I participate in two national online surveys, so this means about once a week I go take a survey asking me about crap, and after a year of doing this I earn maybe $20-30 from one site, and maybe a new DVD set from the other valued at about $30.

One of the last surveys I took asked me if I would NOT do business with a business that used "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas".

Has this change in the language gotten to be that much of a heated issue?

I see the change as progress, that we're finally acknowledging that there are non-Christians living in this country, which is part of the language change, BUT! I have always said Happy Holidays simply because there are multiple holidays even if you celebrate Christmas. Remember New Year's Eve and New Year's Day? If we lived in those countries affiliated with Great Britain it would be applicable too since they also have Boxing Day (which I still am a bit clueless about, and it may or may not have anyting to do with actual boxes and definitely has nothing to do with prize fighting).

The protestations from the majority are to be expected and fall in line with organizational development, because this is what the centrist/majority group does. They piss and moan if they think that they are being asked to change, and that their position is being threatened or weakened. I spent $40,000 to learn that. (I shoud have just borrowed a book from the library.)Groups in the centrist position need to be the ones to go to the margins instead of the margins going to the middle.

Why? Why should the center go to the edge? Well, quite seriously their existance depends upon it! In order for a group to remain healthy and alive, it needs to adapt, change, be resilent, and flexible, and that means from time to time be willing to acknowledge the marinal position as existing and having a right to exist.

We all know what used to happen to the margin: witch burnings, executions, excommunications, war, discrimination, Holocaust, etc. I think it is a great sign of hope if the center can manage to not shoot itself in the foot and get over the language of "Happy Holidays" and realize that it will be what helps them grow (and live up to their Christian potential).

What's so bad about not automatically assuming the person you wish to wish Happy Holidays to isn't Christian?

On the flip side of this coin, I have to admit that there have been some over-reactions from those who have gotten upset about "Merry Christmas" being wished to them. I say to that: lighten up! What's wrong with just saying back, "I thank you for your kind sentiment, but I am not Christian (or I don't celebrate Christmas), so in the future, could you remember to wish me a Happy Yule/Chanukah/Ramadan instead?" Throw it back to the person, and if they can't handle Yule/Chanukah/Ramdan then let it be their problem, not yours!