Is it too wrong to wish someone a “Merry Christmas?”
by Krystle Weeks
December 12, 2008
It seems like America has been plagued by the notions of being politically correct lately. Too often, you walk into a retail store and they are offering holiday sales, not “Christmas” sales.In today’s society, you are persecuted if you say, “Merry Christmas,” because the powers that be deem it too controversial.
If your child is in school, they do not throw Christmas parties complete with Santa Claus and the goodies. Instead, they throw Holiday parties with no such entertainment (except for a controversial movie or two). If you buy a Christmas tree, the man who puts the tree on top of your car wishes you, “Happy Holidays.” I believe you bought a Christmas tree, so where is the customary “Merry Christmas?”
Now, it seems like there is an assault by the leftists and religious separatists to remove Christianity from Christmas. According to the Stop the ACLU blog, there is a community threatening to stop Christmas carols from being sung in public places. Why? Because the organizers do not want to risk alienating the Muslims or Atheists due to Christ, and this is especially odd considering that the community is 75% Christian and 1% Muslim.
Enough is enough, right? Christmas is about celebrating the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ and giving to others in his name. There is nothing politically wrong about doing this, and it is time we return to our faith, especially in the times we are facing ahead. It will be our faith in God that will sustain us.
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Comments
They just hate Jesus that’s all. They want Christianity wiped from the face of the earth.
I’m glad that here in Australia things havn’t got that stupid yet. I work in a state school and still say Merry Christmas and enjoy doing Christmas activities.
Please don’t wish me a Merry Christmas! I appreciate your effort but I am a Christian and I believe the Bible. No where does it tell Christians to celebrate Christ’s birth! Everyday we live is a celebration of his life. Christmas is a pagan light celebration at the Solstice. Christ was born in the Spring and if he could see what people do in the name of his day of birth, he would hang his head and cry.
“In today’s society, you are persecuted if you say, “Merry Christmas,” because the powers that be deem it too controversial.”
Really? Find me a few cases of people actually being fired, attacked, or otherwise persecuted for saying these words of power? I think this is entirely an invented persecution. Rumors spread, but if it does happen it’s on such a tiny scale as to be negligable.
“If your child is in school, they do not throw Christmas parties complete with Santa Claus and the goodies.”
Santa is a religious icon? Anyway, when did schools get into the business of throwing parties?
“there is a community threatening to stop Christmas carols from being sung in public places. ”
You couldn’t find a good example from your own country, so you had to turn to the Land of Political Correctness?
“Christmas is about celebrating the birth of our Lord Jesus Christ and giving to others in his name.”
It’s also about seeing the family, giving presents, snowmen, santa and the elves, and stuffing yourself with traditional christmas food until you can eat no more. It’s a tangled mix of christian, pagan and secular traditions.
Look at the US. You’ve just replaced an extremally christian president with a slightly less christian one. No non-christian has a hope of being president, and is at a huge disadvantage in lower levels of politics. You have tax-exempt churches, you have a whole program for ‘faith-bases initiatives’ which is supposed to distribute tax money to churches – and has yet to give a single cent to a non-christian church. You have the legislature opening with a christian prayer, tax-funded nativity scenes, and how long as it been since there was a SotU address that didn’t include a few appeals to God? Even your money has ‘in god we trust’ on it. By what possible stretch of the imagination can you say that Christians are being persecuted?
I am shocked by Christian groups who engage in this ridiculous “War on Christmas” campaign.
Three reasons why “Happy Holidays!” is wonderful:
1) Holidays = holy days. Nothing secular about it. In addition to the celebration of Jesus’ birth, many consider Thanksgiving and New Year’s Eve to be holy days – so why not use this greeting?
2) “Happy Holidays” respects Hanukkah. If we’re going to use the phrase “Judeo-Christian values,” then let’s show some respect for our Jewish brothers and sisters who celebrate eight consecutive days of gift-giving in December. The observance of Hanukkah pre-dates Christmas.
3) You’re being a little too transparent about your love for a certain bombastic TV personality. Everyone knows this “War on Christmas” campaign has been a staple of Bill O’Reilly’s show for over a decade. It’s good for his ratings. And certainly he finds some examples of blatant religious liberties abuses in searching nationwide for juicy stories.
On this issue, O’Reilly is “looking out for the folks”… so resources that Christian donors earmark for charity would be better used elsewhere, yes?
It concerns me that Christian groups spend time, effort, energy, public reputation, and limited funds on this campaign. Let’s save all these valuable assets for more worthy causes (preserving human life, preserving marriage, fighting starvation, etc.)
peace,
-joshMshep
P.S. I would encourage believers to go to the following website and sign a simple petition on this issue:
I wonder, really, if Jesus’s message of salvation and grace depends upon our being reminded to have a “Merry Christmas” as we plunge into the holiday consumerism that runs so counter to the way Jesus lived and the way he desires us to live. Should shopping be a spiritual practice? Is this a necessary requirement for our theology? And is it even an evangelical tool to demand that stores wish shoppers a “Merry Christmas”? Doesn’t it send the message that Christians are ultimately concerned that their shopping experience be a basis of their faith? What a bizarre message, and so at odds with Jesus’s teaching.
Instead of Christians in the U.S. getting all freaked out and crying persecution because a store has a “Holiday Sale” (I mean, come ON, people, have you not heard what is happening to Christians in India, the Sudan, etc.? Stop whining about a store clerk wishing you a Happy Holiday!) why don’t we make a commitment to live out Jesus’ commands in Matthew 25. How would Jesus want us to celebrate his birthday, really?
By: Ceecee | December 13, 2008 at 3:08 am
Say Merry Christmas. Sing those Christmas carols. Go door to door and sing them. If somebody gets offended, just tell them to learn some tolerance. They want us to be tolerant of them, so they should return the favor and be tolerant of us too. That means no getting offended at the expressions of Christmas.
Insist that Christmas trees get put up at your college. If there are any complaints about it, just instruct the the college personnel to tell the complainer to get some tolerance. If Jews complain, simply put up a Menorah next to the Christmas tree. But most complainers are not Jews, and cannot be placated so easily. Most are anti-Christian bigots, who need to learn tolerance.