Let’s Make A Holiday Deal!
Posted by: Not The Only One in Spirituality, Government Incompetence, Language, Hypocrisy, Government Corruption, History, PersonalSorry I haven’t been blogging the last 30 days or so. I’ve actually been swamped with freelance work and in this economy, you have to take wherever you can find it!
But in the spirit of the holiday season, I’ve been bombarded with “Happy Holidays” instead of “Merry Christmas”. I’ve received mail from my creditors, my health insurance providers and all manners of junk mail wishing me a happy holiday. I do support the separation of church and state (as does the U.S. Constitution) so I can understand the public sector communicating in this way, but when the private sector does it (like a customer service rep or a supermarket or store employee) it just comes off as a politically correct, neutered move. And since I have a Hispanic surname, I get bilingual correspondence wishing me the equally lame “felices fiestas”. And yes, when I am told happy holidays, I do respond with Merry Christmas.
I know that social conservatives who use God as an excuse to rob us of our civil liberties see the prevalence of “happy holidays” as a sure sign that the atheists, pagans, Jews and other hell-bound liberals have declared a war on Christmas. I just don’t see it. I’ve even received political propaganda from local Republicans accusing incumbent Democrats of “hating Christmas” simply because these elected officials wish the constituents happy holidays in their correspondence.
But let’s get back to the separation of church and state. After all, freedom of religion also means freedom from religion. Just making Christmas a legal holiday is a violation of the Constitution. No one is proposing we make Hanukkah or Ramadan a national holiday. And Christmas’ legal status is not even an American tradition as it was not only not a Federal holiday until 1870, but in colonial times, was outlawed.
So if I could make a proposition to the rest of America…
How about the private sector not censor itself and say Merry Christmas and in exchange, Christmas will no longer be a legal holiday? No doubt Lou Dobbs will consider this the final blow in the war against Christmas.
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