‘Happy Holidays’ or ‘Merry Christmas?’
Book examines ‘culture wars’ and Supreme Court’s rulings on holiday displays
Every December ushers in new yuletide ballyhoo over the “correct” holiday greeting – “Merry Christmas” or “Happy Holidays”?
The new University of Massachusetts Press book, Religious Liberty in America: The First Amendment in Historical and Contemporary Perspective by Bruce T. Murray, takes on this perennial cultural dispute and analyzes the Supreme Court’s evolution on this and many other related First Amendment issues.
Parties to this conflict are usually the American Civil Liberties Union on one side vs. the various government agencies that are responsible for holiday displays on public property. Filtering down to the various city councils and county boards, the debate often ends up in a shouting match between “traditionalists” and secularists. These are the so-called “culture wars.”
In earlier centuries, the debate over Christmas was entirely different. The celebration of Christmas was brought to America somewhat late in colonial history by German Lutheran immigrants and Catholics. The early American Puritans and Calvinists objected to the celebration of Christmas, as Justice William Brennan observed in the 1984 Supreme Court case, Lynch v. Donnelly.
Religious Liberty in America explores the origins of the myriad debates regarding religion and public life. Throughout the book, Murray connects past and present, showing the historical roots of contemporary controversies. He considers why it is that a country founded on the separation of church and state remains singularly religious among nations, and concludes by showing how the Supreme Court's thinking about the religious liberty clauses has evolved since the late eighteenth century.
“This book is a splendid presentation of the First Amendment, ‘with civil religion as a parallel theme’ — especially as presently related to so many issues in American political and religious life. Other books on these issues have been appearing of late, but none as clear and thorough as this one.”
— G.H. Shriver, Professor Emeritus, Georgia Southern University
Purchase Religious Liberty in America on the University of Massachusetts Press Web site.
Find out more about the author here.