Here’s my SOP when it comes to greeting people during the holiday season; If I know they celebrate a specific holiday, such as Christmas, then I will say “Merry Christmas!” with no worries on my part that I may incorrectly greet them. If I DO NOT know if they celebrate a specific holiday or if I know they DO NOT celebrate a specific holiday such as Christmas, then I will say something like “Happy Holidays!” or “Season’s Greetings!” In other words, I don’t wish my Jewish friends a “Merry Christmas” or my Christian friends a “Happy Hanukkah” or strangers I don’t know with anything but a nice, generic, inoffensive (to most people) “Happy Holidays” during the season.
It seems to be a common occurrence over the past few years, around this time of year, to hear certain segments of society claim that they are being persecuted because they are greeted (personally or by businesses where they are shopping) with “Happy Holidays!” or “Season’s Greetings!” instead of “Merry Christmas!”
This flowchart, originally posted by Rachel Held Evans and then added to by Practicing Paradoxy makes a good, graphic point that there is no persecution involved and, in fact, that if you continue to insist that you are being persecuted then there may be other factors at play.
