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Happy Holidays or Controlling Christmas?
 A couple days ago, I bought my holiday cards at the Museum of Modern Art. Even with quantity discounts and a MoMA membership, my cards cost me about $16 per eight pack. My penguin and star cards are blank inside. I like as little writing inside a card as possible so I can write my loved ones a long and meaningful note, and besides, I'm giving them to people from a wide variety of faiths and non-faiths. I thought my MoMA cards were expensive, but I was reminded that there will be worse rip-offs this holiday season. At least my holiday cards are cheerful and will put a smile on someone's face. However, there are several Christianist groups whose members would be just horrified that MoMA offers "holiday" cards and decorations on their website, and that some of the cards say "Happy Holidays" or are blank inside. The leaders of these groups seem to anticipate Christmas more for opportunities to whip up outrage, raise funds, and assert Christianity as America's most dominant religion rather than for cards. By October 15th, the American Family Association could proudly point to a triumph: harassing Mrs. Fields' cookies into offering Christmas products on its website. The AFA's Randy Sharp asserts that Mrs. Fields is still being "politically correct". Their new Project Merry Christmas, featuring buttons and magnets that say "Merry Christmas: God's Good News", is presented as a way to defend the true meaning of Christmas from the ACLU, sensitive non-Christians, and evil corporations: It's hard to believe that there are companies which ban "Merry Christmas" and replace it with "Holiday Greetings" because, they say, they don't want to offend anyone. It's time Christians take a stand and proclaim to our communities that Christmas is not just a winter holiday focused on materialism, but a "holy day" when we celebrate the birth of our Savior. ...I am asking you to purchase enough buttons for each member of your church and enough magnets for each family to have one. Urge your fellow members to wear their buttons and display the magnets during the entire Christmas season. But defending Christmas won't be cheap! A Large Church Pack of 100 buttons and 20 car magnets costs a "suggested donation" of $105. Some AFA members don't think they go far enough. Victoria says, "I like the idea of the buttons and magnets for our cars but would be better if it said "Merry Christmas, Christ is Born" or "Merry Christmas, A Savior Is Born" or had the name of Jesus proclaimed. Most people celebrate Christmas, not as many recognize Christ as the reason for it." Susan, however, says that they'll be "a tradition for our company during Christmas." I'm sure the AFA won't mind that one bit. The Liberty Counsel is also taking advantage...I mean, eagerly sharing the real reason for the season. The Fifth Annual Friend or Foe campaign is in full swing. A "Foe", they say "censors Christmas," or what we non-Christians call "acknowledging our existence." For $25, you can purchase a Help Save Christmas Action Pack consisting of two buttons (one of which declares "I [Heart] CHRISTmas"), two bumper stickers, two legal briefs, and an ad to have printed in your local paper. The writer of the Liberty Alert announcing this campaign seemed a tad excited: "Liberty Counsel is launching our fifth annual Friend or Foe Christmas Campaign in anticipation of another active season defending attacks on Christmas celebrations." Some Christianists are so upset that they'll even add a new "holiday". Stuart Shephard hosts a series of web videos for Focus on the Family called Stoplight. Appropriately enough, the humor in them reminds me of the skits my former youth pastors performed. Shephard is upset that "holiday", rather than "Christmas", catalogs are mailed to him. So he's invented a new holiday for retailers called "Tossmas". He tosses all "holiday" catalogs into the trash unopened. "Feliz Navi-toss!" he exclaims as he discards a Crate and Barrel catalog. Shephard sardonically mentions that retailers, who "go way out of their way to wish me a happy nonspecified holiday," want us to buy holiday gifts, "but when's the last time someone asked you, 'Hey, what are you getting the kids for Thanksgiving?" Hanukkah, a well-known Jewish holiday in which gifts are exchanged, isn't mentioned, nor is the Wiccan/Pagan Winter Solstice. He uses finger-quotes when he says that companies use "holiday" because they don't want to "offend." A group of fresh-faced young people, probably Focus interns, shouts "It offends us!" At least Focus waited until after Halloween/Samhain--November 1st, to be exact--to launch their complaint. I've been Pagan for ten years, and I admit I've forgotten a few things about the conservative Evangelical Christianity I grew up with. However, I seem to remember that Christmas was supposed to be about joy, family, and celebrating Jesus' birth, not asserting Christian supremacy. Somehow I feel that my blank but beautiful "holiday" cards are more in keeping with what I was taught about Christmas than Stuart Shephard's "Tossmas" or the Liberty Counsel's ugly buttons. I hope that most Christians are more interested in celebrating one happy holiday among many than in using Christmas as a weapon to control others.
Happy Holidays or Controlling Christmas? | 2 comments (2 topical, 0 hidden)
Happy Holidays or Controlling Christmas? | 2 comments (2 topical, 0 hidden)
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