The so-called ‘war on Christmas’ is back — and it’s annoying as ever

November 15, 2006

It’s mid-November, so I suppose it’s foolish to be surprised, but I’ve been quietly hoping that this year’s non-existent “[tag]war on Christmas[/tag]” would be more of a subdued skirmish. As it turns out, I just might get my wish, not because conservatives have accepted “Happy Holidays” as a perfectly acceptable expression, but because retailers are caving to pressure.

The holiday season may not yet have arrived, but Christmas is back at Wal-Mart.

After being vilified by conservative critics last year for switching its holiday message from “Merry Christmas” to “Happy Holidays,” the world’s largest retailer changed its mind again.

Wishing for a bigger holiday season after a sluggish fall, the chain said Thursday that 60% more of its merchandise will be labeled “Christmas” compared with last year. And customers will hear Christmas carols as they shop.

“We certainly got some feedback last year,” spokesman Nick Agarwal said. “We’re hoping this will be more in tune with what customers want.”

This week, naturally, Bill O’Reilly hailed Wal-Mart’s decision as a victory in the “culture war battle” for those who “want to retain the Christmas tradition,” and lauded Wal-Mart as “the Christmas guys!” (Don’t worry, [tag]O’Reilly[/tag] still believes [tag]Christmas[/tag] is “under siege.”)

Of course, Wal-Mart’s reversal is just part of the bigger picture.

Kohl’s and Walgreen Co. are also returning to emphasizing Christmas, Best Buy is sticking with “Happy Holidays,” and the religious right is gearing up for an active fundraising activist season.

Citing last year’s “overwhelming response,” religious right groups have already launched their annual efforts to “defend Christmas.” Liberty Counsel, a Jerry Falwell-linked conservative legal watchdog group, recently kicked off its “Friend or Foe” campaign “to defend Christmas from secularist attempts to suppress the holiday’s traditional, faith-based aspects.” Said one Counsel representative, “We wanted to give people enough time this year to report issues regarding Christmas so they can be resolved before Christmas.”

Remember, conservatives have set the bar pretty low. As far as O’Reilly is concerned, “Happy Holidays” is offensive to “millions of Christians” and “insulting to Christian America.”

It’s only Nov. 15. The holiday bitterness will only get worse after Thanksgiving.

Actually, isn’t the commercialization of Christmas much more offensive to Christians? Why aren’t they harping on that? (oh, yeah, because they are making so much money off of it… how, um, Christian of them…)

  • Wal-Mart’s decision is based solely on the dollar, which places them in position to serve as an integral part of America’s official “Moneylenders on the Temple Steps.”

    Bill O’Reilly and Jerry Falwell, apparently, have no qualms with this; their actions speak volumes regarding their willingness to look the other way, and thus places the both of them in position to serve as an integral part of America’s official “Sadjucees, Pharisees, and Scribes.”

    And, we all know what Jesus thought about THOSE guys….

  • I think we need to start calling “retaining tradition” what it really is: being politically correct, not willing to do something differently because you’re too worried about offending those who do it the old way.

  • I was watching Nova last night, concerning a family that lived in southern Turkey who were very strict Muslims and they were talking, in part, about how if they lived their lives according to the Koran they would be taken care of once they’d died. There were other things they discussed as well and I was struck with how incredibly similar their beliefs of what they have to do matched those of fundamentalist Christian groups. The ‘who’ in the belief question is a little different, but the rest was nearly identical. I wonder what the Bill O’Reilly’s of the world think of that.

    Oh, wait, never mind…

    Think. Ha. Silly me.

  • What are the odds that noteworthy Christian and steadfast defender of Christmas Bill O’Reilly doesn’t even attend church?

  • And I care that WalMart caved because????

    I’ll start fighting back once this war becomes one of Christian oppression of religious diversity. Until then, let the loons have their wins without comment.

  • I’ve already decided that any retail person who gives me the “Merry Christmas” treatment is going to get an annoyed look and a “Happy Hannukah to you too” back. And I’m not even Jewish.

  • Three ideas:

    1) Arm people with rolls of stickers with pictures of Jesus. Send them to WalMart and have them put a sticker on every item WalMart has related to Christmas. After all CHRISTmas is all about Jesus Christ (and fruitcake).

    2) Dress the “holiday” bell ringers as muslims in Birkas (not much of a stretch in MN), hassedic Jews, Buddah ect.

    3) Have 1,000,000 people mail Bill O’Reilly 1,000,000 dreidels that says Happy Holidays on it.

  • I’ve already decided that any retail person who gives me the “Merry Christmas” treatment is going to get an annoyed look and a “Happy Hannukah to you too” back. And I’m not even Jewish.

    BUMP…

    Is this really this discourse we have been reduced to in 2006…seriously….
    The Ozzie and Harriet wing of the Republican Party really needs to get a grip!!!!!

    If WalMart thinks that saying Merry Xmas is going to increase sales they are dreamin…..

