By Tricia Pursell
WATSONTOWN -- Volunteers at a small Watsontown church have already distributed more than 200 red and green buttons that declare their desire to hear the words “Merry Christmas” this year.
As of last week, they had ordered 100 more buttons, which display the words, “It’s OK, Wish Me A Merry Christmas.”
“We’ve had a really great response from it,” said Sue Fairchild, of Watsontown Baptist Church, who is spearheading the campaign, based on a national initiative aimed at turning the tide of a movement that uses the phrase “Happy Holidays” in an effort to avoid offending those who do not celebrate the Christian-based holiday.
The movement has been targeting retail stores, which are sensitive to the issue.
“You never want to offend anybody,” said John Azaltovic, operations manager at the Best Buy store in Hummels Wharf.
“This time of year, there are multiple different ethnic religions that have holidays. We do in a way, through advertising, celebrate them all.”
The company’s mantra this year, he said, is “Buyer Be Happy.”
Gift cards are available for every holiday.
“I don’t tell my associates not to say ‘Merry Christmas,’ ” Azaltovic said. “That is up to them. If they want to say that to a customer, I don’t have any problems against it.”
“If someone says ‘Merry Christmas’ to me, I say it back,” said Azaltovic. “That’s common courtesy, the polite thing to do.”
A similar practice is followed at other stores.
“We ask our cashiers and other service associates to politely and appropriately greet our customers,” said Dennis Curtin, director of public relations for Weis Markets Inc. “We do not have a scripted holiday greeting for our service associates.”
Wal-Mart spokeswoman Ashley Hardie said, “We encourage associates to use their best judgment when greeting their customers.”
The most important practice is for their greetings to reflect the communities in which they serve, she added.
Shane Ulrich, owner of The Country Squire, in Selinsgrove, agrees. It’s not the phrase, but the meaning behind the phrase that really counts, he said.
“It’s a kind, warm sentiment,” he said. “The feeling — the kindness is there.”
“It’s knowing your customers,” he added. “If I know people well, I say ‘Merry Christmas.’ If I don’t know, as to not offend anyone, I will say ‘Happy Holidays.’”
While retail professionals say they try to balance the interests of all customers, those efforts can infuriate those who see it as an attempt to remove the religious component from the holiday season.
“They are so afraid of offending nonChristians, and they’re not understanding they are offending Christians,” said John Fairchild, who has been helping his wife with the campaign at Watsontown Baptist Church.
‘No God? ... No Problem!’
The American Humanist Association this year is conducting an advertising campaign that takes God out of the equation when it comes to celebrating the holiday.
“No God?...No Problem!” will be displayed on transit system advertisements in Washington D.C., New York City, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Chicago. The ad features several people wearing Santa hats.
Last year, the organization spent $40,000 on a similar holiday ad campaign, “Why believe in a god? Just be good for goodness’ sake.’ ”
“To say ‘Merry Christmas’ to atheists, or Jews — it’s just not respectful,” Roy Speckhardt, executive director of the American Humanist Association, said on Thursday. “It makes sense to wish folks happy holidays in a country as diverse as ours.”
Greetings that apply to all people, such as “Seasons Greetings,” or “Happy Holidays,” are most respectful, he said.
“It’s mostly a secular holiday today, anyway,” he said of Christmas. “During the season, it makes sense to use more universal terms.”
“Those pushing to use a specific phrase for everybody are folks that are trying to shove their religion down their throats,” Speckhardt said.
Sue Fairchild said the purpose of the campaign is “to say we are Christians, and it doesn’t offend us to say ‘Merry Christmas.’ ”
After all, she is not offended by a Jewish person saying Happy Hanukkah to her.
“We’re not trying to convert people to Christianity,” she said. “I have respect for people of different faiths. Let’s have respect for one another.”
“Twenty years ago, this was not even a question,” said Randy Sharp, director of special projects with the American Family Association, based in Mississippi. “Unfortunately, we have some people out there looking to stir up things to make a name for themselves. They are going on an all-points attack on one of the greatest traditions of our nation — and that is to celebrate Christmas.”
Buttons and boycotts
The American Family Association is in its third year of distributing Merry Christmas buttons. By the end of the day Thursday, the organization was hoping to reach the 1 million button mark.
Polls show that 82 percent of Americans prefer the greeting “Merry Christmas” over “Happy Holidays,” Sharp said.
And retailers have caught on to this fact over the last four years, he said.
Four years ago, Sharp said, 75 percent of the top 100 retailers in America used the term “holiday” over “Christmas” in their advertising. Now, 75 percent of them use “Christmas.”
“We credit that to the millions and millions of Americans who are offended by not using ‘Merry Christmas’ and who are not afraid to call the company and let them know,” Sharp said.
“The trend has reversed over the last four years,” he said.
In the past, the organization has called for boycotts of stores such as Wal-Mart, Lowe’s, Sears and Kmart, which subsequently began using the word “Christmas” once again.
The organization this year targeted Gap and Old Navy. Within a week of being boycotted, the companies began using commercials with the phrase “Merry Christmas” after receiving tens of thousands of letters, phone calls and e-mails through American Family Association’s campaign, Sharp said.
Leftover buttons will be distributed at the church’s early Christmas Eve service at 7 p.m. Dec. 22.
“It’s not just defending, but also proclaiming our belief in Jesus Christ,” John Fairchild said.
The buttons, he said, gives Christians an opportunity to talk about it.
“We’re expressing what we’re here for,” he added. “We’re not only defending free speech, but living out what God has asked us to do.”
