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The biggest attack on Christmas happens because of capitalism not any particular group. It’s really strange to think about but Christmas wasn’t destroyed by people saying happy holidays, as it was already moribund before that. It was killed by having Santa and reindeer and presents, thus as the marketing took over, any aspect of the holiday that doesn’t revolve around parties (which means buying fancy food) and decorating (buying stuff that matches the season) and media (wherein they sell ads) and of course presents (do I even need to say it) was stripped out and replaced with saccrine sweet smalls about peace, love, joy, and wonder — with no reason for those emotions. The reason is that for big companies, obviously don’t want people to see the holidays as primarily religious, as about Jesus, because going to church interferes with the buying of crap.
I have less hate of the phrase happy holidays because Christmas is already secular, and there are other holidays like Hanukkah and New Year’s Day. And at this point, the horse is twenty miles up the road. Closing the barn door now doesn’t matter. I think for those who want a religious Christmas, the best you could do is pick another date (orthodox Christmas is January 6) and ignore the marketeers.
Except when you strip all that stuff away, what do you have left? A liturgical festival that no one cares to much about except the extremely religious. If you're looking for holidays like this there's no shortage of them—Pentecost, The Ascension, The Immaculate Conception, The Annunciation, All Souls Day, Ash Wednesday, etc. Maybe there are some traditions associated with these that aren't strictly religious in some places, but I'm not aware of any. They also aren't very fun, since the most exciting thing that happens is maybe a special liturgy, and some of them don't even have that. I'm no fan of the excessive commercialization of Christmas, but if the alternative is dealing with religious prudes telling me that I can't have any fun, I'll deal with it. If I didn't want to celebrate holidays I'd become a Jehovah's Witness.
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I wouldn't object so much to "Happy Holidays" if it hadn't been made explicitly anti-religious. I agree that the commercialisation has destroyed a lot of past traditions (and jumbled up time so that this year the Hallowe'en and Christmas branded confectionery were on shop shelves at the same time, and as soon as the new year comes the Easter eggs will be out on the shelves, then by the end of summer the Hallowe'en stuff starts).
But when it was pushed that "oh we must say holidays because Christmas is religious and we can't be prioritising one religion over others and lots of people aren't Christian, you know", that brought the religious element roaring in.
It's possible to have both; we have a local 'celebration' (more a desperate marketing event to get shoppers/consumers into the city centre at the start of the 'shopping season') called "Winterval" (God help us) but it certainly hasn't replaced Christmas as a greeting or celebration.
If you let people have both "Happy Holidays" and "Merry Christmas", without getting offended (on behalf of others, which is where the real objection comes in) about wishing people either, then it isn't a culture war event.
If a Jewish person says "Hey, I don't celebrate Christmas, so while I appreciate your good intentions, please don't wish me a Merry Christmas", that's okay. It's when somebody who isn't Jewish or anything but white secular liberal from a formerly Christian background goes "Well this is offensive to non-Christians and I'm speaking up on their behalf" that you want to throw a snowball at their nose.
I've never been wished "Happy Diwali" or "Happy Eid" or the likes, but if I were, I wouldn't get bent out of shape about it, despite being a Catholic. Unless the person doing it were very ostentatiously doing it to show off how they were being a good ally using their white privilege to centre the marginalised.
I’ll agree that the white knighting around such things are annoying. It’s just that I find it hard to understand how Christmas is still considered religious when almost everyone celebrates 90% of it, and the religious message of the holiday — specifically that Jesus was born to bring salvation to humanity. It’s barely religious and only religious if you make a special effort to make it religious. So when people try to claim that modern Christmas celebrations outside of churches and religious homes is somehow a religious thing, I ask them which part. I sometimes jokingly refer to the largely secular tradition as “giftmas” simply because that’s what most people are actually doing.
I do think that's what they're trying to do with "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas", to expunge the last lingering link with the original religious roots. Like new Puritanism, the way Cromwell did away with Christmas because it was too secular a merry-making holiday. But the Calvinist-inclined didn't make Christmas Day a church holiday, either, they enforced that it was just an ordinary day (presumably because even keeping that much of the roots was too Roman Catholic for them), and I think that's what always happens with Christmas: if you try to shape it to your preferred new model, you have to end up eliminating it completely because there are too many echoes. So yeah - Giftmas or Festival or 'the Holidays' because "Christmas" is still a term radioactive with its religious meaning.
I think it would be better all round if everyone agreed "Yeah, it's Christmas and not 'the Holidays' and yeah, it's all about Santa and gifts and big traditional meal and boozing and having fun, not prayers and commemoration, nowadays for most people".
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Agree, but I don't think it's entirely correct to just blame capitalism, although obviously the profit motive and marketing play a big role - capitalism or not, modern technology would produce an abundance of consumer goods and enjoyable experiences, and also drain away the practical function of communal rituals about seasons and harvests and group purpose.
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