Christmas controversy

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Christmas controversy refers to publicized controversy surrounding the public acknowledgement or celebration of the Christmas season in media, advertising, government, and various secular environments. Christmas–related controversy usually occurs due to the holiday's applied connotations with a specific sectarian religion, Christianity.

In present-day United States and Canada, it is often suggested that public mention of the term "Christmas" is being strenuously avoided and replaced with a non-denominational term, usually "holiday" or "winter", while at the same time, specific non-religious Christmas customs such as Santa Claus and Christmas trees are often prominently showcased. Supporters of this effort often claim that the goal of this euphemistic terminology is to "include" non-Christians in the seasonal Christmas celebrations, while opponents report that since 80 percent of non–Christian US citizens celebrate Christmas^[1][2], and a total of 96 percent of Americans celebrate Christmas^[3], usage of the term "holiday" instead of "Christmas" is an effort to avoid connotations with Christianity or Jesus, rather than to "include" non–Christians.

In past centuries, Christmas–related controversy was mainly restricted to a public focus on secular Christmas themes such as Santa Claus rather than what was glorified as the "reason for the Season"—the birth of Jesus. A symbolic issue from these former controversies was usage of the term "Xmas", which many allege is a conscious attempt at removing the term "Christ" from Christmas. The abbreviation originated from the use of the Greek letter chi, Χ, as an abbreviation of Christ (Χριστός) ^[4], although this use is no longer at all common except in theological circles.

The term often associated with the current controversy is "the War on Christmas", a term that was first coined as "the war against Christmas" in 1999 by conservative journalist Peter Brimelow.^[5]

Contents 1 Historical controversy 1.1 Puritan era 1.2 Protestantism 1.3 19th century 1.4 Early 20th century 2 Present-day controversy 2.1 Charges of avoidance or censorship of Christmas 2.1.1 Sears Holdings Corporation 2.1.2 Target Corporation 2.1.3 Wal-Mart Stores, Inc. 2.1.4 Best Buy Corporation 3 See also 3.1 Organizations 4 References 5 External links

[edit] Historical controversy

[edit] Puritan era

The first documented Christmas controversy was Christian-led, and began during the Puritan era, under Oliver Cromwell's brief rule in England in the middle 17th century^[6]. Cromwell and other English Puritans (including those who fled to America) sought to remove the remaining pagan elements of Christmas (listed below). During this period, the British Parliament banned the celebration of Christmas entirely, considering it a popish festival with no biblical justification, and a time of wasteful and immoral behavior.^[7]

[edit] Protestantism

Prior to the Victorian era, Christmas in the United States was primarily a religious holiday observed by Episcopalians, Roman Catholics, and Lutherans. Its importance was often considered secondary to Epiphany and Easter.

As was the case with other Christian holidays, Christmas borrowed elements from pagan peoples, including the Advent period, gift giving, yule logs, decorations such as candles, holly, and mistletoe. Christmas trees were also sometimes seen as pagan in origin. Cited as proof is Jeremiah, 10:3-4, which states, "For the customs of the peoples are false: a tree from the forest is cut down, and worked with an ax by the hands of an artisan people deck it with silver and gold they fasten it with hammer and nails so that it cannot move."

During the various Protestant reformations, these (real or supposed) paganizing elements were a source of controversy. Some sects, such as the Puritans, rejected Christmas as an entirely pagan holiday. Others rejected certain aspects of Christmas as paganizing, but wanted to retain the "essence" of the holiday as a celebration of the Christ's birth. This tension put in motion an ongoing debate about the proper observance of Christmas.^[8]

[edit] 19th century

According to historian Ronald Hutton, the current state of observance of Christmas is largely the result of a mid-Victorian revival of the holiday spearheaded by Charles Dickens. In A Christmas Carol, Hutton argues, Dickens sought to construct Christmas as a family-centered festival of generosity, in contrast to the community-based and church-centered observations, the observance of which had dwindled during the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. The holiday, remade as a family-centered rather than community-centered festival, carried its own set of contradictions: the practice of gift-giving created the possibility of commercialization, and the shift from community to familial focus further eroded the traditions of communal religious observance.^[9]

Historian Stephen Nissenbaum contends that the modern celebration in the United States was developed in New York State from existing Dutch traditions in order to re-focus the holiday from one where groups of young men went from house to house demanding alcohol and food into one that was focused on the happiness of children. He notes that there was deliberate effort to prevent the children from becoming greedy in response. ^[10]

