Overview

The War on Christmas is a nickname given to a seasonal religious debate surrounding the political correctness of public and corporate entities observing the holiday season as a celebration of Christianity, which has been a recurring topic of controversies and arguments between the Christian and secular communities in the United States, Canada and United Kingdom.

Background

The public debate on how devoted the general public should be to Christmas has been going on since the advents of secularism in political and public realms.^[1] However, "the War on Christmas," as a colloquial term to describe such conflicts, was first introduced in the late 1990s, when the right-wing website VDARE began their "War on Christmas" Competition.^[2] The site posted as many mentions of "Holiday Parties" or other secular holiday-themed celebrations, especially those that celebrated the holiday traditions of other religions, as they could find. Although the website itself was condemned by the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC) as a "hate group," the practice of questioning the use of the secular word "Holiday" to refer to Christmas parties was picked up by Fox News' Bill O'Reilly in 2005, when he began encouraging his viewers to boycott retailers who used the term.^[3]

In addition, that year Bill O'Reilly aired a segment which took aim at Comedy Central's The Daily Show for making secular jokes about Christmas. The Daily Show host Jon Stewart aired a response to O'Reilly's criticisms. This was the first of many back-and-forth exchanges between O'Reilly or other Fox News personalities and Stewart about The War on Christmas, which began airing every year.^[4]

In 2006, John Gibson, another Fox News host, wrote a book entitled The War on Christmas, about the discussion surrounding the secularization of the holiday period of the year.^[5] Each year, Fox News commentators and other conservative organizations release lists of companies who are not using Christian terminology in reference to the winter holidays.^[6]

The "Naughty or Nice" List

In December 2006, American evangelical Christian advocacy group Liberty Counsel^[10] released a "Naughty or Nice" list shaming public institutions and corporations that intentionally avoided using Christian motifs or greetings in their holiday marketing campaigns, while praising others that made use of the word "Christmas" and other Christian-themed imageries. In December 2009, American Family Association (AFA) released its first annual "Naughty and Nice" list based on the same model, shortly after the group announced its boycott against Gap for intentionally leaving out the word "Christmas" in their holiday marketing campaign. Since then, the AFA has continued to publish its "Naughty and Nice" list.^[7]

Related Memes

Santa Claus Is White

Santa Claus is White is a statement made by Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly in response to Slate writer Aisha Harris’s op-ed article titled “Santa Claus Should Not Be a White Man Anymore.” Kelly’s remark, which essentially dismissed Harris’s article as a revisionist attempt from the left-wing blogosphere, was subsequently met with punchlines from the late-night pundit circles and criticism of race-baiting.

Starbucks Holiday Cup Controversy

Starbucks Red Holiday Cup Controversy refers to the backlash directed toward the Starbucks coffee company for their 2015 red holiday cup design, which some Christians found offensive for not including traditional Christmas imagery.

Search Interest

External References