Christmas controversy refers to controversy or disagreement surrounding the celebration or acknowledgment of the Christmas holiday in government, media, advertising and various secular environments. Modern-day controversy occurs mainly in the United States, Canada, and to a lesser extent in the United Kingdom, and usually stems from the holiday's significant annual role in Western economy in conjunction with its Christian significance in an increasingly religiously diversifying Western society. Some have used the label "War on Christmas" to describe this controversy. This, in turn, has been taken up as a badge of pride by those who oppose the rampant commercialism associated with Christmas.
In recent decades, during the annual approach to December 25 , it is felt by some that public, corporate, and government mention of the term "Christmas" has declined and been replaced with a generic term— usually " holiday " or " winter "— and that popular non-religious aspects of Christmas, such as secular Christmas carols and decorated trees are still prominently showcased and recognized, but are vaguely associated with unspecified "holidays", rather than with Christmas.
Supporters of using the word "holidays" instead of "Christmas" cite the fact that many of the symbols western societies have come to associate with Christmas were taken from non-Christian pagan traditions that pre-date the birth of Jesus. Specifically, symbols such as decorated trees, mistletoe, holly wreaths and yule logs all have non-Christian origins. From a historical context, "Christmas" only recently adopted these long-standing winter traditions into its own identity. Therefore, many non-Christians argue that the most accurate description of this season is the "holiday" season, not the "Christmas" season.
In the past, Christmas-related controversy was mainly restricted to concerns of a public focus on secular Christmas themes such as Santa Claus and gift giving rather than what is sometimes expressed by Christians as the "reason for the season"—the birth of Jesus. The term "Xmas", the subject of controversy during the mid-to-late 20th century, originated from the use of the Greek letter chi, Χ, as an abbreviation of Christ (Χριστός).
Present-day controversy
History
Although a close variant of the term " War on Christmas " is believed to have first been coined by British American journalist Peter Brimelow in 1999, the concept of a modern-day " War on Christmas " only became widely discussed in the United States and Canada during the first few years of the 2000s decade, often credited particularly to an exposure of the issue by American commentator Bill O'Reilly.
The claim among Brimelow, O'Reilly, and later a variety of prominent media figures and others was that any specific mention of the term "Christmas" or its religious aspects was being increasingly censored, avoided, or discouraged by a number of advertisers, retailers, government (prominently schools), and other public and secular organizations.
A variety of Christians and non-Christians alike have agreed with these claims to varying degrees. Some believe that this perceived censorship also extends to Easter and Good Friday, where generic terms—particularly " Spring holiday "—are sometimes used to avoid reference to those holidays.
Government-related controversies
Christmas Day is recognized as an official federal holiday by the United States government, and few have raised objections to this designation. However, many groups, such as the American Civil Liberties Union and Americans United for Separation of Church and State, argue that government-funded displays of Christmas imagery and traditions violate the U.S. constitution—specifically the First Amendment, which prohibits the establishment by Congress of a national religion. The battle over whether religious displays should be placed within public schools, courthouses and other government buildings, has been heated in recent years.
Supreme Court rulings starting with Lynch v. Donnelly in 1984 have permitted religious themes in government-funded Christmas displays in their interpretation of the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment, though the inclusion of such displays is not mandated. Since these rulings have been splintered and have left governments uncertain of their limits, many such displays have included secular elements such as reindeer, snowmen and elves along with the religious elements. Other recent court cases have brought up additional issues such as the inclusion of Christmas carols in public school performances, but none of these cases have reached the US Supreme Court.
A controversy regarding these issues arose in 2002, when the New York City public school system banned the display of nativity scenes, but allowed the display of less overtly religious symbols such as Christmas trees, Hanukkah menorahs, and the Muslim star and crescent. Such a policy angered many, including commentator Bill O'Reilly, who in 2006 said such a policy was "anti-Christian". The school system successfully defended its policy in Skoros v. City of New York (2006).
In December 2007, a public controversy arose when a public school in Ottawa, Canada planned to have the children in its primary choir sing a version of the song "Silver Bells" with the word "Christmas" removed.
In the United Kingdom there have also been some controversies, one of the most famous being the temporary promotion of the Christmas period as Winterval by Birmingham City Council in the late 1990s. There were also protests in November 2009 when the city of Dundee promoted its celebrations as the Winter Night Light festival , initially with no specific Christmas references.
Christmas tree controversies
Since the 1980s, there have been several instances in both the United States and Canada where official public mentions and references to Christmas trees were renamed to "holiday trees" for various reasons, mostly for an enforcement of separation of church and state or a recognition of cultural and religious diversity. Some have expressed outrage at these renamings, while others supported them as being inclusive.
One of the most prominent Christmas tree controversies came in 2005, when the city of Boston labeled their official decorated tree as a holiday tree, and the subsequent response from the Nova Scotian tree farmer who donated the tree was that he would rather have put the tree in a wood chipper than have it named a "holiday" tree. Donnie Hatt, the donor, was also quoted as saying "Ever since I was born, a tree was put up for Christmas, not for holidays, because if you're going to do that you might as well put a tree up for Easter".
Another controversy occurred in 2005 with the US hardware retailer Lowe's. Signage for their Christmas trees read "holiday trees" in English, but read árboles de Navidad (Christmas trees) in Spanish rather than árboles de feriados , probably because those who would likely object to "Christmas trees" are usually upper-income secular Anglophones whereas Spanish-speaking Latinos usually don't care about the issue as much. In 2007, Lowe's started using the term "family tree", sparking protest from the American Family Association, but they have since claimed that this term was only a printing mistake.
Although the tree that is lit annually at Rockefeller Center in New York City is popularly referred to as the "Rockefeller Center Christmas Tree", it is officially titled "The Tree at Rockefeller Center." As of 2008, there is no mention of "Christmas" anywhere on the tree's official website.
Reclamation of the term "Christmas tree"
In recent years, efforts have also been made to rename official public holiday trees back to Christmas trees. In 2002, a bill was introduced in the California Senate to rename the State Holiday Tree the California State Christmas Tree; while this measure failed, at the official lighting of the tree on December 4, 2007, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger referred to the tree as a Christmas tree in his remarks and in the press release his office issued after the ceremony.
The Michigan Senate had a heated debate in 2005 over whether the decorated tree in front of the Michigan Capitol would continue to be called a holiday tree (as it had been since the early 1990s) or named a Christmas tree. The question was revisited in 2006, when the bipartisan Michigan Capitol Committee voted unanimously to use the term Christmas tree. And in 2007, Wisconsin lawmakers considered whether to rename the tree in the Wisconsin Capitol rotunda, a holiday tree since 1985, the Wisconsin State Christmas Tree.
Retailer controversies
Since c. 2005, some non-profit organizations in the United States have petitioned for boycotts of various prominent secular organizations, particularly retail giants, demanding that they use the term "Christmas" rather than solely "holiday" in their print, TV, online, and in-store marketing and advertising. Most of these boycotts were organized by the American Family Association, a private, non-profit group which promotes conservative Christian values.
2005
- After threats of boycotting, the Sears Holdings Corporation (which owns Sears and Kmart ) altered their marketing policies from using the term "ho
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