[edit] Early 20th century

In the early twentieth century, Christian writers such as C. S. Lewis had already noted a distinct split between the religious and secular observance of Christmas. In Xmas and Christmas: A Lost Chapter from Herodotus, Lewis gives a satire of the observance of two simultaneous holidays in "Niatirb" (Britain backwards) from the supposed view of the Greek historian and traveller. One, "Exmas", is observed by a flurry of compulsory commercial activity and expensive indulgence in alcoholic beverages. The other, "Crissmas," is observed in Niatirb's temples. Lewis's narrator asks a priest "why they kept Crissmas on the same day as Exmas?" He receives the reply:

"It is not lawful, O Stranger, for us to change the date of Crissmas, but would that Zeus would put it into the minds of the Niatirbians to keep Exmas at some other time or not to keep it at all. For Exmas and the Rush distract the minds even of the few from sacred things. And we indeed are glad that men should make merry at Crissmas; but in Exmas there is no merriment left." And when I asked him why they endured the Rush, he replied, "It is, O Stranger, a racket. . . "^[11]

The December 1957 News and Views published by the Church League of America, an organization co-founded in 1937 by George Washington Robnett^[12] attacked the use of Xmas in an article titled "X=The Unknown Quantity." The claims were picked up later by Gerald L.K. Smith who in December 1966 claimed that Xmas was a "blasphemous omission of the name of Christ" and that "'X' is referred to as being symbolical of the unknown quantity." Smith further argued that Jews introduced Santa Claus to suppress the New Testament accounts of Jesus, and that the United Nations at the behest of "world Jewry" had "outlawed the name of Christ."^[13] Such claims are made in the face of documented centuries-long history of use of Χ (actually a chi) as an abbreviation for "Christ" (Χριστός).

Christmas observances (at least the overtly religious kinds) were banned in the Soviet Union and under certain other Communist regimes, and played down in all of them. Certain Christian religions, such as the Jehovah's Witnesses and some fundamentalist churches, continued to reject the holiday as well, citing its pagan and/or Roman Catholic origins.

As the 20th century progressed, the use of the more neutral term "holiday season" (or "holidays") gained increasing popularity in the United States as a way of extending inclusion to other end-of-year holidays and observances such as Hanukkah, Ramadan, Kwanzaa, New Year's Day, Yule, and Thanksgiving.

[edit] Present-day controversy

[edit] Charges of avoidance or censorship of Christmas

In 1999, VDARE.com founder and editor Peter Brimelow is credited^{[citation needed]} for first coining the term "War on Christmas", or "War Against Christmas", and the analysis of this issue became a prominent piece of conservative cultural criticism in the United States. Brimelow himself has written that he got National Review editor John O'Sullivan to begin a War Against Christmas competition when they both involved with magazine in the mid-1990s; after O'Sullivan was removed as editor, effective January 1998, the competition was dropped. VDARE.com hosts an annual "War Against Christmas Competition" which has an extensive compendium of alleged "anti-Christmas" incidents.

The phrases "Season's Greetings," or "Happy Holidays" as opposed to "Merry Christmas," have become a particular concern to people.^[14] The phrases are used on many postcards (as, for example, those sent out by the American Library Association), and formerly by door clerks at Wal-Mart and other major stores. Don Feder, president of Jews Against Anti-Christian Defamation stresses that it should be okay to say "Merry Christmas", and complained about "politically correct purging of Christmas from our culture." [2] Rabbi Daniel Lapin believes that "saying Merry Christmas is NOT Offensive" and complains that "We see obsequious regard for faiths like Judaism and even Islam, while Christianity is treated with contempt". [3] Further, Lapin says that "Nationwide, Christmas Nativity scenes are banned from city halls and shopping malls but Chanukah menorahs are permitted. (They are only cultural symbols, not religious, you see.)" and concludes that "Religious Freedom is for Everyone - Not Just Minorities" [4].

Another flavor of controversy is at the other end of the scale. Some Christians, for example the United Church of God, argue that the pagan origins of Christians, as well as the secular and pagan components of the manner in which Christmas is celebrated, is an inapproriate manner to commemorate the birth of Jesus.

The idea of a war on Christmas in America gained prominence following extensive coverage on the Fox News Channel. The channel's commentators Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity first spoke of a "war on Christmas" in the months leading up to the 2004 holiday season, and picked up the topic again in late 2005. In particular, they cited certain school decisions and municipal codes that supposedly singled out Christmas observances for special restriction.