    Saying Merry Xmas aint gonna put $$$$ into the hands of shoppers this XMAS but a minimum wage increase, fair taxation, affordable energy costs, and affordable healthcare will…..these are all things vehemently opposed by the same Republican Party who complains about this non-issue….if you want to increase sales WalMart you might rethink who you politically align yourselves with….and forget about the platitudes

  • OT sorry but i had to share this..an article on yahoo about Bush trip to VietNam, comparing & contrasting to Iraq, when the article was pulled had over 2.3 million comments. Wow!

  • Lords knows that the biggest religious problem we’re facing in this country is that good christians face the threat (no, scourge) of not seeing the word christmas when they’re buying their toddler the latest Dale Earnhardt pajamas at Wal Mart.

  • Holiday – ETYMOLOGY: Middle English holidai, holy day, from Old English hlig dæg : hlig, holy; see holy + dæg, day; see day.

    Bill is insulting Catholics since by only focusing on Christmas (Easter is by far a more important holiday: anyone can be born but how often does someone rise from the dead?). Both December 25 – Christmas – AND January 1 (the Feast of the Solemnity of Mary) are holy days of obligation for Catholics. By not refering to both holy days (Happy Holidays!) Bill isn’t properly greeting Catholics at a time of the year when they have two holy days within a week.

    As far as Bill getting all gushy over Wal-Mart, he’s being un-American and anti-christian by advocating we go to a store that acts as a conduit for cheap goods made by godless communists that took jobs away from Americans and advances our already disadvantageous trade deficit to said godless communists. What a hero.

  • I miss the good old days when Thanksgiving was the official start of the War on Christmas season. It seems like it gets earlier and earlier every year. At this rate, we won’t even have finished putting away the Godless Pagan Witchery Night decorations before we have to put up the War on Christmas things. I can’t keep up.

  • For the past several years I’ve become soooooo uncomfortable with the whole Christmas rigamarole. Fundamentally, it’s a religious holiday. I’m not religious. Thousands of other people are not religious. Making children’s eyes “Shine” leaves me totally bored. Will we ever be able to abandon this humbug?

  • It’s comforting to know that the world has solved so many of it’s once pressing problems that we can occupy our time talking about this.

  • O’Reilly, and his ilk, can’t for the life of them realize they are the money-changers in the Temple Mount my beloved Jesus made such a stink about. No, any cultural warrior who is concerned about how commercial interests are projecting their advertisements is not truly a Christian soldier! They are, instead, fake Christians. Bill O’Reilly needs to shut-up! -Kevo

  • See, here’s what’s really annoying about this — As of just a few years ago, if a store clerk or check-out person wished me a Merry Christmas, or Happy Holidays, or simply a nice day, I just accepted it and thought it was kind of nice. If I’d thought about it, I suppose it would’ve been obvious that the employees had been schooled to be nice and greet the customers, but it NEVER would have occurred to me that they were required to use a specific phrase. Now when I get “Merry Christmas,” regardless of whether or not it’s sincere, it just pisses me off.

    The right may think there’s a war against Christmas, but I think most of it has come from their side. Isn’t hijacking considered an act of war?

  • First, a warning re the link in # 18:

    Please swallow all food/drink before clicking on “the item in question.” A friend sent this to me yesterday and I am still laughing.

    Monitor protection warning: Done.

    I say we flood Wal-Mart with calls that it is wrong to wish people Merry Christmas in December because Jesus’ birthday is really in April and how would they like it if some one wished them happy birthday several months before it actually occurred? We can add that to petarado’s list of things to bug Bill about. If you can’t shoot ’em, confuse em.

  • Didn’t “Christmas” end up in December because the Church couldn’t keep the masses from having pagan winter solstice celebrations?

    And I always thought “Happy Holidays” was just a blanket salutation intended to cover both Christmas and New Years–not a secular neutering of a sacred phrase.

    I’m with Jim Strain. I’m not religious, and let’s face it, once you’re over 12, a lot of the Christmas season is a joyless trudge, but on those crisp, buoyant evenings when the shopping was almost done and I was in that Scrooge-on-Christmas-Morn frame of mind, I’d jauntily use either greeting. But now I’ll look with suspicion at anyone who says “Merry Christmas!” and then holds eye contact an extra beat to see if I’m “one of them.”

    Now that Wal-Mart has caved, I wish O’Reilly would press his advantage and try to get everyone to say, “Happy Birthday to the Little Baby Jesus!” Then we’d know who the freaks are, and the rest of us could have “Merry Christmas” and “Happy Holidays” back.

  • “I say we flood Wal-Mart with calls that it is wrong to wish people Merry Christmas in December because Jesus’ birthday is really in April…” – TAIO

    True, we just celebrate it in December because we are trying to steal the pagans’ holiday of rebirth, which naturally falls on (or at least near) the Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the day.

