is the most beautiful fight of the year: the annual struggle between Christians who bravely defend "Merry Christmas" and the evil liberals who want to impose "happy holidays". Or so says the history of the radio. But while President Trump promises to restore "Merry Christmas" to American life, those who insist on using expression as a kind of banner for conservative Christian culture misinterpret history. Instead of being religious, its origins are secular and commercial, even profane.
most of its history, the Christian church considered Christmas as a small event in its calendar that does not require much observation. The Puritans in England and later the American colonies went a step further and forbade the holidays because they could not find biblical support to celebrate the day. As the historian Stephen Nissenbaum explained, the Puritans imposed fines on anyone who was caught celebrating and labeling Christmas as a workday. These strict rules were necessary because so many men and women were engaged in the drunken revelry that accompanied the solemn winter festivities, an ancient tradition that the church had not eradicated when it was a Christian holiday on December 25.
this scenario, "Merry Christmas" was born. The greeting was an act of revelry and religious rebellion, something that the primitive people called while they were drunk. Concerned about such behavior, the New Haven Gazette in 1786 denounced the "common greeting" of "Merry Christmas". "We are very happy at Christmas," the newspaper complained, "they are destroying their health because of the disease and their joy because of the problems."
