Florida Professor: Replace 'Merry Christmas' With 'Happy Federal Holiday'
ORLANDO, Florida - A Florida professor has suggested changing the traditional holiday greeting of "Merry Christmas" to the more politically correct greeting of "Happy Federal Holiday" in order to avoid "being culturally insensitive."
In an opinion piece written for UCF TODAY, Dr. Terri Susan Fine, a political science professor at the University of Central Florida, suggested that, "... we take a new approach that observes “the holidays” we all have on our calendars, no matter our religion ... Because the U.S. government in some cases and the state government in others have identified certain days during the year as state and federal holidays, including those that fall during the late fall and winter season – Thanksgiving, Christmas and New Year’s Day –we have no choice but to observe these holidays whether we want to or not."
"Most everyone is included and no one is excluded no matter their religious beliefs or practices. The banks are closed, along with post offices, local, state and federal government offices, and state institutions such as UCF. As long as we live in the United States, these federal and state holidays impact us equally so we might as well celebrate them equally, too,” Fine reasoned.
"The upside to wishing each other a “Happy Federal Holiday” is that we have lots of opportunities to do so during the year and not just during the current “Holiday Season.” We know that we are not being culturally insensitive by extending to someone a holiday greeting that has no meaning to them because they practice a different religion or no religion at all."
Photo Credit: UCF TODAY
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