Retailers ignore the season

Merry Christmas.
I hope that doesn't offend you, but if it does you might want to keep it to yourself, especially if you're in retail.
The Catholic Rights League is leading a national campaign to boo Wal-Mart for instructing its employees to say "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas."
Bill "O Holy Nighttime Talk Show Host" O'Reilly has joined the chorus, offering a list of retailers he says refuse to use "Merry Christmas" in their advertising.
He's making a list and checking it twice. He's gonna find out who's naughty or theologically correct.
Retailers aren't the only anti-tinsel targets.
Jerry "Joy to the World" Falwell is leading a "Friend or Foe" Christmas Campaign to guard against any attempts to use the First Amendment to quell the First Noel.
"A publicly sponsored nativity scene on public property is constitutional," it says in the campaign's ad, "as long as the display also contains a secular symbol of the holiday."
A cash register, for example.
"Liberty Counsel," the ad warns, "will bring a lawsuit against any government entity discriminating against religion during this holiday season."
And if someone wants to sue you and take your "winter festival" tunic, he's going to want your matching "season's greetings" cloak as well.
The Alliance Defense Fund says it has 800 attorneys available nationwide to challenge any attempts to censor the celebration of Christmas in schools or on public property.
"This is a time for goodness, giving and hope," ADF president Alan Sears said in a statement, "not a time for fear, intimidation and the disinformation of agenda-driven, anti-Christmas legal entities."
Celebrate the birth of the Christ child joyfully or suffer the consequences.
Joining the campaign
ADF's campaign has been joined by the Christmas Tree Farmers Association of New York.
"The people who are fighting to save this country are in favor of Christmas," said association president Bob Norris.
The more liberal California Christmas Tree Association has declined to take a position on the issue.
Tim "the Yule man" Wildmon, president of the American Family Association, wants stores to put up "Merry Christmas" signs "if they expect Christians to come in and buy products during this so-called season," he told the San Francisco Chronicle.
No shirt. No shoes. No "Merry Christmas" sign. No services.
"It's a federal holiday," Wildmon went on to say. "If someone is upset by that, well, they should know that they are living in a Christian nation."
And Christians buy things. Lots of things. Especially during the Christmas season when we celebrate the birth of the man who said "give up your possessions and follow me."
So you better watch out, retailers. This isn't just the holiday shopping season. This is the Christmas shopping season. Patronize it. Profit from it. Commercialize it all you want.
Just don't ignore it.
And have a Merry Christmas.
Scripps Howard News Service