‘Merry Christmas’ or ‘Happy Holidays’?

By Jay Sekulow, McClatchy-Tribune News Service - 12/13/2006

WASHINGTON — Many retailers have learned a very valuable lesson. Listen to your customers!

When Wal-Mart replaced ‘‘Merry Christmas’’ with ‘‘Happy Holidays’’ last year the criticism was swift and unrelenting. This year, it’s ‘‘Merry Christmas’’ again.

‘‘We’ve listened to our customers and associates and they wanted Christmas back at Wal-Mart,’’ said Marisa Bluestone, spokeswoman for the nation’s largest retailer. ‘‘We’ve learned our lesson. This year, we’re not afraid to say, ‘Merry Christmas.’’’ And most Americans prefer the greeting ‘‘Merry Christmas’’ to ‘‘Happy Holidays.’’ A survey by Rasmussen Reports found that 69 percent of us prefer the traditional greeting — prompting the survey to state: ‘‘The growing trend of political correctness runs against the tide of popular opinion.’’

Even so, some retailers — and others — have chosen to remove ‘‘Merry Christmas’’ from the holiday vocabulary. And that is a shame. Simply mentioning ‘‘Merry Christmas’’ shouldn’t offend anyone. It shouldn’t trigger a constitutional crisis. After all, Christmas is Christmas — a celebration marking the birth of Jesus Christ.

Even the secular definition of Christmas is clear: Christmas, the dictionary states, is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Christ and is usually observed as a legal holiday.

Let’s not forget that the First Amendment of the Constitution protects religious speech and expression. The Supreme Court has consistently held that the Constitution is not to be interpreted in a manner that would purge religion or religious references from society. As early as 1892, the Supreme Court noted that ‘‘this is a religious nation.’’ And, in 1992, the high court noted that ‘‘(a) relentless and all-pervasive attempt to exclude religion from public life could itself become inconsistent with the Constitution.’’

Still, that doesn’t stop the rising tide of political correctness — especially at this time of year. In Chicago, city officials and event organizers amazingly concluded that a movie about the birth of Jesus Christ had no place in a Christmas festival. City and festival organizers booted the movie ‘‘The Nativity Story’’ as a sponsor of the German Christkindlmarket — a Christmas festival in downtown Chicago. The city said it was concerned the movie might be offensive to non-Christians.

The fact is that by removing ‘‘The Nativity Story’’ as a festival sponsor, it is many Christians who were offended. And, in one school district in Tennessee, the ACLU has gone to court and is challenging what it calls ‘‘unconstitutional religious activities’’ at a school. That ‘‘unconstitutional’’ activity includes students singing ‘‘Away in a Manger’’ and ‘‘Joy to the World’’ at a Christmas event.

Yes, there is both a religious and secular meaning to Christmas. But to target a traditional greeting that simply reflects the reality of the Christian holiday is not only wrong but runs afoul of the First Amendment. It’s time to reject political correctness for common sense.

To strike the word ‘‘Christmas’’ from our greetings is just one more step in the ongoing quest to sanitize America — to strip away every religious reference or meaning from our culture. Most Americans are tolerant and understand that it is unnecessary to call ‘‘Christmas’’ something else. Retailers and others should not shy away from proclaiming ‘‘Merry Christmas.’’

— Sekulow is chief counsel of the American Center for Law and Justice, a conservative Christian legal advocacy group founded by television evangelist Pat Robertson.