Posted on 12/24/2015 8:17:38 AM PST by SeekAndFind
'Tis the season for some to take offense when a store clerk says "happy holidays" instead of "merry Christmas," or when a coffee chain converts to plain red cups for the holiday. The "war on Christmas" trope seems to surface with Black Friday sales, but who is actually at war?
It is easy to imagine saying "merry Christmas" as another cudgel in the culture wars between Christians and the irreligious. The actual story, however, is much more nuanced. Public Religion Research Institute asked a nationally representative sample of Americans whether retailers should greet their customers with "happy holidays" or "seasonâs greetings" -- rather than "merry Christmas" -- "out of respect for people of different faiths." Although a slim majority of those with a preference want retailers to say "happy holidays" or "seasonâs greetings," we found that preference depends on your level of tension with the culture where you live. To explore these cultural tensions, we analyzed the PRRI data jointly with the 2010 Religion Census results.
According to the findings, evangelicals, on average, strongly favor "merry Christmas" and seculars prefer "happy holidays" or "seasonâs greetings." But the war on Christmas is not simply a religious divide. One of the more surprising findings is that the Bible-Belt South does not show the weakest preference for "happy holidays" (54 percent). That distinction belongs to the Midwest (44 percent). One reason for the difference is African-Americans (20 percent of the South in this sample), who strongly prefer "happy holidays" despite their high levels of religiosity.
(Excerpt) Read more at fivethirtyeight.com ...
Probably at home. Not too sure anywhere else.
I do what Donald J Trump does....I say: Merry Christmas & Happy Holidays! This way, I get the traditional MAIN holiday in and satisfy the easily offended with happy holidays.
Merry Christmas everyone!
All I’m hearing is Merry Christmas in Michigan.
Dec.25 was Holiday
Dec. 24 Holiday Eve
Why? Because of Hanukkah, or Kwanzaa (Dr. Karenga's made-up Ma'at version of Hanukkah), or because "Merry Christmas" is too white? That's one I honestly don't get...
Merry Christmas!
RE: All Iâm hearing is Merry Christmas in Michigan.
Been to Dearborn lately?
“May you have a Joyous Christmas”
and
“Happy Holy Days” (that’ll mess with some PC minds!)
Beef jerky time.
Same here is Upstate NY.....Merry Christmas!!
That can’t be right about the South.
I never say happy Holidays, not even once. It’s just Merry Christmas before the 24th and Happy New year after the 24th..
I’d go as far as, “Merry Christmas and Happy Hanukkah”, but nothing else. Everyone else can be offended; I hope they are.
RE: That canât be right about the South.
Are you living in the South?
We have a tradition with our two little neighbor girls. On the warmest night,we take the convertible out, get hot chocolate and cookies and look at Christmas lights in our small Ohio town. This year they called out “Merry Christmas.” With one exception (and he said thank you) they all said merry Christmas back.Every. Single. One. It was a joy to see big burly men, townspeople shopping,walking or imbibing...all stop at the sound of these sweet little voices...smile..and heartily reply back! I daresay there was a bit of defiance in those replies...but so much more joy!!!
Merry Christmas!!!
Its not no one on the South has said Happy Holidays
I work in the NYC Metro area and there are a LOT of people who aren’t Christians, so it’s happy holidays. That said, I’ve never found a single person who is offended by Merry Christmas.
I also work with a lot of SE Asian Indians, and while most are Hindus, Sihks or other non Christian religions, they LOVE Christmas. Fortunately I don’t deal with many Mooslimes.
Merry day celebrating the birth of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ”
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