Holiday Season

Published On: September 8, 2010|Categories: MRFF's Inbox|0 Comments|

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Dear MRFF-

First I’d like to thank you for all you do to promote religious freedom within our military. It is so encouraging to have an advocate for those who feel like their voices are not or cannot be heard.
To get to the point, I’m looking for some advice: The holiday season is coming up and the unit is hard at work raising money for the “Christmas Party”. Last year one of our troops jokingly said that if it was called a Christmas Party that he wouldn’t attend. Word got out and pretty soon this troop was talking with the commander about his comment. I’ve heard many comments about how “stupid” and “ignorant” it is that people want to call it a Holiday Party instead of a Christmas Party. They argue that Christmas is a national holiday and that’s what we’re celebrating, so why should we call it anything else?
The fact that Christmas—a religious holiday—is also a national holiday is another matter. We need to make EVERYONE—no matter his or her religion—feel included in the celebration. But how can I bring up this issue in a tactful way to make people understand and agree (with as little pain as possible) that calling it a Holiday party is the right thing to do?

Thanks for your help!

v/r,
(USAF Officer’s name, rank, military unit and military installation withheld)

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