In several cases, the news items mentioned on Fox were denied by the persons involved. For example, O'Reilly said that the township of Saginaw, Michigan "opposes red and green clothing on anyone." The town supervisor responded that "O'Reilly's comments are flat-out not true...the township hall has red and green Christmas lights adorning the building at night."^[15] Nevertheless, these reports bolstered the view that Christmas was being attacked by the political left. This was, and is, widely discussed on the Internet, especially in the blogosphere.

A Fox News/Opinion Dynamics poll for November 29–30, 2005 found that 42% of respondents believe that "there is a War on Christmas in the U.S. today," with 48% in disagreement.^{[citation needed]} Media Matters for America, a watchdog group critical of conservative media, reported that from Monday, November 28, to Friday, December 2, Fox News aired 58 different reports, interviews, and debates about the War on Christmas. ^[16] Many print and television media outlets are skeptical, calling it a conspiracy theory or a deliberate attempt to further a conservative Christian agenda. ^{[17] [18]}

Regarding the phrase "Season's Greetings," as opposed to "Merry Christmas," O'Reilly argued: "Every company in America should be on their knees thanking Jesus for being born. Without Christmas, most American businesses would be far less profitable," O'Reilly said on a Fox News program. "More than enough reason for business to be screaming 'Merry Christmas'." Critics, however, point out that attempting to include non-Christians in Christmas by generalizing the holiday is a wholly capitalistic method of increasing profits — the more people affected by marketing, the more people will come out and purchase. Additionally, "Seasons Greetings" has been in wide use since the Victorian Era and was used on White House Christmas (or Holiday) Cards going back to Calvin Coolidge[5]. In 2006 however, Wal-Mart resumed the use of "Merry Christmas" in their advertisements after a sharp decline in their 2005 holiday sales. Critics say that this was a result of some 96% of Americans who celebrate Christmas objecting. ^[19] Wal-Mart's 2006 fourth quarter sales increased 8.8% over the previous year, however, Wal-Mart attributed this to a "twin strategy of discounting hot items like electronics and holiday toys while continuing to tailor stores more closely to local demographics," rather than its use of the word "Christmas." ^[20]

[edit] Sears Holdings Corporation

In November 2005, after threats of boycotting by groups such as the American Family Association, the Sears Holdings Corporation (which owns Kmart) altered their Christmas holiday policies from using the term "Holiday" to using the term "Christmas." The change of policy included the distribution of "Merry Christmas" signs to stores nationwide, and the changing of all instances of the term "holiday" to "Christmas" on their website and in stores. Sears also included a "very Merry Christmas" greeting at their website. Kmart has opened the 2006 Christmas season with their slogan "Where Christmas comes together", and several commercials acknowledging Christmas, including one with the tune to "Hark! The Herald Angels Sing".

[edit] Target Corporation

In November 2005, the American Family Association publicly stated that they believed Christians and all other celebrants of the Christmas holiday should be offended by Target Corporation's marketing decisions. The AFA claims that they contacted the chief executive officer of Target, Bob Ulrich, and that they received no immediate response.

Specific objections from the AFA stemmed from the fact that Target was using the term "holiday" rather than "Christmas" in their promotions when referring to Christmas decorations, Christmas trees, Christmas stockings, and other items and traditions related to the Christmas holiday.^[21]

The AFA subsequently initiated a nation-wide boycott of the Target Corporation,^[22] resulting in over 700,000 petition signatures, all of which were individually sent to Target customer service. Many Americans also contacted Target via telephone, resulting in over 1 million individual complaints issued to Target.

Within a week of initiating the boycott, the AFA received an official letter from Target which clarified the intent of their 2005 Christmas and Holiday marketing theme "Gather-Round" of which it partially stated: "Over the course of the next few weeks, our advertising, marketing and merchandising will become more specific to the holiday that is approaching – referring directly to holidays like Christmas and Hanukkah. For example, you will see reference to Christmas in select television commercials, circulars and in-store signage.".^[23] After finally receiving a response, the AFA immediately dropped the boycott, stating "since Target has responded positively, we see no reason to continue the boycott. We are expecting a different approach next year from Target".

As early as October 2006, Target started their 2006 Christmas and Holiday advertising campaign. The Target website clearly offered a major section entitled "Christmas Décor — Deck the halls faster than ever", with subsections for "Christmas trees", "Christmas entertaining", "Nativity scenes", "Christmas stockings", "Christmas Wrap", and more.^[24] Target has also recently released two Christmas–themed TV ads that end with the slogan "Merry Christmas".^[25]

Target has also introduced a wider selection of Hanukkah items based on the Store's location and guest buying patterns. These new items will be placed on one to two endcaps in the store's "power aisle" and other department specific endcaps. The new selection includes Hanukkah specific signage, toys, books, movies, music, entertaining items, greeting cards, and gift cards.

