By Don Stratton
Guest Columnist
I am just about fed up with the ever-growing campaign to totally remove any mention of Christ from references to the Christmas season. “Happy holidays” just doesn’t cut it, and I am seeing and hearing so much of that phrase, and just the word “holidays,” that I’m about to scream.
It all started slowly, with just the replacement of “merry Christmas” with “happy holidays.” At first, I didn’t think too much of it, particularly since the phrase could be construed so as to convey best wishes for two holidays. After all, Christmas and the New Year are just one week apart.
But before long, it became evident that the purpose behind the new wish was more sinister. It was not being used to convey best wishes for two holidays but was obviously being used to eliminate any reference to Jesus Christ, whose birth, whether celebrated on the right date or not, is the sole reason for the holiday.
It has reached the point where it is almost impossible to see any reference to Christmas in TV commercials or commentary. According to national television, and frequently even local stations, people don’t do Christmas shopping anymore; they go holiday shopping. This brings one question to my mind. When was the last time you bought anyone a New Year’s gift?
Apparently, we no longer send out Christmas cards. According to those same TV pundits, they are holiday cards. I haven’t seen many New Year’s cards dated much after 1910, which was an era in which postcard-type greeting cards were printed extensively for just about every holiday except St. Swithin’s Day. But Christmas cards are still sold and mailed by the millions.
According to the TV pundits, the Christmas party no longer exists. I just saw a local TV story about the “holiday party” recently held by a local organization. This is a party to which I was invited several times during my working years, and I can guarantee that it was never an invitation to a holiday party. It was specifically an invitation to their annual Christmas party.
We no longer put up Christmas trees or Christmas lights; it is now a holiday tree decorated with holiday lights, and we put a holiday wreath on the door.
Even a supermarket chain that sells complete dinners for Thanksgiving and Christmas calls their December meal a holiday dinner.
The incident that brought my blood to a boil about this happened on Sunday while watching an NFL football game. After a particularly noticeable lack of action by a defensive player, the announcer said of the offensive player, “I bet he puts that guy on his holiday card list.”
Is this a unified campaign to remove all references to Christ from national dialogue?
Are TV screen personalities being specifically instructed to refrain from any mention of Christ?
Are the networks afraid of irritating non-believers to the point that they don’t care how many believers they upset, or are the notoriously non-Christian people who populate the media and entertainment world making an all-out effort to use their bully pulpit to indoctrinate the populace to their way of thinking?
Whatever the answer to the above questions, it’s time that those millions of us throughout the world who are believers in Jesus Christ as our Lord and Savior make ourselves heard. Whenever someone wishes me “happy holidays,” I usually reply by saying “merry Christmas.”
Sometimes when I’m not in a particularly good mood, I say, “And what holidays are you talking about?”
If I’m in a really bad mood, I might say, “I don’t celebrate the holidays, I celebrate Christmas.”
Don Stratton is a retired inspector for the Lima Police Department. His column does not necessarily reflect the opinion of The Lima News editorial board or AIM Media, owner of The Lima News.
