In 2018, an author named Julia Ioffe wrote an article for The Washington Post entitled "Please don't wish me 'Merry Christmas' It's impolite and alienating to assume I follow your religion". In the article, she describes how "It’s lonely to be reminded a thousand times every winter that the dominant American cultural event occurs without me."
But then she goes on to describe how, actually, it doesn't. While she does an excellent job of making the case for the "put Christ back in Christmas" crowd, suggesting that Christmas can only be celebrated by Christians rejoicing over the birth of Christ, she makes the case against herself.
Ioffe begins her article by complaining about her Lyft driver wishing her a merry Christmas. "He probably just meant it the way most people do, as a kind of December shorthand for “have a good day.” But he had a cross hanging from his rearview mirror." And that, my friends, is rather the point. It is just a December shorthand for "have a good day". When an atheist says "merry Christmas", do you think they're trying to drag you into their religion?
Now, I could run through the entire article and point out numerous other things that show Ioffe's hypocrisy. But I don't want to do that. Indeed, she complains in her article about the number of people who were mean to her on Twitter after she Tweeted out please don't wish her a merry Christmas. On this, I actually have to say # TeamJulia.
See, it's not impolite to wish people a merry Christmas. In fact, the irony is, Ioffe here is the one assuming people's religions. Most people who wish you merry Christmas are about as Christian as Richard Dawkins. Nevertheless, it genuinely is rude, when someone has asked to be excluded from your celebrations, to rub it in their face all the more.
In fact, it may surprise you, and probably Ioffe as well, to know that there are many Christians who do not celebrate Christmas. For some of them, this is just because they prefer to celebrate another holiday, like Hanukkah. For others, like myself, it's more to do with the memories associated with the season. But there are even Christians with a similar mindset to Ioffe. By celebrating Christmas, they feel like they're celebrating someone else's religion.
To Ioffe, who finds it impossible to divorce Christmas from Christ, this may sound strange, but consider these two things. First of all, Christmas is actually a Catholic celebration. Ironically, Catholicism is not even Christian (though of course it does have many Christians in it). Because Catholicism is not Christian, many Christians feel like they are conceding ground to Roman paganism if they celebrate Christmas.
And the second thing to consider is that there's more truth to that than it may appear. See, Christmas may well have been instituted to celebrate Christ, but there are many extrabiblical elements in it, which were stolen from other religions in order to make Christianity more appealing to them. In other words, there's a lot of paganism in this Catholic celebration that puts many Christians, like one family I used to know, right off.
But do you know what the Bible says? "Let no man therefore judge you in meat, or in drink, or in respect of an holyday, or of the new moon, or of the sabbath days: Which are a shadow of things to come; but the body is of Christ." (Colossians 2:16-17). In other words, biblically speaking, Christians need not celebrate Christmas. Do we imagine Jesus would be thrilled if we try to compel unbelievers to celebrate? Obviously, I cannot use Scripture to exhort the Jew who told Ioffe "We’ve already got a reputation for being miserable f---s, let’s not make it worse." But to the Church, I say this: There is no better way to represent Christ than to alienate those who wish for you to alienate them (Matthew 10:14; Mark 6:11; Luke 9:5; Acts 13:51).
The sad fact is, feeling alienated by the mere thought that a Christian would wish you good cheer is a symptom of a greater alienation: Alienation from your Creator. Rejecting Christmas is not a sin, but rejecting Christ is. As are all the other sins every adult has committed since they passed the age of accountability. If Julia Ioffe refuses to repent, she will be condemned, and none of the merries of Christmas will follow her to Hell. It won't be chestnuts roasting in that open fire, and people will only be able to dream of a white Christmas. No rest, day or night, forever and ever? Let us not forget the reason for the season. It isn't so we can bully a Jewish woman. It's so we can receive salvation. And hopefully, one day, Julia Ioffe will, too.