The change from wishing fellow Americans "Merry Christmas" to wishing them "Happy Holidays" is a very significant development.
Proponents of "Happy Holidays" argue it's no big deal - proponents of "Merry Christmas" are making a mountain out of a molehill.
But the "Happy Holidays" advocates want it both ways. They dismiss opponents as hysterical; but at the same time, in addition to replacing “Merry Christmas” with "Happy Holidays,” they have relentlessly pushed to replace “Christmas vacation” with “winter vacation” and “Christmas party” with
"Holiday Party.”
So, then, which is it? Is all this elimination of the word “Christmas" important or not?
The answer is obvious. It's very important. That’s why so much effort is devoted to substituting other words for “Christmas.” And these efforts have been extraordinarily successful. In place of the universal “Merry Christmas” of my youth, in recent decades I have been wished "Happy Holidays" by every waiter and waitress in every restaurant I have dined; by everyone who welcomes me at any business; by my flight attendants and pilots; and by just about everyone else.
When I respond, "Thank you. Merry Christmas!" I often sense that I have actually created some tension. Many of those I wish "Merry Christmas" are probably relieved to hear someone who feels free to utter the “C” word, but all the sensitivity training they've had to undergo creates cognitive dissonance.
The opponents of "Merry Christmas" and other uses of the word "Christmas" know exactly what they’re doing. They’re disingenuous when they dismiss defenders of "Merry Christmas" as fabricating some “War on Christmas.”
Of course it's a war on Christmas, or, more precisely, a war on the religious nature of America. The left in America, like the left in Europe, wants to create a thoroughly secular society. Not a secular government – which is a desirable goal, and which, in any event, has always been the case in America – but a secular society.
Most people do not realize that the left believes in secularism as fervently as religious Jews and Christians believe in the Bible. That's why "Merry Christmas" bothers secular activists. It's a blatant reminder of just how religious America is – and always has been. So, here's a prediction: Activists on the left will eventually seek to remove Christmas as a national holiday.
Now, the left doesn't announce that its agenda is to thoroughly secularize American and European societies. Instead, they offer the inclusiveness argument: that "Merry Christmas" or "Christmas party" or "Christmas vacation" is not "inclusive."