Merry Christmas to all my readers. Thank you for your support throughout the year. In spite of the fact that Christmas is the “happiest time of the year,” there are some politically correct secularists who are like Grinches wanting to steal Christmas.
I ran into this when I visited Panera Bread and noticed no mention of Christmas except on the door, where they wrote they were closed on Christmas Day. I asked one of the staff who admitted they were told not to say, “Merry Christmas.” The store manager suggested I write the corporation since she didn’t agree with the policy and thought they would appreciate feedback.
I emailed the panerabread.com website and asked if saying, “Happy Holidays” was an attempt to avoid offending non-Christians, I also asked if they realized that avoiding the words “Christmas” or “Merry Christmas” offended religious customers for whom the Christmas season is very important. I suggested that they say both “Happy Holidays” and “Merry Christmas.” I also asked why, if Christmas is so unimportant as not to acknowledge it, Panera is closing on Christmas Day. Their website said they replied to all emails but, interestingly, I’ve received no reply. I consider what Panera Bread did to be pretty minor, but I have less interest in eating there now that I know they are soldiers of the politically correct war against Christmas.
Much more serious are some situations around the country. For instance, government employees in North Carolina were sent a memo that there were to be no Christmas decorations, no Christmas parties and not even any discussion of Christmas. Thankfully, state officials backed down when confronted by the Liberty Council, headed by Mat Staver.
Mat and his organization have been successful in getting governments to back down from politically correct anti-Christmas actions that have become all too common. This week, I interviewed Mat on my podcast, which you can listen to here. He tells of this story and others such as a school that told children they couldn’t even wear red or green, let alone greet each other with the words “Merry Christmas.”
Much of this is initiated by atheistic groups such as the Freedom From Religion Foundation, but the politically correct crowd seems all too eager to go along with it.
This hatred of Christianity is not new. In fact, Mat Staver’s recent newsletter from Liberty Counsel focuses on just that. On Dec. 20, they wrote: “This antagonism toward Christianity was also found under Communism. In one of the nearly 1,000 radio addresses written and presented prior to becoming president of the United States, Ronald Reagan described Christmas in the former Soviet Union. Communist leaders secularized a favorite Ukrainian Christmas carol, ‘Nova Radist Strala’ (Joyous News Has Come to Us). The original song began with these words:
“‘The joyous news has come which never was before. Over a cave above a manger, a bright star has lit the world, where Jesus was born from a virgin maiden.’
“Communist leaders feared the public outcry that would follow a complete ban on Christmas, so they began to slowly secularize the holiday, changing the song to:
“‘The joyous news has come which never was before. Long-awaited start of freedom lit the skies in October (the month of the Revolution). Where formerly lived the kings and had the roots their nobles, there today with simple folks, Lenin’s glory hovers.’
“In Communist Romania, Rev. Geza Palffy, a Roman Catholic priest, delivered a sermon in 1983, protesting against the fact that Dec. 25 had been declared a work day instead of a holiday. The next day he was arrested by secret police, beaten, imprisoned and died. Inside and outside the Iron Curtain, Ukrainians never stopped singing: ‘We beg you our Lord, we pray to You today. Grant us freedom, return glory to our Mother Ukraine.’
“Mr. Reagan ended his broadcast: ‘I guess we all hope their prayer is answered.’ Indeed, it was!
“This war against Christmas is nothing new. Cuba’s former leader Fidel Castro, a brutal communist dictator, instituted a three-year ban on Christmas as a public holiday.
“Repressive forces have always had the same goal—to first secularize and then to eliminate Christmas. We need to be perpetually vigilant and grateful every year for the freedom to celebrate.”
If you don’t already get Liberty Counsel’s newsletter, I encourage you to sign up at its website, lc.org, and to support this fine organization as my wife and I do.
Thankfully, we still enjoy religious freedom in this country. And Thankfully, the politically correct crowd usually backs down when confronted.
I urge you to speak up politely when you encounter this “Happy Holiday” political correctness as I did with Panera Bread. Remember, we need to be gentle and Christlike even while being firm. I admire people such as Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly, who has been fighting this “War on Christmas” and has actually seen a number of retailers back off from a refusal to even say, “Merry Christmas” or use the word “Christmas” during the holiday season. Interestingly, those who use the words “Happy Holidays” and who seem to be against anything religious are actually using the words “Holy Days.”
In our own city of Lake Mary, Florida, a local church was not allowed to have a Christmas program this year on the grounds of city hall as they did last year. Rather than make a big deal about it, we just invited the church to present the Christmas program in our parking lot, and we decorated our property with a lot of lights in addition to the Nativity scene and the huge “Merry Christmas” sign we put up each year.
If you live in the Central Florida area, I invite you to their program tonight, Dec. 23, at 7:30 p.m. at our headquarters, 600 Rinehart Rd. Lake Mary, FL. I think you will enjoy it.
It is just our way to witness to our community that Christmas is about Christ’s birth and that Jesus is the “reason for the season.” {eoa}
Stephen Strang 
