The War On Christmas

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Overview

The War on Christmas is a recurring American controversy where conservative Christian Americans accuse mainstream America, especially corporate entities, of encroaching on their religious freedom by eliminating expressly Christian practices, idioms, and iconography from the public sphere.

Background

The debate over how devoted the general public should be to Christmas has been going on since the invention of secular societies.^[1] However “the War on Christmas,” as a general term to describe these conflicts, first came into use 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 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 The Daily Show, on Comedy Central, for making secular jokes about Christmas. 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]

Related Memes

Santa Clause 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