It’s that time of year again: Christmas time! Er, Kwanzaa time! No, Hanukkah time! No, no, all of those are offensive. So, Happy Holidays!
Every year, this time rolls around and I invariably have at least one awkward encounter with someone who points out the sensitivity some have toward which holiday one observes.
Of course, there are those who vehemently maintain that everyone should be able to say what they want. And there are others who believe that by choosing one of the holidays to articulate, you give at least tacit approval to that holiday and supporting religion.
Admittedly, the whole conflict is moronic. First, if someone takes time out of their day to wish you a happy greeting, you should accept it. “Happy Kwanzaa!” sounds far better to me than uncomfortable, brief and silent eye contact.
More pressing for me is that I don’t believe people are actually talking about religion when they have qualms with others’ holidays.
It’s tantamount to a couple arguing about how someone doesn’t put the cap on the toothpaste. Of course the cap on the toothpaste isn’t the issue: It’s a sign of a larger conflict that fundamentally needs to be addressed.
CNN on Dec. 7 argued that the conflict over the holidays is grounded in a much larger disagreement: what the role of faith is in our country.
Do not get me wrong, this conflict is one that needs to be discussed and debated. However, stupidly fighting over where nativity scenes are placed is trivial, childish and ultimately doesn’t help the larger issue.
On Dec. 11, the Los Angeles Times reported that in Santa Monica, Calif. City Council has banned the city’s traditional nativity scenes.
For the last 60 years, the city has rented out public land to support holiday cheer. This, of course, included multiple, life-size nativity scenes. In response to allegations of openly supporting religion, the City Council decided to adopt a lottery system to rent out the space.
After some non-religious groups won land, they used them to display inflammatory, insulting memorabilia. As one might predict, the property was vandalized by scandalized residents of the city.
The Santa Monica City Council then decided to shut down the operation as a whole, meaning no one gets to display holiday cheer.
Although decidedly un-nuanced and broad, the act is understandable. The council would rather shut down the land space than potentially perpetuate more violence or risk being sued on some sort of restriction of the First Amendment.
Santa Monica City Council is just a microcosm of the country.
Instead of engaging in difficult dialogue about what role religion plays in our country, how religion has impacted us historically and how people use religion to make sense of their lives, we choose to shut the conversation down entirely.
The solution is clear: We need to have adult conversations and stop sweating the small stuff. Reasonable, calm discourse about people’s view toward religion is possible if we let it be. We have to give it a chance.
In the mean time, let us find common ground: Happy Holidays! Happy Kwanzaa! Happy Christmas! Happy Hanukkah! Happy Finals-Are-Over-Catch-Up-On-Sleep-Break!
