Merry Christmas to All, Whatever You Believe

Whatever you believe, I wish you a Merry Christmas and a joyful and happy time during this season, wonderful days with your family, good food, good company, and peace in your home. If you're not a religious person but you celebrate Christmas, my wish for you is the same. A lot of people who don't believe in Jesus Christ -- for whom the holiday was named -- still love everything about Christmas. If you're such a person, I wish for your sake that you did believe in Christ as your Lord and Saviour, but either way, I wish you well. My nieces and nephews are nice kids but they don't believe in God, and His Son, Jesus Christ. But they love Christmas and their families, and all the wonderful things that Christmas brings.

What I don't understand is how people who love Christmas and celebrate it work so hard to separate it from the birth of Christ. The day is not called "gift-mas" or "tree-mas." Or any other "mas" you can think of. It's Christmas, and it is the celebration of Christ's birth. Even the dictionary defines it as such. It is not separate, it is not secular, and the fact that people who don't believe in God celebrate Christmas does not change the origin of the holiday. Yet a small group of people (seemingly in every city) complain when they see nativity scenes in public places, or angels, and force a lawsuit that causes those symbols to be taken down, against the will of the vast majority. Often it is just one person that forces these actions, claiming they are offended.

Before you launch into a lecture about the separation of church and state, remember, that "separation" was to prevent the government from forcing a religion on us, the way England once did. We are guaranteed freedom "of" religion. We are not guaranteed freedom "from" religion. It does not mean that angels can't appear on a wall of City Hall.

Think about a holiday like Martin Luther King Day. It's a day off work, and it commemorates the life and work of one fine man. For many of us, it is a day off work. But not everyone thinks of it as a day to honor MLK. Many enjoy the day off, refer to it as MLK Day, but never give a thought to the work of Dr. King. That doesn't make them bad people. Some people actively disliked MLK, but they too, enjoy the day off and refer to it as MLK Day. Imagine how absurd it would be if someday, a group of people (who also enjoy the day off and refer to it as MLK Day) started insisting that Dr. King should not be mentioned. No pictures of him, no broadcasting of his speeches, no quotes of his, nothing. It might be only one person making such a fuss, and it might very well become a lawsuit. And in today's courts, a judge might rule that Martin Luther King cannot be mentioned or portrayed on Martin Luther King Day. Absurd? Yes. But that's what many people do with Christmas.

Those who say there is no war on Christmas don't see it because it's not meaningful to them. I call it the "new car" syndrome. Have you ever bought a car because, among other things, you liked the look of it. Then after you began driving it, you noticed that there were a lot of other cars exactly like it on the road, many the exact same year and color as yours. The point is, you didn't notice them before, because it wasn't meaningful to you. It's the same with the war on Christmas.

Every year there are more examples of people who want to stop celebrations, remove symbols that are the essence of the origin of Christmas (like nativity scenes and angels). There are even people who want to stop schools from even acknowledging Christmas because of its origin. This year a school bus driver who had been wearing a Santa hat every year for ages and ages was ordered by the school board to stop wearing it or be fired. Why? Because one parent of one student complained, saying that the family doesn't believe in Santa and the hat bothered her son. Therefore... every child was to be affected. Chances are many or most of the kids on that bus didn't believe in Santa any longer, but we're supposed to believe that this one child was truly "bothered"? Likely it was the disgruntled parent who was bothered by this secular symbol. Fortunately the other parents got together and petitioned the school board to let the driver wear the hat. And for once, the authorities did the common sense thing and let the hat be worn.

Most schools long ago gave up using the term "Christmas vacation." It became "winter break" and Christmas concerts became "winter concerts," etc. A few years back one school told kids they could not wear red or green to school during December.

Some stores tell their employees to say "happy holidays" to avoid offending customers who don't celebrate Christmas. When did we get the right to not be offended? I cringe when I hear people using the "f word" in public, or in private. I'm annoyed by people who talk loudly on cell phones in restaurants. And I shudder when I see people wearing socks with sandals. But I would never dream of trying to ban any of that. I can take being offended now and then. I can take it because I'm all grown up. I can take it because I'm tolerant. I can take it because I don't think I'm so important that the world has to watch its step around me. I'm not Jewish, but feel free to wish me Happy Hannukay. I won't be offended. I'm not black, but I won't mind at all if you wish me happy Kwanzaa. In fact, I'll take from those well wishes all the kindness you intended and thank you for them.

Whether a person is offended by a Christmas greeting or not, history doesn't change. Christmas began as the celebration of Christ's birth. Whatever your reason for celebrating ... may your Christmas season be everything you hope for.

Merry Christmas to you and your family.