No. of Recommendations: 12
So someone put a gun to your head and made you celebrate Christmas?
Nope. And no one put a gun to Macys' head and made them change their greetings from "Merry Christmas" to "Happy Holidays."
They did it because it's polite not to assume that all your customers are Christian. That some of them might appreciate Macy's recognizing that not everyone in the area is Christian. That while it's fine for secular spaces (like a Macy's) are perfectly fine for generic holiday celebrations, it's not inclusive or welcoming to turn them into celebrations of a specific religion. So they choose to spread joy during the holiday season - but secular joy, rather than religious joy.
Not everything is a political expression or an intention to convert...some people really do want to spread joy in the holiday season. For a lot of democrats, that's a bad thing. Shame. Because removal of joy is how you kill a culture.
But the "War on Christmas" involves conservatives getting upset that these secular actors choose to be...well, secular instead of religious. Need to get the "Christ" back in "Christmas," doncha know. That's not a criticism about removing joy from the culture - it's a criticism of removing religion from the culture. That it's not enough that everyone is experiencing joy and communally celebrating the holidays - that it has to be religious and specifically about the religious basis for Christmas, and not just "spreading joy in the holiday season."
Again, you can see how members of a minority religion would feel like that's not really the team they want to be on. Wanting the culture to be more religious, believing that a specific religious faith is an integral part of the culture - that's not great for religious minorities.
