Posted by Ilya Somin: The Happy Holidays/Merry Christmas Controversy: http://volokh.com/archives/archive_2008_12_21-2008_12_27.shtml#1230413686
Co-bloggers Eric Posner and Eugene Volokh have written learned, insightful posts on whether or not it is offensive to say "Merry Christmas" or "Happy Holidays" to people who aren't Christian. My own view is that the whole issue is vastly overblown. Non-Christians shouldn't take offense because some casual acquiantance wishes them "Merry Christmas." It's pretty unlikely that this is a serious attempt at conversion or an effort to put down atheism or non-Christian religions. By the same token, Christians and political conservatives shouldn't take offense if someone says "Happy Holidays." It's faily certain that this isn't an effort to denigrate Christmas; nor is it PC hypersensitivity. Despite [1]Bill O'Reilly's fulminations about the supposed "War Against Christmas," the position of Christmas and Christianity more generally are quite secure in American society. Just go to any shopping mall or workplace [DEL: holiday :DEL] Christmas party if you doubt it. There is more than enough genuine religious prejudice in the world that we shouldn't invent bogus reasons to take offense. When it comes to this particularly pseudo-controversy, we would all be better off if everyone would just lighten up. References 1. http://cathyyoung.blogspot.com/2005/12/oreilly-on-christmas-warpath.html _______________________________________________ Volokh mailing list [email protected] http://lists.powerblogs.com/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/volokh
