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Focus on the Family Focusing on Holiday Wording
Filed under: Holidays
Do you buy your kids Christmas presents or are they, as they are in our home, simply "holiday gifts" (or perhaps even "solstice gifts", if I'm feeling particularly ornery.) If you're more into the former than the latter, then James Dobson and his group Focus on the Family has some important information for you. No, it's not what toys your kids will like or even which toys are safe. It's not even where to get the best deals in these lean times. Instead, they want you to know which retailers are pro-Christmas.Yes, they've compiled a shopping guide that groups stores into three categories: Christmas-Friendly, Christmas-Negligent, and Christmas-Offensive. The first group proudly uses Christmas-specific phrases such as "Merry Christmas" in their catalogs and advertising. Christmas-offensive retailers, on the other hand, have "apparently abandoned" Christmas, choosing instead to use more inclusive, secular phrases such as "Happy Holidays". Negligent retailers waffle back and forth, using Christmas some of the time.
Now, I suppose some people might actually care about such things, and, I have to admit, all else being equal (price, convenience, etc.), I might be more inclined to patronize a store that doesn't try to force the owner's beliefs on me, but it really doesn't matter enough to bother checking some list to see which stores cater to my whims and which don't. How do you feel about it?
| I won't patronize a store that forces Christmas on me. | |
|---|---|
| I'd prefer to skip the religious stuff -- I just want to go shopping. | |
| I couldn't care less either way. | |
| I like to see Christmas recognized, but "Happy Holidays" is okay. | |
| I won't patronize a store that doesn't recognize Christmas. |
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ReaderComments (Page 2 of 2)
11-19-2008 @ 3:47PM
Karen said...Additionally, some people choose to spend their money and invest their money in accordance with their belief system. For those that choose Christianity, Focus on the Family is a good source for this information.
Just as people support businesses that are "green" or businesses that do not test on animals, there are those that support businesses that support their religious beilefs.
This country gets very confused between freedom OF religion and freedom FROM EVERY BEING EXPOSED TO religion (particularly Christianity).
Reply
11-19-2008 @ 5:49PM
kate2 said...Does that mean that someone who is Jewish should use the Focus on Family list of stores in order to avoid the "Christian" stores, so as to invest in accordance with their Jewish beliefs? I have several friends who are Jewish, and with the whole 8-days-of-gifts tradition, they spend WAY more than I do on Christmas!! I doubt most retailers really care what persuasion their customers are, they just want them to BUY this year!!
11-19-2008 @ 6:46PM
Karen said...If buying from a retailer that supports Christmas offends their morality, then yes, Jewish people should use the information however they see fit. All this list does is identify business that use the word Christmas. If people want to support those businesses, then this type of list is useful.
It is similar to an e-mail that is going around sayng that Sears makes up the difference in pay for their employees that get called up to the military. If you support that stance, and you want to support Sears because of it, then this information is useful.
We restructured our investments recently in an effort not to support businesses that dealt in cigarettes, pornography and alcohol sales (although I have no problem with alcohol in moderation). It was more difficult than you might imagine (and less profitable actually).
People can use the information however they see fit. Why anyone would be offended that a Christian organization tries to identify business that support Christian ideology is beyond me.
The problem I have with it is that the list likely means nothing. It does not identify businesses with Christian practices. They may not have thought about changing to Happy Holidays, or they may not have faced pressure to change, etc. It really doesn't mean anything. But it IS information and they are entitled to put it out there.
By the way - I have no problem with Happy Holidays and use both phrases from Thanksgiving on. I certainly am not offended if someone wish me a Happy Hanukka, etc. They aren't being evil, they are wishing their version of happiness.
And I do agree that most businesses just want people to buy this year, but the reason MOST businesses changed from Merry Christmas to Happy Holidays was in an effort to offend the least amount of people. Instead, it was offensive to some Christians who feel tradition being taken from them and an ongoing effort to remove Christianity from everything.
11-19-2008 @ 4:14PM
c_rousseau05 said...I'm a Christian myself, and I always say Christmas but i'm not offended by someone saying other things like Happy Holidays or whatever. I'm not about to not go to a store just because of their holiday greeting lol.
I also don't like a lot of the things Dobson says. I seldom agree with him and I really think that he's just getting old and he's running out of things to gripe about. That's all he does is cry about stuff, stupid stuff too. For crying out loud, is it THAT important that people say Christmas? No. Jesus wasn't even born in winter....get over it and be happy that so many people find this time to get closer to friends and family. So many people are in a giving mood and these little things are much more important than a stupid greeting. Whatever their reason, this season really does bring out the best in everyone...so why does Dobson have to bring it down?
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11-19-2008 @ 10:10PM
ninainindia said...I have to agree with Karen on this point: "They may not have thought about changing to Happy Holidays, or they may not have faced pressure to change, etc. It really doesn't mean anything."
In the Netherlands there is no pressure to change to happy holidays instead of merry christmas, so most stores use merry christmas and it has nothing to do with being religious. I live in China now and they also just say merry christmas and it is not about religion either.
This might be a sad realisation for Christians but for many people Christmas isn't about Christ, it's about Santa.
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11-24-2008 @ 12:58PM
LS said...I think the big problems that people have with all this "Merry Christmas" vs "Happy Holidays" are the following:
1. Stores have no problem capitalizing on the money-making aspect of the Christmas season, but are loathe to take the "risk" of actually acknowledging that if it weren't for that particular Christian Holiday, there would be no massive gift-giving season in the first place.
2. Many stores (last year, anyway... I haven't checked this year) went so far as to remove most traces of the words "Merry Christmas" from everything - including greeting cards. I had a very difficult time last year finding a card that wasn't overly religious, but still said "Merry Christmas" instead of 'Happy Holidays" or "Season's Greetings".
I think people are fine with saying "Happy Holidays" AS LONG AS the words "Merry Christmas" aren't erased. One is all-inclusive, the other is specific. They should both be acceptable.
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