It’s Christmas time — Foes ‘naughty,’ friends ‘nice’

From Ed Thomas and One News Now.

“Liberty Counsel’s Christmas “Friend or Foe” campaign, designed to keep the cultural use of the word “Christmas” alive in holiday promotions and advertising, has published a “Naughty or Nice” list on its website designed to highlight merchandisers who choose to either openly use the word or hide it in their business.

Mat Staver, founder of the public interest First Amendment law firm, says the list — which is updated daily and composed primarily of national corporate retail chains — is for the benefit of consumers who want to keep the religious and Christian roots of the holiday alive. He explains the list accomplishes that by alerting consumers as to which retailers are profiting from Christmas while at the same time pretending that it does not exist. (Read list [PDF])

“I think it is telling,” says Staver, “when retailers clearly discriminate against Christmas and won’t even use the name in a clearly evident description of an item that has Christmas as part of its name.”

The attitude of home improvement giant Lowe’s is perhaps an example of the type of store that Liberty Counsel places on the “nice” list. Just this week, that company apologized for what it termed the publication error in its advertising which made use of the descriptor “family tree” instead of “Christmas tree” in catalogue advertisements. The apology came after the pro-family group American Family Association alerted its online members and urged protest.

As the attorney explains, the names attached to such observances as New Year’s Day, Presidents’ Day, and Independence Day remain unchanged. “We call them by their names, and we remember them for a reason,” he says. “Nor should we change Christmas to some generic holiday that completely eliminates its Christian and religious roots.”

So what’s the big deal? Well, Staver says shoppers should let stores know that they will not shop there until the establishment does recognize the roots of Christmas and the word itself. He stresses the importance of that move in stopping the erosion of the holiday and the liberty to celebrate a religious origin for cultural customs.

“If we just simply continue to fund retailers that ignore the holiday while taking our money, then we are contributing to the elimination and censorship and demise of Christmas,” he argues.”