Happy Holidays

Another poorly-informed individual providing his two cents on the trite holiday season debate.

Most of you are probably aware of the complaint made by some (not all) religious conservatives who are disappointed in President Bush's seasonal greeting cards stating "Happy Holidays" and not "Merry Christmas." The reaction of the few (again, not all) religious conservatives has again sparked the debate between "liberals" and "fundamentalists" on whether this season should be a Christo-centric holiday season or an eclectic observation of cultural heritages that celebrate a holiday during this end-of-year season.

As a self-fashioning conservative evangelical, I am going to weigh in my poorly-informed comments to express my thoughts on the matter. I say poorly-informed not to suggest that this is the error of religious conservatives, but that I do not have the time to research this issue to any exhaustive measure, just basing my thoughts on the few articles and "no-spin" shows I have seen regarding the matter. First, we conservatives should not become defensive and suggest that our religious freedom is being infringed upon. Neither should we expect the president or any other public official to represent us solely (pardon me for opening this can of worms). As a representative of the American public, that means also representing those who do not comprise the Christian concensus of middle America. Please read further to understand what I am trying to say.

Secondly, I believe it is imperative that we acknowledge and appreciate the cultural differences within our society. Though we may disagree with some of these differences, that does not mean we should cast them out. I think the best means of expressing our sensitivity to these cultural differences during this season is to say "Happy Holidays." Therefore, if a presidential holiday greeting states "Happy Holidays," the President and Mrs. Bush are simply wishing anyone from any culture to enjoy one's seasonal celebration.

Another complaint is that commercial advertising is using such phrases as the holiday shopping season and holiday sales. Let me begin by saying that retailers have a number of holiday sales (Labor Day, 4th of July, etc.). Granted, these promotions usually state the specific holiday. However, those holidays hold a calendar monopoly. Christmas shares the same season as Hanukkah. Technically, those are two holidays. Hanukkah involves gift exchanging as well. Retailers simply decided to promote sales for the "holidays" in the plural to incorporate both gift-giving celebrations.

Now, if we corrected the dating of Christmas, we could avoid this problem. I do not know all the particulars on this, but I believe that biblical scholarship suggests that errors were made in calendar making and that arguably the birth of Jesus occured more likely in March. Of course, then Christmas would potentially conflict St. Patrick's Day and then we could have debate over the religious-holiday-turned-national-heritage-celebration in a culture war with the date-swapping religious holiday. Much in the same with the Kwanzaa-Christmas debate, it would become a issue of the Christo-centric holiday squashing the holiday celebrating ancestral pride and appreciation. Though, there is no chance that Christmas would move to March.

Lastly, I want to encourage the religious conservatives to still say "Merry Christmas" if you want to. Just say it to those who likewise celebrate the holiday. Say "Happy Holidays" to people who do not celebrate Christmas. Would you tell someone happy birthday who did not have a birthday on that day? If I knew anyone who was Jewish (sadly, I do not think I do), I would tell that person to have a happy Hanukkah. Likewise, I will tell my family and friends from church "Merry Christmas" because that is the holiday we celebrate. It just makes sense to me. On that note, Happy Holidays:

To fellow Christians: Merry Christmas
To Jewish people: Happy Hanukkah (12/25-1/2) and Happy belated New Year (10/3-10/5)
To African-Americans/Afro-Americans/black people: Happy Kwanzaa (12/26-1/1)
Happy New Year
To Chinese people: Happy New Year (1/29)
And for the rest of us: Happy Festivus (12/23)

Feel free to comment on what I have to say.