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The joke about Hanukah bushes--though perhaps some Jews having Christmas trees called them that--is essentially a joke. But I'm sure Doug gets out more than me because I never heard anyone suggesting that Christmas is a secular holiday except Michael Perry. To me it cannot be a secular holiday because for one thing in my religion the messiah has not yet arrived.
But more important, what does "celebrate" mean in this context? Do I celebrate Christmas by attending a colleague's Christmas party, or by eating candy cane? Indeed, every Christmas for decades I've watched the Christmas Carol (Alistair Sim only please). What about helping a friend decorate a Christmas tree or listening to Christmas carolers? Are these examples of "celebrating Christmas"?
I also having a rather high threshold regarding whether something censors my speech especially in personal relations. If someone asks me not to discuss some issue--and this invariably occurs at my sister's Hanukah celebration--I acquiesce. Do I reserve the right to freedom of speech in any and every situation? Of course, I do. But polite requests to abstain are, I think, simply a function of civility nothing more nor less.
I think we should make as refined judgments about how to greet people and how to characterize religious/secular holidays as possible. Broad principles, other than that, I think are unhelpful. One such judgment is that Christmas at its core has deep (monumental) religious significance to which one subscribes or not. All the rest is fanfare. I subscribe to this principle and will say it when I please unless someone asks me to abstain because the fanfare is, for her, the core.
Bobby
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