[edit] Wal-Mart Stores, Inc.

In 2005, Wal-Mart abandoned the use of the words, "Merry Christmas," during the holiday season, and instead encouraged their employees to greet customers with a more generic, "Happy Holidays."^[26] Additionally, the company had downplayed the term, "Christmas," in much of its advertising for several years.^[27] This caused some backlash among the conservative Christian community, prompting some groups to pass around petitions and threaten boycotts against the company, as well as several other prominent retailers that practiced similar downgrading of the holiday.^[26] In 2006, in response to the public outcry, Wal-Mart announced that they were amending their policy and encouraging their employees to use a variety of appropriate terms based on their best judgment, even allowing other greetings such as, "Happy Hanukkah," "Happy Kwanzaa," or even, "Feliz Navidad."^[26]

[edit] Best Buy Corporation

Main article: Best Buy criticism

[edit] See also

• Christian Right
• Christmastime greetings
• Effects of Christmas on the environment
• Robert Kearns (Loma Linda HOA President) - peace symbol wreath controversy
• Santa Claus for entry on the Christian opposition to Santa Claus

[edit] Organizations

• American Civil Liberties Union
• American Family Association, led a boycott of Target stores in December 2005.

• Americans United for Separation of Church and State
• Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights
• Center for Reclaiming America, led by D. James Kennedy and Gary Cass.

• Committee to Save Merry Christmas, led by Maneul Zamorano
• Friend or Foe Christmas Campaign, hosted by Liberty Counsel

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Christmas - an untold story The United Church of God arguments against current manner of celebrating Christmas.
• Should a Christian Celebrate Christmas? Argues that Christmas breaks the Ten Commandments and is Satanic
• How the secular humanist grinch didn't steal Christmas from Salon.com
• Concerned Women for America: Naughty and Nice list
• H. Res. 579
• Wal-Mart Sacramento "pro-Christmas" protest
• War on Christmas & ACLU
• Media Matters for America dossier on War on Christmas
• Staff Opinion: Merry Christmas, even to Scrooges by Michael J. Thompson in The Auburn Plainsman
• The War on Christmas, the Prequel. When the holiday was banned from Slate
• The Deadweight Loss of Christmas: Comment by Bradley J. Ruffle and Orit Tykocinsky
• The abolition of Christmas by Pat Buchanan at WorldNetDaily
• There is No War on Christmas argument diagram at HonestArgument.com
• The phoney war on Christmas by Oliver Burkeman, The Guardian, 8 December 2006: "There's only one problem with the 'PC campaign' against Christmas - it's pure nonsense."
• Why conservatives despise happy holidays from Slate.com
• endchristmas.com A response to the War on Christmas: "We've decided to show them what an actual War on Christmas might look like. EndChristmas.com is here because we support the so-called War on Christmas."
• f@#$christmas.org A humorous site that includes many arguments against the existence of a War on Christmas
• Help Save Christmas A site dedicated to following the war on Christmas

Christmas v • d • e
Main	History • The Nativity • Bringers of gifts • Decorations • Economics • Customs • Arts and media
Christianity	Nativity of Jesus • Nativity scene • Jesus • Mary • Joseph • Archangel Gabriel • Three Wise Men • Adoration of the shepherds • Star of Bethlehem • King Herod • Massacre of the Innocents • Saint Nicholas Day • Twelfth Night • Epiphany (Christian) • Advent • Christmastide
Folklore	Father Christmas • Saint Nicholas • Santa Claus • Mrs. Claus • Santa Claus' reindeer • Rudolph • Elves • North Pole • Lapland • Rovaniemi • Frosty the Snowman • How The Grinch Stole Christmas • Ebenezer Scrooge • Other characters
Traditions	Twelve Days of Christmas • Christmas tree • Wassailing • Yule log • Stockings • Ornaments • Lights • Plants • Food • Feasts • Events • Traditions by country: Philippine, Polish, Worldwide
Media	Fiction • Films • Plays • Television: Episodes, Specials • Music: Albums, Hit singles and tracks, Carols, Other Christmas music and songs
Society	Christmas controversy • Christmas creep • Christmas truce • Language • Black Friday • White Christmas • Christmas Day (Trading) Act 2004 • Related holidays • List of winter festivals