Several conservative organizations continued with various efforts aimed at rolling back the secularization of Christmas in recent years. The end result was more stores putting "Christmas" back into the holidays and more public displays and expressions of the true meaning of the season.
As part of its fourth annual "Friend or Foe Christmas Campaign," Liberty Counsel offered legal memoranda to educate government officials, employers and others that it is legal and proper to celebrate Christmas. Liberty Counsel Founder and Chairman, Mathew Staver, commented, "There is a war on Christmas in this country. Every victory goes a long way toward winning the battle, but we must not take Christmas or our religious freedom for granted. Celebrating Christmas is the classic example of religious accommodation mandated by the First Amendment. If Christmas is silenced or censored, we all lose a piece of our religious freedom."
The group also created a "Naughty and Nice" checklist, which catalogs retailers who either censor or recognize Christmas.
"Every consumer should make a list and check it twice, stop patronizing retailers which are naughty and shop at those which are nice. Retailers which seek to profit from Christmas while pretending it does not exist should realize they have offended the vast majority of Americans who enjoy Christmas. Customers have a choice and they will not patronize corporate Scrooges," Staver said.
A main focus was on retail giant Wal-Mart, which was roundly criticized in 2005 for replacing "Merry Christmas" with "Happy Holidays." More than 700,000 supporters of American Family Association signed a petition asking the company to reverse its wording policy. After bowing to such pressure, Wal-Mart did an about-face, and allowed its employees to once again greet shoppers with the words, "Merry Christmas," and used the word "Christmas" prominently in its advertising during the just-ended Christmas shopping season.
Wal-Mart spokesman, Marisa Bluestone, said, "We've learned our lesson. We're not afraid to say ‘Merry Christmas.' We've listened to our customers and associates, and they wanted Christmas back at Wal-Mart."
Stores joining Wal-Mart in reversing earlier policies of secularizing their Christmas displays and advertising included K-Mart, Sears, Target, Macy's and Kohl's.
The about-face was welcomed by Concerned Women for America President, Wendy Wright.
"We are thrilled to see an increasing number of retailers, who previously banned the mention of ‘Christmas,' embracing and celebrating the holiday. Consumers are offended when businesses deliberately mock the real ‘Reason for the Season' by refusing to call ‘Christmas' by its name. ‘Seasons Greetings' just doesn't cut it anymore. We pray that more businesses will acknowledge the birth of Christ," Wright said.
According to a 2005 Fox News/Opinion Dynamics poll, 95% of Americans celebrate Christmas.
Also, a survey by Rasmussen Reports found that 69 percent of Americans prefer the greeting, "Merry Christmas," to, "Happy Holidays." That prompted the survey to state, "The growing trend of political correctness runs against the tide of popular opinion."
That comes as no surprise to James Hudnut-Beumler, a Presbyterian minister and dean of Vanderbilt University's School of Divinity.
"The backlash comes because ‘Happy Holidays' had kind of crept up on the culture as the expected and, in commercial settings, as the required, greeting. The backlash is all about, ‘How did we get tricked into saying, ‘Happy Holidays'? There is yet one more backlash coming. Americans don't like to be told by anybody how to greet each other," Hudnut-Beumler said.
American Center for Law and Justice Chief Counsel, Jay Sekulow, said, simply mentioning "Merry Christmas" should not offend anyone.
"Christmas is Christmas–a celebration marking the birth of Christ."
Sekulow added, "The secular definition of Christmas is clear: ‘Christmas,' the dictionary states, is a Christian feast that commemorates the birth of Christ, and is usually observed as a legal holiday.
Let's not forget that the First Amendment of the Constitution protects religious speech and expression. The Supreme Court has consistently held that the Constitution is not to be interpreted in a manner that would purge religion or religious references from society. As early as 1892, the Supreme Court noted that ‘this is a religious nation.' And in 1992, the high court noted that ‘a relentless and all-pervasive attempt to exclude religion from public life could itself become inconsistent with the Constitution,'" Sekulow said.
The Alliance Defense Fund launched its fourth annual Christmas Project to educate what the law says regarding displays and what is allowed in public schools and on public property. The organization had more than 900 attorneys nationwide ready to combat attempts to censor Christmas. They contacted over eleven thousand school districts across the country, and sent information to mayors of more than 5,500 cities.
The ADF said there are several misconceptions about seasonal religious expression on public property:When faced with the question of whether a Christmas display is constitutional, a court simply asks, "Is the government celebrating the holiday or promoting religion?" Often, the "Three Reindeer Rule" is used by courts, whereby, a judge reasons that having a sufficient number of secular objects in close enough proximity to the Christmas items (such as a creche) renders the overall display as a constitutional community observance of the holiday.
- The U.S. Supreme Court has never ruled that public schools must ban the singing of religious Christmas carols or prohibit the distribution of candy canes or Christmas cards.
- School officials do not violate the Constitution by closing on religious holidays such as Christmas and Good Friday.
- School officials are not legally obligated to recognize all other religious holidays simply because they officially recognize Thanksgiving or Christmas.
- School officials may use "Christmas Vacation" to refer to the December holiday break without offending the Constitution.
- Government-sponsored Christmas displays are not banned, as some people believe.
With regard to the latter premise, several faith organizations and members of Congress encouraged the display of Nativity scenes at public buildings all across the nation during the Christmas season,with the "The Nativity Project." They called on the faith community across America to apply for permits to set up Nativity scenes in front of their city halls, government centers or state capitol buildings.
Christian Defense Coalition Director, the Rev. Patrick Mahoney, was a co-organizer of the initiative. "Sadly, we are seeing a growing hostility toward expressions of faith in the public square. This is especially true during the Christmas season, where there appears to be a concerted effort to remove the true meaning of Christmas from public view. ‘The Nativity Project' is a positive way to share the message of the season, which is one of peace and good will toward man. It is also a strong reminder that the First Amendment provides freedom ‘of' religion, and not freedom ‘from' religion, and the role of government is to protect expressions of faith and not crush them," Mahoney said.
However, Joseph Conn, with Americans United for Separation of Church and State, says, those behind "The Nativity Project" are "deeply misguided" on the issue.
"Public buildings belong to everyone, not just Christians. It is wrong–and, in the United States, unconstitutional–for the government to display religious symbols in ways that seem to endorse one faith over others.
It isn't discrimination against religion to leave sectarian symbols out of our public buildings. Rather, it's a recognition that our nation includes some 2,000 different faith traditions. Public buildings should welcome adherents of all of them, as well as those who choose no spiritual path.
America has avoided the violent interfaith conflict that has troubled much of the world by keeping our government out of religious matters. We shouldn't deviate from that wise path now," Conn said.
A new film, "The Nativity Story," opened in theaters nationwide to coincide with the Christmas season. Unlike some past religious films, which touched briefly on the birth of Christ, "The Nativity Story" draws from the Gospels of Matthew and Luke, and chronicles the arduous journey of Mary and Joseph leading up to the first Christmas.
New Line Cinema, which produced the film, held advance screenings of "The Nativity Story" in nearly every major market in the U.S., as well as the Vatican. Invited were 50,000 people from a cross-section of Christian denominations, including numerous Catholic Archdioceses, Evangelical megachurches and mainline Protestant congregations.
Christian Film and Television Commission President, Ted Baehr, told the Christian Science Monitor that "The Nativity Story" represents more than a follow-up to Mel Gibson's blockbuster, "The Passion of the Christ."
"This is not a personal project, but a studio deciding to do a major movie very respectful of the faith, with both dramatic and theological quality," Baehr said. Baehr added, he sees more faith-related films on the horizon.
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