by Dorothy Jo Bourbeau

Created on: May 31, 2008

What exactly is a traditional Christmas? Who sets the tradition? Should the President set up a new cabinet position, Secretary of Christmas Traditions? Maybe we should start a whole new branch of government and elect a Christmas Traditions Ambassador.

I am the last person who would take a stand for political correctness. I think political correctness is ridicules. Personally I don't think this topic has anything to do with political correctness and everything to do with "your in my country you should do things my way".

From the very beginnings of this country it was determined that religious freedom was a must. The founding fathers put in the Constitution that there would be a separation of church and state. They did that so no one religion would have more power than any other religion. So why, in a country that advertises religious freedom, are there so many people complaining that not everyone celebrates Christmas in the "traditional"manor?

Consider the fact that no one, not even the best of Christians, knows the exact date of Jesus' birth. The December 25th date was a compromise between the early church and the so called pagans in which the pagans were allowed to celebrate their winter festival like they always did but they would now call it Christmas and the Christians could say they were celebrating the birth of Christ.

Also consider that in the time of Jesus birthdays were not celebrated on an annual basis. The families celebrated the birth and that was that. There were no annual parties, no special recognition, there was only trying to stay alive in an age where death at an early age was common.

The big argument on this subject is that saying "Happy Holidays" takes Christ out of Christmas and that is wrong. Just because they don't believe in Christ they have no right to exclude him from the holiday. They forget that those who don't believe in Christ are not celebrating the holiday for the same reason as those who do.

Many people celebrate Christmas because it is traditional. Even though they do not hold to the religious aspects of the holiday they hold to the tradition of gathering with their families; for some this is the only time of year their whole family comes together.

Then you have the Jews, Muslims, Hindus, and a host of others that do not celebrate Christmas as all but have their own religious holidays that just happen to occur at the same time of year as Christmas. Why should these people, who are just as much American as the Christians who live in this country, be forced to celebrate something they don't believe in. I have never once heard an American who happened to be Jewish or Muslim tell the Christians they were celebrating the wrong holiday.

Even the Rabbi who asked that the airport in Seattle display a Menorah was not asking that the holiday be changed. He did not request that the Christmas trees be taken down, that was the airports idea. He asked that the airport give other religions the same consideration they give Christians by displaying other religious symbols.

Using the phrase "Happy Holidays" is not intended to exclude Christ, it is intended to include everyone who does not believe in Christ by acknowledging that they also have reason to celebrate based on their religious beliefs.

Christ told us to love our brothers (neighbors) as we would love ourselves. He did not include in that statement that we should only love those who think and act the way we do. Christ did not exclude anyone. He did not refuse to associate with anyone who did not accept his teachings. He loved everyone and taught his followers that they should do the same. Somewhere along the line Christians forgot that lesson. Hence we have the controversy of what to say during the holiday season.

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