Posted on 12/24/2015 8:17:38 AM PST by SeekAndFind
'Tis the season for some to take offense when a store clerk says "happy holidays" instead of "merry Christmas," or when a coffee chain converts to plain red cups for the holiday. The "war on Christmas" trope seems to surface with Black Friday sales, but who is actually at war?
It is easy to imagine saying "merry Christmas" as another cudgel in the culture wars between Christians and the irreligious. The actual story, however, is much more nuanced. Public Religion Research Institute asked a nationally representative sample of Americans whether retailers should greet their customers with "happy holidays" or "season’s greetings" -- rather than "merry Christmas" -- "out of respect for people of different faiths." Although a slim majority of those with a preference want retailers to say "happy holidays" or "season’s greetings," we found that preference depends on your level of tension with the culture where you live. To explore these cultural tensions, we analyzed the PRRI data jointly with the 2010 Religion Census results.
According to the findings, evangelicals, on average, strongly favor "merry Christmas" and seculars prefer "happy holidays" or "season’s greetings." But the war on Christmas is not simply a religious divide. One of the more surprising findings is that the Bible-Belt South does not show the weakest preference for "happy holidays" (54 percent). That distinction belongs to the Midwest (44 percent). One reason for the difference is African-Americans (20 percent of the South in this sample), who strongly prefer "happy holidays" despite their high levels of religiosity.
(Excerpt) Read more at fivethirtyeight.com ...
I work for a government agency in the Western sector of that map. I have been replying to emails with Merry Christmas. Might get some heat for it, but I don’t care.
“Been to Dearborn lately?”
Haha. No. For at least 20 years, the closest I’ve to been to that part of the state is Ann Arbor.
Oh well, too complicated for me but I am very pleased by the large number of signs saying "Keep Christ in Christmas" in my (Central Tx.) town.
A very, very blessed Christmas to all of y'all.
Yes, I live & commute through Tennessee and South Carolina, and hear “Merry Christmas” constantly in December.
Outside the season, “Have a blessed day!” is widely used.
Here in Texas whenever someone tells me “Happy Holidays” I reply “And a Merry Christmas to you”, they usually return a “Merry Christmas”. Sometimes I’ll toss in a Happy Chanukah And Happy Festifuss just to confuse them. This year I’ve dropped kwonzah because it seems to have dried up.
The same here in AL and in MS. I do not think I have heard anyone say Happy Holidays. My FB friends make a point to say Merry Christmas Where did they get this data?
I’m not buying it. Everywhere I go clerks are saying “Merry Christmas”. I haven’t had a single person say “Happy Holidays” and I am definitely in the South.
I do not think it is either.
I am from MS and live in AL. I have not heard anyone say HH. It is always Merry Christmas. Friends on FB make a point to say MC and post nativity scene pictures. Merry Christmas.
I was Merry Christmased at PNC Bank and CVS.
I hear that too. Even the workers at a local TB say it. The first time I heard someone say Have a blessed day, I was amazed.
I’ve always regarded it as a matter of context. Sometimes “Merry Christmas” or “Christmas” is what is meant and to substitute “Happy Holidays” or “Holiday” is offensive to Christians. Sometimes “Happy Holidays” is a reasonable substitute for “Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year”, in which case it has the virtue of brevity, or is used to wish all and sundry, Christian or not, a good celebration of whichever holiday(s) they keep during December and January, in which case it shouldn’t be offensive to anyone.
(After all, we Christians actually have a lot of holidays this time of year: the Feast of the Nativity (a.k.a. Christmas), the Synaxis of the Theotokos (for us in the East), the Feast of the Protomartyr and Archdeacon Stephen, the Feast of the Holy Innocents, the Feast of the Circumcision, and Holy Theophany (usually called Epiphany in the West), along with joining secular society in celebrating the civil New Year).
So to all and sundry: Happy Holidays (including all those listed in the parenthetical paragraph to my fellow Christians.
got a merry christmas at a dr’s office and walmart yesterday here in california
In Texas, I’m only hearing “Merry Christmas” so don’t know who they polled to get those numbers. Maybe only the #BLM Kwanzaas in Houston.
I’m in California and Merry Christmas is the “thing”
I have been in Australia for several weeks on vacation and tecently i have never heard a Happy Holiday PC crapola comment, its ALWAYS Merry Christmas, and with feeling.
Call Oz what it is but at least they are honest.
I have been saying Merry Christmas to everyone in a government facility all day in Virginia. Screw that map.
There is such a thing as the 1st Amendment to OUR Constitution and I will say Merry Christmas and Happy New Year any damn place I chose and could care less who it offends. End of Story!
There is such a thing as the 1st Amendment to OUR Constitution and I will say Merry Christmas and Happy New Year any damn place I chose and could care less who it offends. End of Story!
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