What's wrong with saying Happy Holidays?

Question

After all, Christmas isn't the only holiday being celebrated this time of year. We have Yule, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa, probably others I'm not even aware of. Even if not, There's still three others besides Christmas. So why are some people so mad about stores and such saying Happy Holidays or Seasons Greetings instead of Merry Christmas?

They're only being fair, after all. It'd be pretty presumptuous to say only Merry Christmas when not everyone celebrates the same holiday. So why throw a fit and boycott stores that are being fair to everyone and force Christmas to be the only holiday recognized by stores when it's not the only holiday being celebrated?

I'm not saying everyone goes to this sort of extreme. I'm an atheist who'd rather be wished a Happy Holiday, but I don't start suing and boycotting anytime someone says Merry Christmas. I just don't see what all the fuss is about when stores are trying to be fair and neutral to all customers and whatever holiday they happen to celebrate.

Lots of excellent answers, so thank you very much! Also just want to clarify a few things as I always do end up forgetting a few details until I read my responses. :P

First off, I'm not against people saying Merry Christmas or whatever they like. I prefer Happy Holidays or Seasons Greetings, but if a person says otherwise, I don't have a fit over it. They're just trying to wish me a happy holiday season.

Frankly, if I were to boycott stores that say Merry Christmas in my small hometown, well, I'd never be able to shop anywhere. Pretty darn pointless. Same for suing people who say Merry Christmas. Living in a small Midwestern town, I'd be suing pretty much everyone.

So I'm not for enforcing Happy Holidays. It's what I prefer, and it's meant to be inclusive since Christmas isn't the only holiday celebrated, but if people want to say Merry Christmas, Happy Yule, Happy Hanukkah, or whatever, I'm not going to care.

People are wishing me well and that's really all that matters to me. :)

Also, seeing as how they never give you enough space and I'm so wordy...lol...

I'm not saying all the holidays I listed(or didn't, I'm sure I missed something in there, as diverse as this world is) are the same. Frankly, if they were all the same, heh, we'd all be celebrating the same holiday and belong to the same religion.

What I am saying, however, is that Christmas shares its celebration time with other holidays this month. It doesn't have a monopoly on December, not by a long shot. This is a time of joy, love, peace, giving, and family togetherness, not another opportunity to divide people along faith lines to see who's right and who can celebrate and who can't.

God's not being "replaced", nor is Christ being taken out of Christmas. Pretty hard when it's a contraction of Christ's Mass. However, God and Christ are not the only holy figures out there and Christianity's not the only religion in this world, so they have to share with the rest of us, like it or not.

Answer 1

You hit the nail on the head -- every story that someone emails me about our culture attacking christmas or christians turns out to be completely misperceived. Two recent stories involved a mayor of a big city and a department store just trying to be more inclusive. And this was misperceived as attacking Christians! When the dominant group wants its beliefs and rituals endorsed by society -- at the expense of other groups -- we get this weird delusion where the dominant group becomes convinced it's being victimized and they either contrive stories or warp existing ones to support their agenda. Although we can pray all we want in school (supported by the fact that no representative can endorse a particular practice), we get emails that scream about how we can't. And when cities and stores try to be more inclusive at the holidays, we get the same rants. And, ironically, when there are isolated cases where religious expression is wrongly stifled, the ACLU is the one who steps in supports the rights of the believers (despite the bad press and perceptions promoted by the fundamentalists). And, I do agree with the second point you were making: secular fundamentalists can be just as silly as religious fundamentalists.

Answer 2

I used to HATE hearing "Happy Holidays." I totally know that not everyone in the USA is Christian, but Christmas has become such a secular holiday in its own right, it seemed silly to me to change it. But then I really started thinking about it and I decided that it was just fine. Besides, it covers pretty much everyone!

I will personally still wish people Merry Christmas, but that's because that is what I celebrate. I wouldn't be upset or offended if someone wished me a Happy Hanukkah or a Joyful Solstice. I might blink, but it's the good wishes that count.

For some reason, however, "Season's Greetings" just grates on my ears. It just sounds hollow. I don't get upset when people use it; I just don't care for it.

Answer 3

There isn't anything wrong wit it.

