CHAPEL HILL, N.C. — The all-inclusive "Happy Holidays" greeting has become an annual December puzzler for towns, public schools and businesses: How do we respect the holiday traditions of one group of citizens without causing detriment to another?

While Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and in some years Ramadan and Diwali share the same season, last year's polls show around 96 percent of Americans celebrate Christmas.

For a pluralistic nation that prides itself upon embracing both freedom of expression and the separation of church and state, the widespread public celebration of Christmas poses a unique quandary. Guiding public displays of Christmas cheer are a patchwork of inconsistent, local-level policies — the perfect conditions under which litigation emerges.

Successive years of legal action by civil libertarians have effectively curtailed the public promotion of all things "Christmas," giving rise to more politically correct — and judiciously safe — "holiday" observances. In doing so, public officials and retailers alike have nurtured a well-founded hypersensitivity to the opinions of a minority group.

But just when the scales of political correctness seem to be gaining balance, along comes a new backlash. This year, it's the majority group of Christmas adherents who are alleging a persecution of beliefs.

After nearly two decades of watching community Christmas parades slowly evolve into holiday parades, school Christmas vacation into winter break, and town hall crand schools nationwide that face challenges to their traditional Christmas celebrations. Last year, the initiative successfully defended Christmas displays on public property by the town of Cranston, R.I., and the school district of Bossier Parrish, La.

• During a Nov. 9 broadcast, FOX news commentator Bill O'Reilly launched the first volley in an all-out television-based offensive against retailers that shun "Merry Christmas" for "Happy Holidays," going so far as to list specific offending merchants that should be boycotted.

• After threatening a boycott of Wal-Mart stores in early November, the Catholic League for Religious and Civil Rights successfully won concessions from the retail chain after an employee offered up his own explanation to a customer via e-mail for the store's policy of wishing customers "Happy Holidays" in lieu of "Merry Christmas." Wal-Mart stood by its all-inclusive "Happy Holidays" greeting but did publicly apologize and promptly fired the offending employee.

• The Rev. Jerry Falwell and the conservative Liberty Counsel have launched a "Friend or Foe Christmas Campaign." Armed with 750 lawyers, the group promises to "reclaim Christmas" by filing suit against anyone who, in their view, limits the public celebration of Christmas.
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