Happy Holidays! (or should it be Merry Christmas?)

At this time of year we hear arguments about how to greet people, in person or on cards and such. Some people find the traditional greeting “Merry Christmas” to be offensive and uncivil– a few years ago, Step Feldman wrote an interesting book with the title Please Don’t Wish Me a Merry Christmas– but others object to the cleansing and secularizing of a religious holiday. I’ve heard one or two people at church say that Christians (and whatever others may think, we Mormons consider ourselves Christians) have a positive duty to use “Merry Christmas.”

I confess that I’m not one-hundred percent sure either what I do think or what I should think about all this. Within the small group of people who pay attention to law and religion scholarship, my sense is that I’m sometimes viewed as pretty retrograde in these sorts of matters. I sometimes defend “civil religion” (though not with much confidence or enthusiasm); I don’t think the national motto or the Mt. Soledad cross are unconstitutional; I’m critical of the school prayer decisions. More generally, I’m sympathetic to efforts to resist secularization. An editor of one of my articles– a professor, not a student– once told me, “I know that you really favor a ‘Christian nation,’ so why not just come out and say so?” (“Excuse me . . . ?”) The editor was mistaken: still, one hates to disappoint.

And yet I confess that I don’t really see why Christians should thrust “Merry Christmas” onto someone who isn’t receptive to that greeting. This affront seems unnecessary– and uncharitable (which is something Christians are supposed to be– charitable, that is). “I am not ashamed of the Gospel,” said St. Paul: fine, but I don’t see how it is a dilution or abnegation of my Christian faith, or a sign of being ashamed, to offer a sincere “Happy Holidays,” or something of the sort, to my non-Christian colleagues and friends. The best argument for a mandatory “Merry Christmas” that I can think of is that this is not so much an affirmative as a local and defensive and largely tactical duty: for political or commercial or other reasons, some people are working to remove Christ from Christmas, and from culture, so Christians should resist whenever and wherever they can. Maybe, but this seems a bit of a stretch.

So my tentative plan is to do what I’ve done in the past: say “Merry Christmas” to people who I think are happy with that greeting, and “Happy Holidays” (or, where appropriate, just “Howdy” or whatever) to the rest. But maybe this is a wrong strategy, or an indication of personal weakness. So I wonder: Am I missing something here?

In the meantime, as classes wind down and (except for the small matter of grading) you all take a short break from the academic grind to enjoy family or friends or to reflect on the meaning of life or whatever you do this time of year, here’s a very hearty “Happy Holidays” to you all!