The war on Christmas

Let me tell you a story.

A friend of mine was asked by his company's art director what he thought of the holiday card that the art director had designed. Friend looks at it and comments that it has a Christmas tree on it. Then he asked the art director if the company was planning to send it to the mayor (they work for a company that has some local government contracts). Art director says that they were. Non-Jewish friend then points out that the mayor of their mid-sized city is Jewish and that many of their clients were non-Christians of some sort. He then had to explain to the art director that Jews don't tend to get completely offend if they get a holiday card that has a more Christmas theme (vs. holiday or seasonal), but that non-Christians do tend to think favorably of you if you opt to send them a more non-denominational greeting. Art director then saw the light.

That is a perfectly reasonable way to explain how non-Christians (and even some Unitarians) might feel about the season. I do not understand how that has turned into a war on Christmas.
Even the president is feeling the heat. Never mind that the first family has to send those cards to many non-Christians, not just Jews. And the New Year is a calendar holiday*, not a religious one, so it's perfectly reasonable to send every American you know a card that says Happy New Year.

I, as a Jew, feel kind of attacked. This is all so silly. So much for that immigrant dream that my grandparents had, that America was for all people. What scares me the most about those who feel that all non-white Christians should not live here is that their families most likely immigrated here too.


*though I did have one rabbi in hs who refused to celebrate it because he insisted it was a celebration of the bris of Jesus since it occurred eight days after Xmas.

religion, holidays , Judaism