Wishing someone Merry Christmas - is it still allowed?

[Captain Pre-Capsize]

Speaking for myself I wish everyone a Merry Christmas this time of year and always have. Sadly, there are many who first look startled and then wish me an enthusiastic Merry Christmas back. The relief on their faces is always the same - that it is OK to wish that guy a Merry Christmas because he said it first.

What do you do and why?

 

[galopede]

Well it's certain not Holiday Season in my house. It's Christmas. I might be an atheist but it's still a Christian celebration, or has been since they took over the Pagan Yule.

Gareth!

 

[jdto]

I say happy holidays or best of the season. Most beliefs and backgrounds have some sort of mid-winter celebration or holy time, so that sort of covers it. I mean, imagine someone wishing you (Christian) a Happy Chanukah or Ramadan or something.

 

[JHCC]

I can't stand "Happy Holidays" and as a Christian, I am disgusted by the transformation of the celebration of the birth of Christ into an orgy of consumerism and secular sentimentality. That said, I think the whole campaign to "Keep Christ in Christmas" or to remember that "Jesus is the Reason for the Season" has more to do with the desire to feel virtuous or to hold the dam of cultural religiosity against the flood of multiculturalism than it does with any genuine faith. So, I'll generally say "Merry Christmas", but I won't get in a snit if anyone doesn't say it to me.

And frankly, if anyone were to wish me a "Happy Hannukkah" or "Ramadan mubarak", that's fine by me. I'm not so insecure in my faith that I need others to cater to it.

 

[sixsixty]

I'm not a fan of saying Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays since they both imply something that may not apply. I usually just skip the whole mention of the season, but if I'm in a situation where it may be needed I say Happy Winter Times!

 

[jdto]

I can't stand "Happy Holidays" and as a Christian, I am disgusted by the transformation of the celebration of the birth of Christ into an orgy of consumerism and secular sentimentality. That said, I think the whole campaign to "Keep Christ in Christmas" or to remember that "Jesus is the Reason for the Season" has more to do with the desire to feel virtuous or to hold the dam of cultural religiosity against the flood of multiculturalism than it does with any genuine faith. So, I'll generally say "Merry Christmas", but I won't get in a snit if anyone doesn't say it to me.

And frankly, if anyone were to wish me a "Happy Hannukkah" or "Ramadan mubarak", that's fine by me. I'm not so insecure in my faith that I need others to cater to it.

For me it's not about catering, but rather that I just feel it's weird. It's like saying Happy Birthday to someone when their birthday is six months away. It doesn't apply. In my case, living in one of the most multicultural cities in the world, my best wishes for everyone, regardless of what they celebrate, are included in what I say.

I am not religious and didn't grow up with religion, though my grandparents were members of the United Church of Canada. We celebrated Christmas when I was a kid and continue to do so out of tradition. While we do not celebrate the religious connotations of the holiday, we do take the chance to spend time with family and share special moments (as we do at other holidays - our society has based them on Christian holidays as that is where our roots are). I agree that the consumerism side is terrible and I find it distasteful, but I don't mind the sentimentality of gathering with family and friends to spend enjoyable moments. We encouraged our daughter to go through her room and fill a box with toys and books to donate to charity this year and made it fun for her. Giving to those less fortunate and enjoying time with the family are values we would like to instill in her and her baby brother, regardless of the religious origins of the holiday.

 

[COHunter]

It's Merry Christmas. That's the holiday that is celebrated on December 25th. I honestly don't know why people get so wound up about saying Merry Christmas. It is what it is. Seems nobody gets to wound up about Halloween, Thanksgiving or any of the other holidays throughout the year but get all pent up about Christmas. My Jewish friends wish me a Merry Christmas, and I wish them a Happy Hannukah.

If somebody doesn't like it I couldn't care less.

 

[ouch]

I think it's currently illegal in 12 states.

