Last year I wrote a little post about a sign I saw here in my town that read, “Keep Christ in Christmas”. To quote that post:
Over the last few years the word “Christmas” has been scrubbed from so many places at this time of year…for fear that someone will be offended. Better be politically correct! Well, it’s not a holiday tree. It’s a Christmas tree. It’s not a holiday party…it’s a Christmas party. If someone wished me a Happy Kwanza or Happy Hannakuh I wouldn’t be offended.
For me, Christmas is all about appreciating your loved ones, feeling grateful for the blessings in your life and for celebrating the people you care about. It’s about sitting under the Christmas tree and thinking about being a kid, trying to recapture the feelings of wonder and magic I once felt.
I didn’t think it was a good thing that the phrase “Merry Christmas” was disappearing from the holidays. Looking back now, though, I can see that I missed a very important point. Canada is a diverse country, filled with people from all walks of life and many different nationalities. With them they bring their own traditions that may not mesh with those I grew up with. However, this doesn’t mean I don’t respect what these people have to say. Being Canadian is a gift that affords you the right to speak your mind, to carry on your own family’s religious or non-religious traditions. These can co-exist in harmony with the beliefs and actions taken by others who consider themselves “Canadian” first.
This arrived in a handful of fliers yesterday. It made me very angry at first, then it made me sad.
What this leaflet is saying, essentially, is that we should not shop in stores that don’t proclaim their Christianity by announcing it in the shop window. What this is saying is that only Christian shop owners are deserving of the dollars I will spend this Christmas. This is ridiculous for many reasons:
1. Just because a business puts a Merry Christmas sign in the window, this is not an acknowledgment of Christianity or the belief that Christmas represents the birth of Christ for that particular shop owner. i.e. I have decorations that say “Merry Christmas” but I am an athiest.
2. Shop owners will undoubtedly catch wind of this campaign and so in order to avoid a loss of business, might post a “Merry Christmas” message, which defeats the purpose of this nasty business.
3. The message at Christmas is one of peace and love and understanding and this piece of hatred does not fall into that category.
4. There is no ownership attributed to this leaflet. I will then, not assume, that all Christian churches would express this sentiment. I have a feeling it’s the same church that last year had the “Keep Christ in Christmas” sign up. It’s on Liberty Street south, and they make use of the Christ on the cross imagery in their signage, too.
Why should a Jewish or Buddhist or Athiest or Hindu business owner be subjected to this? It’s hypocritcal. It’s hateful. It’s unacceptable.
This sign tells me, Do not spend money. Go in and annoy but do not spend money.
Amen, sister.
Born and raised Catholic, I had a period where I was angsty anti-Catholic but I’ve since settled into a Do What You Will attitude. People will always find something to get righteous and worked up about. Always.
A few years ago, I heard someone on our front step at 4 am, then the sound of the mailbox close -someone was distributing something that early? Oh well, get an early start on the day I thought. When I checked the mail later that morning, I was appalled to find a brochure with a very similar message, condemning other faiths in the Christmas season, making sweeping generalizations based on the radical few, though it was much more aggressive and full of hate. I didn’t even want to put it in my recycling -I was so horrified that I didn’t want anyone to see it in the blue bag behind my house!
And, as above, it wasn’t signed/displaying ownership. So, not only are they too chicken to reveal who they are in the flyer, but they deliver them at 4 am when everyone is asleep so they cannot be identified.
So, so, so cowardly. Which, to me, suggests that they’re embarrassed -they know it’s flawed.
I am a Christian and no, my church does not post fliers like that. It seems a little ridiculous to me.
I do not believe that the sign is meant to be a piece of “hatred”.
Christians in general are freely mocked in our society. They seem to be the only faith that it is PC to make fun of. Think about it.
The producers of the sign are probably just trying to stand up for their faith, even if it is misguided.
Everyone makes mistakes, even when trying to do something with good intentions
Oh dear. I’m with your initial post though: I’m an atheist who celebrates a secular version of Xmas–not ‘holiday’, but Christmas, and I think it’s silly to imagine that a greeting meant to show cheer and kindness (“Merry Christmas”) would offend someone. I’m happy to share in the celebrations of other religious, too. Yikes.
Amen.
It’s silly to think that “Merry Christmas” could offend someone, but it’s also silly to request a holiday greeting MORE SPECIFIC to your faith because God forbid faith be a personal matter. (See what I did there?)
Lots of people aren’t Christian. In fact, lots of people are even crazy things, like Jewish. And this is still a holiday season for them. But without Christmas! I know! Crazy!
I won’t get into the fact that this person doesn’t seem to understand that many many Christmas traditions were once pagan traditions that were adopted by Christianity in order to make the entire religion more palatable to those who were already known for enjoying their winter festivities. Some historians trace the Christmas tree to pagan roots, so their compelling “it’s not a holiday tree” argument is ridiculous anyway.
I don’t think it’s silly at all for stores to replace “Merry Christmas” with “Happy Holidays.” Granted, I also don’t think it was the most life-altering decision ever and I quite frankly probably wouldn’t have noticed one way or the other without some drama queen throwing a fit about it, but it’s true that LOTS of people aren’t celebrating Christmas at all. Not even the atheist/agnostic kind that I so enjoy. So it’s actually kind of nice, including everyone like that by generalizing things a little, even if it’s only done because some survey taker figured out that it would maximize profits.
I clearly have much harsher words for someone who makes a big flyer-inducing issue out of nothing than someone who is at least making an effort to honor a version of diversity that yes, even includes those mythical Jewish people. The fact that anyone even CARES whether the retail world, generally considered handy for shoes and jeans but not so much for spiritual growth, accurate reflects their holiday beliefs is so depressing that I’m not sure where to start.
Amusingly, people like this prove that the stores’ paranoia over offending people is actually well founded and not silly at all. Is that irony? I forget.
I just realized that the Christmas tree argument was yours. Um, awkward. (Blushes furiously and stares down at her feet.)
See, this is why being all fired up and angry like I just was is dumb. Because there are real people behind all of these opinions and arguments, and most of them are just as intelligent and well-intentioned as I am, if not more so. I’m sorry I called your argument ridiculous. It’s not ridiculous! I’m ridiculous!
I mentioned my deadline stress, right? (Makes puppy dog eyes. Offers cookie. Is very picture of instant remorse. Is far too pitiful to stay mad at.)
I know this is a cop-out, but I have to agree with Angella on this one. I am also a Christian, and the other day I tried to articulate my feelings, but couldn’t, so I cancelled my comment. But, honestly, I couldn’t say it better than Angella did.