to include our friends who hold other beliefs? When we say "Happy Holidays" we are acknowledging that there are many people of faith who have celebrations during this time of year. The Christian message isn't minimized by making the holidays more inclusive. Quite the contrary, inclusiveness is at the very heart of Christmas. A point made quite compellingly in the Christian scriptures with the story of the Christ-child being visited by the "pagan" Magi.

Christmas, my child, is love in action. Every time we love, every time we give, it's Christmas. - Dale Evans Rogers

Second, when the Christian language of Christmas is removed from the larger cultural winter celebration, a clear distinction will exist. Against the colorless backdrop of a secular holiday the Christian message will be an attractive alternative once again. "Merry Christmas" literally means the Mass of Christ. Christianity not only celebrates the birth of Christ, but his death and resurrection as well. When Christians say, "Merry Christmas" they are celebrating the totality of who Jesus is and what he has done. Maybe when "Christmas" isn't used to introduce the newest product, last-minute-sale, or perfect gift, maybe ... just maybe when we say "Merry Christmas" it will mean something.

And the Grinch, with his Grinch-feet ice cold in the snow,
stood puzzling and puzzling, how could it be so?
It came without ribbons. It came without tags. It came without packages, boxes or bags.
And he puzzled and puzzled 'till his puzzler was sore.
Then the Grinch thought of something he hadn't before.
What if Christmas, he thought, doesn't come from a store.
What if Christmas, perhaps, means a little bit more. - How The Grinch Stole Christmas, Dr. Seuss

Third, is a culture war reflective of the One who was born the Prince of Peace? While everyone should be able to share their faith and defend their beliefs according to their own consciences, this language of conflict has to cease. I'm tired of wars and rumors of wars ... real and imagined ... as were the people in the world into which Jesus was born. The message of Christ didn't spread because Christians traded for favors from the government, nor because they harangued Caesar into allowing a Christmas tree in the forum; neither did it spread because they entered into a cultural war with the popular pagan world. The message spread because it was a message of hope. A message that began with these words, "I bring you good tidings of great joy which shall be for all people."

I heard the bells on Christmas Day; their old familiar carols play, and wild and sweet the word repeat of peace on earth, good-will to men! - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Christians ... the very ones entrusted with the "Merry Christmas" message in the first place ... should make it their aim that everyone - all people - regardless of race, color, creed, or economic situation, have an opportunity to experience good tidings of great joy. No matter which phrase is used!