The Complexity of Christmas: Why Can’t Holiday Be Cited in Spirit of Season?

One of my favorite times of the year has always been the month of December because of the holidays and the chance to spend time with family and friends. There is certainly a different atmosphere around Christmastime.

That Christmas spirit has always been something that I love and look forward to all year.

But that “Christmas” spirit is being morphed into a politically correct “holiday” spirit in order to incorporate and represent all denominations. There have been little things throughout the years that have marked this change.

Traditions such as “Christmas on the Prado” at Balboa Park have been changed to “December Nights.” Public stores and companies no longer have Christmas displays but rather decorations that incorporate winter, not any specific holiday—which I find to be very ironic, seeing so many snowflakes and snowman in San Diego.

Most recently I read an article about members of Congress not being allowed to wish constituents a “Merry Christmas,” only a generic “Happy Holidays” that doesn’t include or exclude a particular religion.

These efforts are to equally represent all religions and beliefs. Others argue that these shifts are more of a political agenda. Regardless, the issue revolves around the promotion of Christianity over other religions.

Christian groups have brought up legitimate arguments, though. In the same article that mentioned that members of Congress were not allowed to say “Merry Christmas,” protesters pointed out that this takes away the rights of Christians to celebrate their religious beliefs. 

If the country were to follow the concept of separation of church and state, stating that organized religion shall be separate from the nation state, then there should be absolutely no representation of Christmas, or Hanukkah, from the local, state, or federal government as well as public institutions. But this would also mean that the phrase “In God We Trust” would have to be removed from our money. The term “Under God” would have to be taken out of the Pledge of Allegiance. The full lyrics of “The Star Spangled Banner” include the phrase “And this be our motto: In God is our trust,” so that would have to be changed as well.

And if there were true separation of church and state then traditions such as the lighting of the tree in Rockefeller Center, or the televised concert, “Christmas in Washington” would have to be eliminated as well. Why is it that Congress cannot send out Christmas related cards, but there is the lighting of the National Christmas Tree in our nation’s capitol each year?

A Christmas tree is, in reality, a pine tree with lights. There is nothing religious about a pine tree. Nor is there any religion surrounding Santa Claus. The most iconic and celebrated traditions of Christmas such as writing letters to Santa and receiving gifts from Santa have no roots in religion, but rather in folklore.

Christmas is also celebrated by many non-religious families. I have even seen examples of athiests and agnostics who celebrate Christmas because it is simply a part of the holiday season.

There are many people who would like to see Christmas return to the celebration of the birth of Christ. Christmas has become a commercialized holiday since the seventeenth century. But because of this, it has also become a holiday that is not inclusive of religion. It is the reason for the “holiday spirit” that we feel in December.

I’ve also realized that when there are blatant displays of Christmas, it’s not as big of an issue as the media often portrays it.

For instance, I returned to San Diego a week ago from a somewhat small town in Colorado where I go to school. Around Thanksgiving, the city started putting up Christmas displays around town. The streetlights had lit wreaths hanging from them, and many stores had Christmas decorations up.

I also expected my college campus to put up the generic Happy Holidays decorations versus Christmas related ones as I had witnessed at San Diego State University. But instead I found Christmas trees all over campus, banners wishing me a Merry Christmas, and one day I even passed by Santa sitting in the University Center taking pictures with students.

I searched through the city’s newspaper to see if anyone objected to these obvious Christmas displays. I didn’t find anything. I asked some classmates of mine who were Jewish and didn’t celebrate Christmas how they felt. They said that they didn’t mind and that they thought it felt very cheerful. One girl said, “a Christmas tree isn’t threatening my faith or my religious beliefs. It’s just a decoration.”

I certainly support representing all beliefs, but I also think that Christmas isn’t necessarily a strict religious celebration anymore. I also don’t think that banning displays of Christmas is achieving equal representation of all religions and beliefs, but actually heading in the opposite direction.

If these changes to a more politically correct holiday season escalate into the enactment of legal restrictions on Christmas displays, then the concept of freedom of religion is threatened while the concept of separation of church is upheld.

There is truly a complexity when it comes to the public celebration of Christmas, and while there may be harm in representing Christmas over other beliefs, there can also harm in limiting the rights of those that celebrate Christmas.