There are five Greek letters in the word. The second letter of these five letter is X or Christos! So Xmas can also mean Christmas; but it should also be pronounced 'Christmas' rather than 'ex-mas'! For example, when we want to denote an unknown quantity, we use the symbol X. It can refer to an obscene level of films, something that is X-rated. People seem to express chagrin about seeing Christ's name dropped and replaced by this symbol for an unknown quantity X.
Every year you see the signs and the bumper stickers saying, "Put Christ back into Christmas" as a response to this substitution of the letter X for the name of Christ. First of all, you have to understand that it is not the letter X that is put into Christmas.
We see the English letter X there, but actually what it involves is the first letter of the Greek name for Christ. Christos is the New Testament Greek for Christ. Think about Franklin Graham's quote above. For him, and to many who share his particular religious leanings, Xmas is symbolic of a bigger problem with our culture: not only are we crossing out Christ in the word, they say, but we're tossing him out of the public square.
Therefore, Xmas, as Graham said, "is a war against the name of Jesus Christ. Graham and those who think similarly like actor Kirk Cameron and former Alaska governor Sarah Palin believe the secularization of American culture is so all pervasive that even if they're aware of the religious roots of Xmas, they still believe it is symbolic of a larger trend.
Thus, it has to go. Certainly, Christians have a right to feel however they wish, and if they think that Christianity is being driven from the public square, there's really no arguing they're wrong. In fact, polls show that organized religion in America has been declining. Writing at First Things , Matthew Schmitz, who is well aware of the historical roots of Xmas, discusses another reason some Christians might be wary of the shorthand:.
The cultural, religious, communal traditions we see as especially embodied by Christmas have been undermined by the rise of commerce and cult of efficiency. The desire to get from point A to B by the shortest possible route, irrespective of the charms of traditional byways, fuels our mania for abbreviation. The hatred for Xmas, then, may stem in part from an innate suspicion of the attempt to render all things ancient and beautiful modern, cheap, and sleek.
Here's a Christmas song from Christina Aguilera, who sometimes calls herself Xtina. Appropriately enough, it's called Xtina's Xmas. First, the US remains divided over several traditional culture war issues, most prominently abortion. The battle over Xmas, though it might seem trivial, only reinforces the "secular vs. Christian America" narrative that fuels those arguments. Second, the fight over the word Xmas underscores some American Christians' real fear of persecution.
It might seem ridiculous that members of the nation's dominant religion would feel persecuted, and it's easy to laugh about those who claim the statement "happy holidays" means de facto persecution.
But try looking at it from their point-of-view. The United States has gone from a nation where the default religion was assumed to be Christianity, to one that increasingly tries to make room for people of all faiths and belief systems.
That can seem like a gradual, inevitable evolution to those not embroiled in the culture wars, but it can feel like a massive sea change to those who are. Follow Facebook Linkedin Pinterest. Subscribe Podcast Spotify Google Stitcher. You May Also Like Do You Capitalize 'God'? Grammar Girl.
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