It is that time of year again. The semester is coming to a close, finals are looming before us and Christmas is but a few short weeks away. This is a special time of year: a happy time. People are more generous than usual, and there is an abundance of pretty lights and festive foods. Most importantly, Christmas should be an especially significant time for all of us who are Christians because this is when we commemorate the Incarnation of our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ.
Unfortunately, a lot of the specialness of both the secular and religious sides of Christmas is being diminished by an overwhelming desire for political correctness. It seems as if people are scared to say “Merry Christmas” because they might offend someone. Nativity scenes have become a thing of the past due to social pressure to not affront anybody. Everywhere we go in public, we see “Happy Holidays” instead of “Merry Christmas.”
Why is this the case? As a society, we have become hyper-sensitive and far too politically correct. The idea is that those who do not celebrate Christmas will feel offended or left out if those who do celebrate Christmas talk about it. I would argue that most Jews or Muslims are not too offended by being wished a Merry Christmas. If, as a Christian, you were to be wished a “Happy Hanukah,” would you really be offended? Probably not. The fact is that it is not Jewish and Muslim folks who are requesting that we censor Christmas (and everything). Rather, the people making all the fuss are those who just want something to whine about.
We are becoming a society so obsessed with political correctness that we can’t even say what we mean anymore. If we intend to wish someone a Merry Christmas, let’s just go ahead and do it. This applies to other religious holidays as well. Why should we continue to take away the magic of our holidays and just wrap them all into one big homogeneous season? I think we need to stop the censorship, forget about political correctness and say what we mean. This Christmas, let’s all just take a deep breath, relax and say “Merry Christmas!”