When I\u2019m out and about at this time of year, I wait to hear how others greet me. \u00a0If they say Happy Holidays, I say Happy Holidays back. \u00a0If they say Merry Christmas, I say Merry Christmas back.<\/p>\n
If they don\u2019t say anything, I\u2019ll default to Happy Holidays. \u00a0Sometimes I\u2019ll say Season\u2019s Greetings to see if they\u2019re paying attention. \u00a0If it\u2019s a smaller establishment, and I see mangers and Bible Versus and \u2018Keep Christ in Christmas\u2019 signs, I\u2019ll go out on a limb and say Merry Christmas.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s from how I was raised, and from years of not just pastoral ministry, but also chaplaincy. \u00a0In chaplaincy, you might be called into a room where you don\u2019t know the background of the people in question. \u00a0Rather than plow in with guns blazing, waiting to see and hear what they have to say is the better move.<\/p>\n
After all, needlessly offending or hurting someone makes you careless at best, or a jerk at worst. \u00a0We used to say the Gospel is offensive enough, don\u2019t add to it.<\/p>\n
On the other hand, I\u2019m not offended if people say Happy Holidays instead of Merry Christmas. \u00a0After all, there\u2019s more than one holiday this time of year. \u00a0If they know I\u2019m a Christian, then I\u2019m a bit curious about it, but not offended. \u00a0I think if I got offended by\u00a0Happy Holidays, or by Merry Christmas in my agnostic days, then the problem would be with me. \u00a0I would need to grow up and realize the other 7 billion people in the world don\u2019t exist to always make me feel warm and fuzzy.<\/p>\n
With that said, I also don\u2019t want to be told I can\u2019t say Merry Christmas, no matter what the circumstances. \u00a0I\u2019ll make that call myself. \u00a0There\u2019s something hypocritical about stores basing their annual sales projections on a healthy Christmas season that turn around and tell their employees not to say Christmas. \u00a0There\u2019s also something fundamentally creepy about a nation that has spent decades pining for more open F-Bombs and sexual explicitness bothered about the utterance of the word Christmas or the name Jesus. In fact, there\u2019s something strangely prophetic about it.<\/p>\n
Likewise, the public forum is big enough for all. There is nothing wrong with seeing a Christian display on public grounds during this season, and other displays at others. \u00a0Better all be invited to the table than decide none can be, since there\u2019s always going to be someone who ends up sitting at the table. \u00a0That includes atheists. \u00a0They want a day to hoist the flag of reason? \u00a0No problem. \u00a0As a person of faith I have no problem with reason anyway. \u00a0Just pick a different day. \u00a0The tendency some secularists have of doing all of this at Christmas reminds me of a \u00a0person who goes to someone else\u2019s birthday party and shouts, \u201cBut what about me!?\u201d<\/p>\n
The same, by the way, goes for Christmas trees and other holiday specific terms. \u00a0We don\u2019t say candle stand that holds nine candles. \u00a0We can say Christmas trees or Christmas songs. \u00a0As I\u2019ve said, maybe I read Orwell at an impressionable age, but I\u2019m leery about\u00a0our society doing things that seem to be what Orwell warned against. \u00a0And variations on newspeak are just the sort of thing to make me think the problem is bigger than the name for a decorated evergreen tree.<\/p>\n
Anyhoo, that\u2019s about as much thought as I give to the subject. \u00a0I don\u2019t take seeing the faith squeezed out of the public forum lightly. \u00a0And even the smallest instance could spell trouble down the road. \u00a0History is, after all, studying the results of missed warning signs. \u00a0Likewise, newspeak and hypocrisy don\u2019t float my boat either. \u00a0I try to be polite, considerate of others, and hopefully leave people smiling more than they were when I walked into the store. \u00a0I won\u2019t get bent out of shape if someone says Happy Holidays. \u00a0I\u2019ll do my best to reciprocate, but if I slip and say Merry Christmas, hopefully they won\u2019t need therapy as a result.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
When I\u2019m out and about at this time of year, I wait to hear how others greet me. \u00a0If they say Happy Holidays, I say Happy Holidays back. \u00a0If they say Merry Christmas, I say Merry Christmas back. If they don\u2019t say anything, I\u2019ll default to Happy Holidays. \u00a0Sometimes I\u2019ll say Season\u2019s Greetings to see […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2805,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[67,14],"tags":[76,71],"class_list":["post-7922","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-christianity-and-america","category-musings","tag-faith","tag-political-correctness"],"yoast_head":"\n