What's in a card

Several European and Trans-Atlantic heads of state have in later years begun a strange practice: instead of adding the usual phrase "Merry Christmas" on their seasonal greeting cards to subordinates and other recipients, they now seem to prefer the blander "Season's greetings", or some dull reference to the forthcoming holiday.

Which appears to be a reasonable and magnanimously all-inclusive gesture to their citizens of diverse religious and ethnic backgrounds. But there's catch here that is a little bit disturbing:

NO CHRISTMAS THIS YEAR?

Whereas e.g President Obama didn't fail in his congratulatory address to Muslims earlier this year to pay proper respect to the fact that they were specifically celebrating the Id festival, and not any other, odd festival, he seems very reluctant to accord the same honour to worshippers from the culturally vastly more dominant religion. "Merry Christmas" vas conspicuously absent on the president's Chr...uh...seasonal greeting cards.

On the one hand, any President is perfectly free, and should by rights be so, to bring to bear on the day to day conducting of the affairs of the administration his or her personal views. If Obama deems it unfitting or unwise to specifically refer to Christ on his seasonal greeting cards, then he is entitled to refrain from doing so. He is, after all, the president of all Americans be it atheists, buddhists, Bahai-worshippers, agnostics, jews and muslims, and would, understandably, not like to be perceived of as giving preferential treatment to any particular group.

THE CATCH REMAINS

On the other hand, the catch still remains as no president or state of head can chose to simply casually ignore the undisputable fact that the holiday we are presently enjoying, is a direct cultural consequence of a deeply held conviction that Christ was born at a specific time in a specific location. Even contemporaneous Roman historians corroborate that convicition by mentioning Christ and Christians in their texts. So why shouldn't Obama or Brown or Sarkozy?

It is a completely misguided step to defer to political correctness here. Why is it considered almost a discriminatory offense to make mention of Christ prior to or during the holiday that bears his name? If the Richard Dawkinses of this world chose to take offense, then let them: millions of Europeans and and Americans still celebrate not just any odd tradition these days. In ways more than one we privately and publicly remember, and remind ourselves of, a unique event of cross-cultural significance. Is acknowledging that a political sin these days?

MY NEIGHBOURS ARE DIFFERENT NOW

It doesn't bother me that Obama or Boris Johnson, mayor of London, alert us to the presence of other religious festivals and the observance of other faiths. I welcome that. My neighbours today have different names and different colours of skin from what was the norm a generation ago, and both I and my Prime Minister will do well to take that into consideration.

But whether it's Id or Christmas, both muslim and christian segments of our populations should be treated fairly. It isn't unfair to make specific mention of Christmas in a seasonal greeting card. Christianity in its many varieties and expressions still constitute the majority religion in the West, and the worldviews of many millions are still considerably influenced by it.

DENYING REALITY

Ignoring that amounts to a veritable denial of our own roots. The post-modern man is still free to chose her own religion and religous expressions, but cannot simultaneously legitimately pretend that our Christian past isn't still very much our Christian present.