The phrase, “War on Christmas” refers to the ongoing political movement to silence the discussion of Christmas as a religious holiday by corporations. This term was popularized by John Gibson in his 2005 book, The War on Christmas: How the Liberal Plot to Ban the Sacred Christian Holiday Is Worse Than You Thought. Gibson and other Conservative Contemporaries claim that large corporations and the American government are silencing Pro-Christian speech, according to politico.com
Gibson’s book eventually made its way to Fox news, where conservative pundit Bill O’Reilly claimed to a large conservative audience that the War on Christmas was a secular plot, created by the government. O’Reilly then stated this plot was meant to push progressive programs on the general populace, such as abortion at will, euthanasia, gay marriage, and marijuana legalization.
Such in the case, the explosion of mentions of the so-called “War on Christmas” have continued every December since 2005. The fight includes all manner of rhetoric, from using the phrase “Happy Holidays” instead of, “Merry Christmas,” to using snowmen and pine trees on holiday cups at Starbucks, symbols not traditionally associated with Christianity according to hbr.org.
The proxy “War on Christmas” has turned any reference to Christmas being a Christian holiday into a political statement. Every American that says “Happy Holidays” becomes a willing participant in the War on Christmas according to the average Fox News consumer. All this is to say, the War on Christmas is the right’s attempt to retain and hold firm to the conservative status quo.
The War on Christmas has contributed to the increasing political divide in America, by implicitly showing that Christianity is the dominant religion in America, and how conservatives will fight to keep it that way. After all, holidays also celebrated during December include Kwanzaa and Hanukkah, which admittedly are quite absent in the public image, contributing to the dominance of Christmas, and indirectly, Christianity in America according to politico.com.
The secularization of Christmas has allowed these other religious holidays to become more recognized by the public, which takes away recognition from Christmas, which in turn leads to the conservative crowd taking up arms in any way they can against change and inclusion. This boils the conservative’s objective of the war on Christmas down to one thing, keeping social progress down and contributing to the idea of Christian Nationalism.
Christian Nationalism is the idea that the Christian religion should reign supreme as the sole religion in America. This idea fundamentally stands against the phrase, “Liberty and Justice for all” as Christian supremacy would override freedom of religion in America. The War on Christmas, if won by conservatives, would be a dangerous step into the direction of Christian Nationalism, according to pewresearch.org.
That’s not to say that Christian Nationalism is the main or even overall goal of the War on Christmas. The large majority of Conservative Christians only seek to maintain the long-standing tradition of the common greeting, “Merry Christmas”, according to politico.com. The optics of the issue, have been clouded by misinformation and heated political rhetoric, mainly perpetrated by the main conservative news source in America, Fox News, according to politico.com.
Because the War on Christmas is largely spread by giant conservative news corporation Fox News, the issue cannot be said to have originated from the people of America. This means that both conservative and progressive Americans can make the personal choice to reject the War on Christmas in favor of a more unified and joyous harmony across the political aisle.
The War on Christmas has died down in recent years, with mentions becoming less and less prevalent on public forums. Coupled with the almost non-existent acknowledgement from progressives as an actual issue, the War on Christmas seems to be fading into history according to google trends. With the disappearance of political rhetoric in one of the nation’s most celebrated holidays, it gives the chance for all cultures to celebrate the “most wonderful time of the year…”