    It amuses me that all those “symbols” of Christmas Jo Ann Davis (R-VA, 1st District) is trying to protect are actually pagan, especially the Yule Tree 😉

  • kevo: O’Reilly, and his ilk, can’t for the life of them realize they are the money-changers in the Temple Mount my beloved Jesus made such a stink about.

    Indeed. Along with the moral high ground that rightfully belongs to progressive thinkers, we need to take back Jesus and the principles for which he stood. If there was ever an icon who represented everything we believe in (tolerance of diversity, forgiveness, humility, peace and charity, occasional civil disobedience and non-violent protest), truly it was this guy.

  • That’s it, I’m wishing everyone a “Happy Festivus”

    Now if I can only find a cheap aluminum pole….

  • Jesus H. Talking Doll! And don’t forget Holy Moses!

    We here at Holy Dolls, Inc. think everyone should get in on Religious Doll Collectible mania. These will be the HOT collectibles of the End-of-Times. Think of the appreciation value.

    Not a believer of Judeo-Christian theology? Not to worry. We have Krishna, Carl Jung (for you secularists), and yes…even Mohammed (picture unavailable).

    What’s that? You’re a Jesus Freak??? Don’t worry…we have more Jesus dolls than anyone on the planet. Check out Answer me Jesus(also available, Answer me Buddha) and Deluxe Jesus Action Set(with loaves and fishes). Finally, for the little Christian Soldier, we have Combat Jesus, just in time for XMas!!

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  • Let’s all join in in celebrating Newtonmas. Yes indeed, there was someone born on December 24 who it can be proven was actually born on December 24 and not given that birthdate as a way of hijacking Saturnalia, whose life and accomplishments demonstrably did in fact change the way the world is perceived and our place in it, irrevocably and forever.

    Yes indeed, let’s celebrate the birthday of Isaac Newton, born December 24, 1643

    Merry Happy Newtonmas, y’all!!

  • pk, you’re right. The early Christians didn’t celebrate Christmas. They considered the Resurrection important. Only after Christianity became the “Official Religion of the Roman Empire” (trademark) did Christmas take the place of the much funner Saturnalia.

    Now where the heck can I get Saturnalia cards?

  • I don’t shop at Wal-Mart on principle, and I strongly discourage hubby from shopping there. The only thing I get from Walgreens are my prescriptions, and that’s only because the nearest pharmacy is just up the street from our house. I don’t think there’s a Kohl’s in the tri-county area, but I could be mistaken.

    I’m not usually uptight about the ‘merry xmas’ greeting, but these nut-jobs have gotten so obnoxious I think I just might say something like “And a happy Sol Invictus to you and your entire plagarizing cult.”

    Hmmmm, maybe I should use Mithra instead. He pre-dates xtianity by at least several centuries, has the same birthday, suffered the same fate. Actually, Osiris might be even better. I’ll have to see what the mid-winter festival was called in ancient Egypt.

  • they’re buying their toddler the latest Dale Earnhardt pajamas at Wal Mart.
    Comment by Nobody

    🙂 I wonder if they’re going to start wearing little burning nascars around their necks instead of crosses?

    Hey that Jesus Doll looks like Mel Gibson with a hangover.

    I’m going to place a big order with #26Gridlock. I don’t think you can have too many Jesuses!

    I

  • Who cares? I’ve been to church twice in my life and my family celebrates Christmas every year. Who, exactly, is offended by being wished Merry Christmas? Hell, I know Hindus and Buddhists that celebrate Christmas (minus the whole Jesus aspect).

  • No surprise here. Bill O’Reilly: Defender Against Civility. Joe @32, I have to ask myself who exactly is offended by “Happy Holidays”?

    I grew up in a small town that was (seemed) pretty homogenously Christian. Saying “Merry Christmas” was reflexive and did not cause a second thought. When I moved to Seattle, I realized the society in which I moved had become significantly more diverse. I chose to change up to “Happy Holidays” out of personal respect for differences both known and unknown. I am not offended by someone saying “Merry Christmas” to me. What offends me is the notion that recognition that not everyone celebrates Christmas and using an inclusive phrases like “Happy Holidays” or “Holiday Sale” or “Holiday Party” should somehow be deemed de facto as offensive and demeaning to those who do celebrate Christmas. It is the juvenile reasoning behind the whole “War on Christmas” bruhaha that offends me – and mightily.

  • Leave it to the whacko right to take something almost universally resented – the over-commercialization of Christmas – and use it to promote their victimhood at the hands of ‘liberals’. I have nothing against ‘Merry Christmas’, provided it is appropriate to the calender. I do not want to see or hear ‘Merry Christmas’ the day after Halloween, anymore than I want to hear ‘Happy Birthday’ 2 months before my birthday.

    I guess by O’Reilly’s calender, we should start wishing each other a ‘Happy New Year’ sometime this week, and a ‘Happy Martin Luther King Day’ early next month.

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