Question:  Is saying “Merry Christmas” politically incorrect?

Answer:  If you pay attention to the popular media today, you’ll notice that there seems to be a concentrated effort to remove Christ from Christmas.  They seem to want to make Christmas as secular and politically correct  as possible.  For example, the Governor of Rhode Island, Lincoln Chafee, has been in the news for referring to the traditional state “Christmas tree” as the “holiday tree.”  He believes that name would be more “inclusive” of more people.   This has outraged many people who think he’s gone too far to be politically correct.  Even the farm where the tree came from is called a Christmas tree farm.  (See the story at http://radio.foxnews.com/toddstarnes/todds-favorites/rhode-island-outraged-over-holiday-tree.html.)   In another example, US Navy service members serving in Bahrain were recently told that they had to cancel their traditional live Nativity after an atheist group complained.  (See the story at   http://nation.foxnews.com/war-christmas/2012/12/11/navy-cancels-nativity-after-atheist-complains).   These are just two of many such stories you can find.  If you have children in public school, it’s likely they also get a very secular teaching on the history of Christmas in our culture.

Some Christian groups are fighting back against this tide of making Christmas secular.  Groups such as the American Family Association have even created a list of companies they have deemed “naughty” not “nice” because they don’t use the word “Christmas” or its symbols in their ads.  Or,  they will only say, “Happy Holidays” and prohibit the greeting, “Merry Christmas.”  ( Check out the list at  http://www.examiner.com/article/companies-on-2012-naughty-list-declare-war-on-christmas.)

In general though, Christians in the United States know that our country’s Constitution gives us “freedom of religion”  not “freedom from religion.”  We have a right to practice what we believe.  The government is not forcing anyone to celebrate Christmas.  At the same time, it would be wrong for the government or anyone else to stop an overwhelmingly Christian country like the USA from acknowledging the true meaning of Christmas.  None of these politically correct types would dream of prohibiting Jewish people from recognizing and practicing Judaism in public here or in Israel, or stopping Muslims from doing the same here in America or in their Islamic country.

Nevertheless,  many Christians continue to recognize Christmas as a celebration of the birth of our Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ.  Often, Christians will take time to re-read the details of Christ’s birth in the Bible, as in Luke chapter 2.  For example, Luke 2:10-11 reads, “And the angel said unto them, Fear not: for, behold I bring you good tidings of great joy, which shall be to all people.  For unto you is born this day in the city of David a Savior, which is Christ the Lord.” (KJV)  Christians know that no matter how politically incorrect it may become to say it in public the facts will not change.  Jesus IS the reason for the season!   Merry Christmas!

Helpful Links:

Focus on the Family    http://www.focusonthefamily.com

Crown Financial Ministries  http://www.crown.org

The Christian Broadcasting Network   http://www.cbn.com

World Magazine  www.worldmag.com