What's wrong with "Merry Christmas"?

[Carol]

Susan:
> Yes, I think that the whole purpose of separation of church and 
> state  (as envisoned by the founding fathers)...is that each person 
> should have the opportunity to celebrate their religion undiluted in 
> any way that they wish (as long as it's not harming others). 
> 
> How does celebrating an undiluted holiday get mixed up with 
> the "right" to have Christmas decorations on public property, or 
> the "right" to wish those who do not celebrate it "Merry Christmas?"
> 
> My feeling is that if one holiday is celebrated, then all should have 
> the right to celebrate. I understand that no one on THIS list would 
> EVER object should someone post a pentacle next to the crucifix in 
> town hall, but I imagine OTHERS might object...take a look at how 
> long it took pagans/wiccans to have the right to put a pentacle on a 
> dead soldier's grave stone...

Carol responds:

The problem with "Happy Holidays" is that it really refers to
Christmas, the holiday that most Americans celebrate but are suddenly
afraid to name. Christmas trees have become holiday trees; Christmas
stamps have become holiday stamps (even though Hanukkah and other
holidays have their own stamps); Christmas cards have become holiday
cards. It started with the supposed separation of church and state
preventing kids from singing true Christmas carols (but not "Jingle
Bells" or "Santa Claus is Coming to Town") in schools. Now some
schools are afraid to put up Christmas trees for fear of offending the
four to six percent of children who don't celebrate Christmas.

I don't know anything about cemeteries objecting to pentacles (could
someone possibly be mistaking them for pentagrams and mistakenly
associating Wicca with Satanism?), but it's the same sort of thing.
Your right to your religious symbols is being threatened, but so is
the Christian majority's right to put up Nativity scenes, which have
long been banned in public places (since the 1970s, I think?), but now
are vandalized if they appear on someone's lawn.

Christmas is a beautiful holiday which can be celebrated in either
religious or secular ways, and (IMO) it's being destroyed by
well-meaning but mistaken people who think it imposes on *their*
religious freedom, or their right to atheism, or whatever. The
opposite is true. The majority, oddly, are the victims here, and
they're cooperating in their own oppression, just as many women
cooperated in their own oppression during the Victorian era.

Maybe you could wear a badge that says, "I'm Wiccan. Don't wish me
Merry Christmas." I'm sure most people would respect that. Meanwhile,
I'm sorely tempted to buy an "It's okay to wish me Merry Christmas
badge" for next year and to boycott any stores whose employees are
ordered to wish me "Happy Holidays." It really annoys the heck out of
me, especially since it's primarily a marketing ploy (one that's
likely to backfire on the merchants, the majority of whose customers
celebrate Christmas).

Carol, remembering that Christians were persecuted during the Roman
era, which is why the Catholics have so many martyrs as saints