Fear My Holiday Lantern! Or Politically Correct For The Holidays

I guess the approaching holidays are making me bitter. Fresh on the heels of my tirade against churches canceling Christmas services comes another rant about the ‘Happy Holidays’ ‘Merry Christmas’ controversy.
The semantics debate reached an all time high this year. A group of Christian churches is calling on a boycott of retailers that are using the secularized ‘Happy Holidays’ term instead of Merry Christmas. Manuel Zamorano of the Committee to Save Merry Christmas says, "We believe it's political correctness gone amuck."
Meanwhile stores using the phrase like Wal-Mart with its “Home for the Holiday’s” slogan say they just want to make everyone feel welcome.
A Wal-Mart manger says they "just basically to try and cover Kwanzaa and Three Kings Day, to cover everything." Wal-Mart isn't the only retailer mixed-up in the Christmas controversy. Lowe's Home Improvement, Walgreens, Target, Sears, Best Buy, JC Penny, Office Max and Staples have all been criticized by the Christian group for taking the word "Christmas" out of their holiday campaigns.
I though Christians were out pushing the real meaning of the season, which last time I checked was the religious celebration of Jesus birth. What the birth of Jesus has to do with low low discount prices and slave labor at Wal-Mart escapes me – but I’m sure there is a connection somewhere. I feel that pushing Christmas into stores only reinforces the fact that Christmas is more focused on gifts rather then the miracle. Since some churches are going to be closed on the holiday I can see why the Christian group would want to get their message into stores, since that may be the only place the ‘faithful’ may actually see it.
Personally I don’t have a problem with Merry Christmas. During Passover I don’t want someone wishing me a happy holiday – which usually falls around the same time as Easter. Why those two holidays are able to peacefully co-exist and Christmas, Hanukkah, and Kwanzaa can’t is another question I guess will just go unanswered.
The chain stores aren’t the only ones getting hassled by this war of words. There is one unfortunate and innocent victim in this battle of political correctness. The victims can be seen in front of city halls and libraries across the country. I speak of none other then the unfortunate Christmas Tree. Across this great nation firs of all shapes and sizes have been sacrificed for the tradition only to be stripped of their title and re-named Holiday. I can not find any reason to call any Christmas Tree a Holiday Tree. Again I wouldn’t want some one calling my menorah a ‘Holiday Lantern,’ or dredle a ‘Festive Top’ or my Latkes hash browns. The Christmas tree is part of the Christmas holiday; it has no place in the Hanukkah, or Kwanzaa or New Year’s. If there was no Christmas there would be no tree. We can all appreciate Christmas Trees all lit up they are an impressive sight. I remember seeing the massive tree all lit up at Rockefeller center before stopping at F.A.O. Schwarz as a kid. I didn’t need someone to politically correct its name for me to enjoy it.

'Taking the Christ out of Christmas' - Or - 'Maybe Christmas WAS Getting to Religious'

For as long as I can remember religious groups have complained about the Christmas holiday. Many critics mostly evangelical Christians have said it has strayed to far from the true meaning of the holiday and instead focused on material goods. They say Santa, a tree, and presents have replaced the manger, the wise men, and the miracle of the birth of Christ. Finally this year the argument should be over. Christmas is officially a holiday not a holy day. Even though Christmas falls on a Sunday many will find the doors to God’s house locked. Several of the nations ‘Mega Churches’ are anticipating low attendance and are canceling services. To me this would be like shutting a temple for the High Holy Days because they land on Saturday. For us if the holiday falls on the Sabbath it makes it more important, not less. It seems counterproductive to shut a church on one of the religion's holiests days – and on a Sunday to boot – which is the day of worship.

So why are they shutting the doors on December 25^th? Many of the Churches are giving a list of reasons. Mostly dealing with attendance, but some churches say Christmas Eve services are less threatening to those who normally go ‘unchurched.’ Most of the Churches that are closing their doors are Mega Churches which feature stadium seating plasma televisions and seat thousands of worshippers every Sunday for regular services. Specifically a Mega Church is defined as “Non-Catholic congregations of at least 2000 people.” They are calling Christmas a family day and quote “ We believe that you worship every day of the week, not just on a weekend, and you don't have to be in a church building to worship." To me this seems self-defeating since the thousands of worshippers shelled out thousands of dollars to build these Mega Churches to worship in.

I did some research, and it is true that most people don’t go to Church on Christmas choosing a midnight mass or a Christmas Eve service instead. However apparently it is unheard of to not have services on a Sunday apparently. So many are seeing this as a bow to secular culture. Many in the evangelical community are stunned by the shut down. "This is a consumer mentality at work, Let's not impose the church on people. Let's not make church in any way inconvenient,'" said David Wells, professor of history and systematic theology at Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, a leading evangelical school in Hamilton, Mass. "I think what this does is feed into the individualism that is found throughout American culture, where everyone does their own thing." So it’s really America’s fault that a business pretending to be a religious entity decides to close when it’s not profitable. Well, I guess capitalism is better then the alternative.

Some Churches aren’t even hiding the fact that opening up on Christmas Sunday just isn’t cost effective. One church said it would be a waste of staff and volunteer time and money to open up the church and hold a service for the very few who will attend on Christmas morning. So it goes to show you that no matter what you believe or how you celebrate Christmas will always be about just one thing: the all mighty dollar – I guess the evangelicals can say at least there is the all seeing eye of God on every dollar we spend this holiday season.