My response to Jeff Goldberg’s blog on using the word “Christmas”
I caught a quick post by Jeff Goldberg from The Atlantic, in which he speaks as a Jew who feels frustrated at the drive to remove the word “Christmas” from public discourse, in favor of “Holidays”. In a heartening statement of support for and enjoyment of the expression of this religious holiday in lights, music, and other forms of seasonal merriment, he asks who’s so offended by the word “Christmas” that people seem afraid to use it.
Two thoughts on this. One is that ardent secularists object to the public presence of religious expression (we have a brouhaha going on about this in our state capitol at the moment). Second, since this came up in the context of Amazon.com deciding to use the phrase ”12 Days of Holiday” in an ad campaign instead of the more traditional “12 Days of Christmas”, I’ll point out that retailers want to sell to anyone they can, especially this year. I expect they want to get your business no matter which holiday you might be celebrating. Ad copy about “The 12 Days of Christmas” might not have the same resonance for someone looking for gifts for those eight days of Chanukah. Yes, it’s a minor holiday, but the kids expect presents and the retailers want you to know they’re there for you. (And, who knows, you might even get someone to buy something for Kwanzaa, even though part of its purpose is to be anti-commercial–in a tough economy, they could plead, you can’t blame a store for trying.)
I recall in past years hearing complaints from some conservatives that the absence of the word “Christmas” in the commercial arena (ads, signs, salespersons’ greetings) showed the stores’ timidness in the face of pressure from godless humanists. Maybe it’s my early indoctrination by watching A Charlie Brown Christmas every year as a child, but it seems to me to be a good thing that the spiritual side of the holiday not be confused with the commercial side. So I’d just as soon see the word “Christmas” replaced by “holiday” in the commercial arena, allowing Christmas itself to be an expression of love in forms other than buying gifts (which is a much later accretion).
But I do appreciate Jeff Goldberg’s reassurance that, if I do say “Merry Christmas” to him, he will happily accept the greeting and enjoy the brightening of the season of winter solstice in whatever way is meaningful to him. After all, God willing, December 25th will come for him just as it does for me, and, while his activities that day may be different from mine, I wish him joy on the day however he spends it.
Tags: "Christmas" vs "Holidays", religious ideas
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