 

[JHCC]

(snip) Seems nobody gets to wound up about Halloween, Thanksgiving or any of the other holidays throughout the year but get all pent up about Christmas. (snip)

I actually had someone say "Happy Holiday" to me on Thanksgiving this year, apparently because the unspoken implication of the possibility that there might be a beneficent Being to whom one might direct thanks just wasn't secular enough.

Oh, and if you think people don't get wound up about Halloween, you haven't spent enough time with folks who think that it's a satanic holiday and anyone who goes trick-or-treating is going Straight To Hell. Lucky you.

 

[SEnSE]

I have Jewish friends that wish me Happy Hanukkah and I quickly turn around and wish them a Merry Christmas. We all share a knowing laugh that we aren't trying to convert each other but yet want to let others know what we're celebrating.

 

[JHCC]

I have Jewish friends that wish me Happy Hanukkah and I quickly turn around and wish them a Merry Christmas. We all share a knowing laugh that we aren't trying to convert each other but yet want to let others know what we're celebrating.

That's the spirit!

 

[jdto]

That's the spirit!

Agreed. In the end, people usually take themselves far too seriously (I am guilty of this, at times).

 

[Doc4]

How would you, as a Christian, feel if someone from another religion wished you a Happy Hanukkah or a Blessed Ramadan, or what have you.

Sometimes, I feel that the militant-merry-christmas-wishers (not aiming this at the OP, just a general observation) wish people "merry Christmas" in an aggressive, "how dare you wish me season's grreetings ... don't you know the Reason for the Season" sort of way, like they are "fighting back".

It shouldn't be that way.

Whatever phrase we pick as best reflecting our own personal beliefs (even if that is the more generic "season's greetings" sort of thing) it should be meant, and offered, as the best two-word phrase one can think of to make the recipient's day a little brighter.



In this modern age, we see two trends ... the debate over whether Christmas is today mainly a santa/secular holiday or mainly a Christian/Christ Holy-day ... and the debate over the institutionalisation of Christmas (can public buildings &c decorate for Xmas, can schools make kids sing religious christmas carols, &c. &c. ... right down to whether or not "merry Christmas" is an appropriate-for-all greeting.) Ironically, the more the faithful are able to reclaim "the true meaning of Christmas" (around Jesus' birth, not Santa & commercialism), the harder it is to maintain it as a "for everyone" holiday like Thanksgiving.



But that's as may be.



I'd like to think that we are all able to offer each other the greeting/blessing of our choice, be it faith-based or not, and have the other person accept it in the spirit in which it is intended. Of course, that means we have to offer it in the right spirit ...

 

[COHunter]

That's the spirit!

Bingo! It's a time of celebration, not watching every word you say.

 

[ouch]

Another Festivus miracle!

 

[Jawaburger]

It seems a bit un-Christian to spite or to become angry at someone who says "Happy Holidays!" or "Season's Greetings!"

 

[Ron991]

Merry Christmas to you, and your family. Above all have a safe one.

 

[Doc4]

"I'd like to buy the world a Coke" gets all the Pepsi drinkers upset.

 

[SalvadorMontenegro]

One time I was going down the stairs in my old apartment building and some guy, a visitor of one of the other tenants, was coming up the stairs and he said, "Happy Hannukah!" And I was like, "Uhhhhhhhhh... I'm not Jewish." And he gave me a look like, "What a *****." And said, "Well, merry Christmas." I didn't tell him that I'm not Christian, either; but I felt bad, because I realized that he was just trying to be all around festive and was using "Happy Hannukah" because it was what was relevant to him.

I say "happy holidays" because there are a lot of people who aren't Christian and because there are other holidays in other religions that are happening around this time of year. I don't like the commercialization of Christmas, but I don't mind that the "holiday spirit" transcends religion.

 

[Dalejr]

"I'd like to buy the world a Coke" gets all the Pepsi drinkers upset.

Not if it's free, this coming from a die hard Pepsi drinker