E. J. Dionne Jr. injects reason into this “Merry Christmas pow wow:
At the personal level: What in the world is “Christian” about insisting on saying “Merry Christmas” to a devout Jew or Hindu who might reasonably view the statement as a sign of disrespect? At the level of government: Is it really “Christian” for a religious majority to press its advantage over religious minorities, including nonbelievers?
Personally, I am partial to seasonal celebrations that acknowledge our religious diversity by allowing traditions to express themselves in their integrity. This is better than allowing only a commercial Christmas mush that satisfies no one except the retailers. Trying to delete every form of religious expression from the public square leads to foolishness. But one thing is even more foolish: for the religious majority to feel “oppressed” by a public etiquette designed to honor the rights of those outside its ranks.
. . .
The great Protestant theologian Reinhold Niebuhr wrote that “the chief source of man’s inhumanity to man seems to be the tribal limits of his sense of obligation to other men.” I fear that in these Christmas debates, Christians are behaving not as Christians but as a tribe: “We will pound them if they get in the way of our customs and rituals.”
Tribal behavior is antithetical to the spirit of peace and good will. In this season, we ought to be taking the most expansive possible view of our obligations to others.
A tribal mentality, no kidding. How far off kilter does your perspective have to be to wage a campaign against retail stores guilty of violating Christmas because they use “Happy Holidays” rather than “Merry Christmas”? Yes, those we-make-half-our-profits-during-the-Christmas-season retail stores. We certainly don’t want them disregard the meaning of Christmas with their politically correct banners, do we?