With the ever growing desire to seperate church and state, the issue of how to pass on good wishes is getting a bit ridiculous. Sure, it's good to be conscious of other people and to respect their wishes. It's hard to see a throng of excited shoppers going wild in pursuit of materialistic objects that they fear will disappear.

So much is happening right now and businesses simply prefer that you buy gift cards. Why? Well, because they expire or depreciate. That's right, your cold hard cash can simply start disappearing after 90, 120 or 300 days. It will be less than a dollar, but it will devalue. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) might be called in to take a look at the "legality" of short-changing the folks that ultimately buy these gift cards.

So with the shopping frenzies, the questionable business ethics and the seperation issues, are we forgetting it's called "Christmas Day"? For a lot of kids, even in religiously active families, they associate Santa Claus with it and not Christ. Just like on another day, they associate Easter Day with the Easter Bunny. We going to stop saying Happy Easter because it's tied to a religious event? Hmmm. Have to do away with Jewish Holidays then... and not allow Islamic ones.

That 1st Amendment, that ever disputed right... in the Bill of Rights... what to do about that? Where's the freedom of speech if you CAN'T say "Merry Christmas" to someone without fear of offending? That doesn't mean they have to say it back if they don't agree with the words or their connotation. If they wanna say, "Happy Holidays", that's fine too. Or "Happy Hanukkah" while it's really supposed to be "Chanukah" It's like a typo, people need to overlook the minor discrepancies and go with the gist.

That first right outlined by our founding fathers means I can celebrate it any way I wish. I can even say the sky is sky-blue at night and that I wear purple underwear on my head. No, I can't teach that in school. No one is "teaching" Christmas or even Halloween in school either... it's just being celebrated and some folks are taking objection with the past paraphernalia. Pagan beliefs are a kind of religions beliefs and practice too.... so Halloween going to be seperated out like Christmas?

Interesting tidbit for FYI... Halloween is diametrically opposed to Easter on the calendar. Too funny... if you can see the parallel in the oppositions.

Not sure what you are focusing on, but I'll add my 2 cents.

Bill O'Reily made a good point when he said that most people who are not Christian (like myself) aren't offended when you say "Merry Christmas" to them. Of course, he immediatly lost my respect when he said that Christians are offended by Happy Holidays (and if any of you are, get over it please).

This war on Christmas is so overblown. When that faith is somthing like the 80% majority in the United States, stop acting like you are a perscuted people. Maybe in acient Rome, not here.

The fact that the 1st amendment isn't absolute is somthing that I don't think applies in this case. I see no reason why people can't say Happy Holidays, or Merry Christmas as they will.

Take it in the spirit that it is meant.

On the one hand, I think it's kinda funny that someone so obviously faithful, and thereby making me think that they are probably more conservative in their political ideology than I, is concerned with the notion of Amendment #1. (Wait, let me explain!)

It is the Conservative leadership that is doing everything within its collective power to eliminate anything at all that does NOT reflect a faith-based, moral structure in our country. That does, I think, include this tempest in a teapot over what the appropriate greeting for this time of year might be. To eliminate Christmas Carols in School programs, cresches in public places, and any mention of Christ (mass) in December is (and I think rightfully so, btw) as an attack on religious liberty in the US.

Some would say that is because it has just been too long since anyone with any moral compass was leading this country. Unfortunately, the moral compass has 360 points on it.

Meanwhile, certain individuals of a philosophical constitution less than faith-based (per se) are screaming bloody murder because the word "God" is on our money. And the 9th Circuit notwithstanding, there are a whole gang of peeps around the good ole U S of A who are not being heard at all!

As to the First Amendment:

In my personal opinion (operative word being MY), this is merely a tempest in a teapoint specifically because of the First Amendment. Nothing in it says anything about speech which may be considered offensive being necessarily illegal, or even legally actionable. Sometimes, people are offended when you tell them the truth. Sometimes people are offended merely because you offer an opinion, regardless of which side of an issue you may be supporting, or denying.

Besides, the phrase "Happy Holidays" is nothing more than a vague slang for "Happy Holy Days".

Say what's in your heart. If someone (a) finds it offensive, and (B ) has the juice to tell you about it, then you have a moment to consider. In that moment, I would simply reiterate what I just said, and move along.

If the faithful of this Country are so determined to have only one thing said, the liklihood is that the Courts will do everything within the power they can consume to make sure that NOTHING is said.

Wouldn't that just be sniggly!!

What's the matter with people? Celebrations are healthy activities that reaffirm the joy of living. Everyone's so anal nowadays that noone's allowed to celebrate anything. WTF? Almost every holiday or celebration is under attack. Let people be happy you miserable b******s.

You can't make everyone happy. And the thing is, does it make you less happy when someone says, like kybudman pointed out, "Happy Holy Day" to you? Does it make one happy to force them to say "Merry Christmas?"

As for it in school, I have no problem with saying "No christmas carols in school." Its not the place for it. Do it on your own time, or at home, or go to a private school.

Let them say what they want however they want to. Noone's stopping anyone else from celebrating their holiday or beliefs or replying how they want to. I understand that if your of a minority opinion then this will be tedious. But you can take satisfaction in knowing you add variation to the society.

I'm not sure who you are agreeing with here. Because when the corperations say whatever they will "Happy Holidays," the right gets pissed at them.

I don't care if Macy's wants to put Happy Holidays on its bags but I think its workers should be allowed to say Merry Christmas or whatever best represents them in the world when they greet fellow workers. Macy's has the right to say how customers are greeted.