It shows respect. it shows inclusiveness.

And it's a far site more appropriate right now than saying "Merry Christimas" for weeks ahead of time.

It's ONE DAY, folks.

But as to the rest, there are militant Christians who want the whole world to ONLY acknowledge THEIr borrowed holiday. It's mean-spirited and hostile. it's saying "I"m a Christian!" as a challenge.

NOT ALL Christians do this. Most of the Christians I know, for example, DO have manners.

Usually when people say "Merry Christmas" they just mean "I'm wishing you well", and I take it that way. But not always.


Let's consider this - if Christians think that wishing me a good holiday that I don't celebrate is a genuine gesture of good will, then they will NOT react with anything but gratitude when I reaspond with "And a Happy Solstice to you!" or "And a Blessed Yule to you and yours!"

Answer 4

The number of Christians in the US is declining, the government and private industry sees this. So Merry Christmas, which was the norm 20 years ago when no one was aware of other religious holidays around the Winter Season, has become Happy Holidays to encompass all Winter Holidays Christmas included. But, the Christians who whine about this are selfish, they get offended because they want to think that this is a Christian country, it's not

I don't sue or boycott people who wish me Merry Christmas, I'd have to sue my mother. But the problem is that the Christians have tried to force retailers to choose between them and the rest of the world. Those retailers who consciously choose to cater only to Christians. Well, I have a problem with that. It would be different if there wasn't an evident policy in place, like Wal-Mart. I don't boycott them, but if I can find another place to do my shopping, I will. Because they chose to cater to Christians only as a company-wide policy this year.

Answer 5

Nothing at all. It is wrong, however, to deny people the right to say Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, or whatever. That I do not support. Like how at work, they do not want me answering the phone with, or greeting customers with Merry Christmas. That's a violation of freedom of speech.

I'm Agnostic and have had people say Happy Hanukkah to me. I don't get offended at all. I didn't even get offended when I was a Catholic.


Happy Holidays!

Answer 6

There's absolutely nothing wrong with saying "Happy Holidays" rather than referencing a particular holiday. I think most of the people who vehemently complain about this are fixated on some sort of strange persecution fantasy: somehow if Christmas is not explicitly mentioned, it's under attack.
Personally, despite having spent eight years at a Jesuit school as a child, I feel uncomfortable when strangers say "Merry Christmas" to me, since it's based on reflexive and thoughtless assumptions. I find it particularly irksome here in the US, where Christians use this utter non-issue as one of the primary pieces of evidence indicating that they are some sort of "persecuted majority."
As for boycotts against retailers that use "Seasons Greetings" or some other such neutral phrase in advertising and decorative material, it's beyond absurd. What business owner would seek to actively alienate or exclude a sizeable share of its patrons?

Answer 7

I think it's fine to say Happy Holidays. I'm a Christian so I celebrate Christmas and at the same time if I'm out in public and I don't know a person very well I try to remember to say Happy Holidays so that I am wishing them well in what ever they choose to celebrate. Some people don't like the whole Happy Holidays concept only because in the past their toes have been stepped on with that saying... as in my husband's work forbid him to say Christmas and that was offensive to him because it seemed to him as though they were forcing him not to be who he was so sometimes "Happy Holidays" just strikes at him the wrong way.

Answer 8

Nothing wrong with Happy Holidays. What is lame is when stores call Christmas Trees, "holiday trees" or have "Happy Holidays" written on wreaths or in the colors of Green and Red. None of the celebrations you mentioned traditionally use trees, wreaths or the colors Red/Green. Happy Holidays is OK, but don't take the Christmas out of that which pertains to Christmas. That would be like calling the Draddle a "Holiday Spinner." It just doesn't work.

Answer 9

Well By Saying Happy Hoildays it can come across rude to the people that don't celebrate anything.. Such as jehovah Witnesses They dont celebrate at all. So as I was told you should say Season's Greetings. It is a nice and polite way saying it to anybody.

Answer 10

Your assuming the other holidays are equivalent in significance that Christmas is to Christians. Passover would be equivalent not Hanukkah....and Kwanzaa was someones made up holiday in the 70's so again, not even remotely the same! That's why it's Merry Christmas!