Lorne Gunter: Winning the war on Christmas
Dec 25, 2011 – 8:00 AM ET | Last Updated: Dec 23, 2011 6:43 PM ET
Despite the best efforts of radical atheists, secular humanists and the legions of the politically correct, Christmas has managed to survive. After more than two decades of frontal assaults on Christmas designed to expunge references to the holiday from public spaces, nearly three-quarters of Canadians told Ipsos-Reid pollsters last week that they view this as the Christmas season, not the "holiday season," and they wish one another "merry Christmas," rather than the more generic, "happy holidays." And while it's purely anecdotal, I've noticed more store clerks, more receptionists, letter carriers and strangers in the street offering Christmas greetings.
Not surprisingly, the sense that this is Christmas, and worth preserving, is highest among middle-aged and older Canadians. Among those 35 to 54 years old, 73% see this as the Christmas season, while among those 55 and older, 80% share that view. The sentiment is even catching on among younger Canadians in hearteningly solid numbers. Two-thirds of those aged 18 to 34 prefer the Christmas term, up a startling 10 percentage points from 2010.
That's not to say the war on Christmas is over. Far from it.
There will still be judges who decree that Christmas trees be moved from the foyer of the courthouse into a backroom, where few can see them, lest their presence in the lobby give affront to hypersensitive non-Christians. There will still be public schools that cancel their Christmas concert in favour of a "winter family festival." Each year some teacher will realize that candy canes are fashioned after a shepherd's crook. She will then make the connection with Jesus the shepherd and ban candy canes from her classroom. A wounded atheist will demand his or her community remove its nativity scene from the town square. Some chain of stores will get caught instructing its employees to avoid wishing customers a Merry Christmas. Politically correct politicians will erect "holiday" trees, as if any other major religion's holiday decorates firs and spruces with bright lights and glittering ornament. (It's a Christmas tree. Call it that.)
The war on Christmas is nearly as old as Christmas itself, so it is never going to end entirely. But I sense a dam has broken, a hump has been overcome and that – at least for a while – Christmas is back in favour. The odd school is sneaking one of the traditional carols into its Saturnalia Festival – not simply "Here Comes Santa Claus." (I've even heard rumours about whole recitals devoted to sacred music and referred to as Christmas concerts, again.)
The Walmart greeter, who two Christmases ago had been instructed by head office to wish "happy Holidays," is now freely wishing merry Christmas to everyone and anyone who passes through the front doors. It's probably good for business, too. People steeped in North American traditions, whether regular church go-oers or not, have recently become more and more troubled by campaigns that seek to erase the kind of Christmases they remember from their youths. They have pushed back by complaining about stores that attack Christmas, and buy refusing to products from them.
It's no time to stop watching for new attacks on Christmas; they will come. But Canadians who care about Christmas can take solace that the worse may be over and that their beloved Christmas will carry on for a few more years, at least.
National Post