Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays

So apparantly the new hot button issue of the moment is whether companies or governments which use Happy Holidays for their Christmas greetings are trying to take Christ out of Christmas. From Christmas Trees being called "Holiday" Trees in the town square to the lyrics of Joy to the World being changed to make it non-religious the Religious Right is in an uproar. And in this instance I can't really blame them. From their viewpoint the less God is mentioned by companies and government the more they feel God is being attacked by the Left.

As stupid as I believe this whole thing is let me address it in as short a way as possible. The Right has a very good point. Growing up I sang Christmas songs in school and decorated a Christmas Tree and I wasn't harmed by this indoctrination. We had children of other faiths in our classes and they all seem to have turned out ok. Were they made to feel like outsiders? Probably. But who among us has never felt like an outsider at some point in their lives? You can either accept it and move on or let it bother you and become obsessed with eliminating it. However, you can't eliminate it. So long as people believe in different faiths, have different color skin or have different levels of intelligence there will never be complete equality. Some people will always be in a minority. That's life.

However, this is a country of laws. And one of our laws, based on the Constitution, is that the government will not endorse any particular religion and place it above all others. I think the government, state, local and federal, are taking the wrong approach to balancing the need to not endorse any one religion. What they should do is celebrate ALL religions represented in a community. Keep the Christian holidays and the word "God" on the money and in the pledge because the vast majority of people in the country believe in God. Not necessarily the Christian God, but some form of a Creator or Higher Power.