What "war against Christmas"?!?!

For Christ's sake (no blasphemy intended) what that hell is up with Bill O'Reilly and some other Religious Reich people and their insistance that there is some organized "war against Christmas" conspiracy going on here? I don't seen anyone feeding Christians to lions or closing churches. By the way, to be persecuted, doesn't one have to be in the minority in some way? I just don't get this!

First off, a huge deal is being made that Target stores and some other larger chain discount stores are encouraging their staff members to say "Happy Holidays" to their customers instead of "Merry Christmas". Haven't people been saying Happy Holidays for as long as you can remember? What is wrong with that? Yes, Christmas is a major holiday at this time, but there are other holidays like Haunukkah, Kwanzaa, New Year's Day, and even the winter solstice. Note: because the Islamic calendar is a lunar calendar, the holy month of Ramadan now mainly falls in November. My question: what's wrong with a business (yes, Target is a business not a church, unless you mean a church of capitalism) trying to be inclusive and offer a generic "Happy Holidays" greeting?

Much ado about nothing is also taking place about the use of the term "holiday tree" vs. "Christmas tree". For God's sake, the entire tree thing is based on a pagan concept to begin with! Apparently the yule tradition in many Germanic tribes involved sacrificing animals and slave and suspending them from the branches of trees! (check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas_tree) Maybe it should be called a "Pagan Tree" for accuracy!

For that matter, Christmas was purposely chosen to take place right around the pagan celebration of the solstice in order to help Christianize the pagans. (http://www.britannica.com/eb/article-9082431)

Perhaps I would agree with Mr. O'Reilly and the Religious Reich that there truly was a "war on Christmas" if, indeed, the police were boarding up churches and/or arresting people for attending services or something like that. Such is NOT the case in my observations. The latest statistic I saw indicated that roughly 80% of Americans identify themselves as Christians.

Yes, there is definitely a Christian majority here. But there is a key point that Mr. O'Reilly and the Religious Reich seem to be overlooking: the U.S. is a democracy, NOT A THEOCRACY. We have freedom of religion and a tradition of separation of church and state (although that seems to be eroding a bit because of Mr. O'Reilly and the Religions Reich). So there is absolutely nothing wrong with businesses encouraging "Happy Holidays" rather than "Merry Christmas" simply because it prevents the awkwardness of potentially saying "Merry Christmas" to a Jewish or Islamic patron (not to mention the many other religions Americans subscribe to).

You keep watching, Mr. O'Reilly, and let us know when Christians are truly being persecuted! Until then, please shut up about it and focus your "news reporting" on the war against the poor and middle class, the war on education, the war on drugs, or maybe even the war in Iraq.