This makes the baby Flying Spaghetti Monster cry

I stopped into Target this afternoon to pick up a few things and on my way out the cashier said, "Have a great Sunday and a Merry Christmas!" To be fair, I had a dead giveaway World's Most Adorable 18" Christmas Tree in my cart. (A bargain for $2.50... this was the 2nd one I bought. The first was for the boys' room, this one is for my kitchen table. But I digress....) Anyway, I'm personally not bothered when someone wishes me a MC because I happen to celebrate it myself but I do favor the trend toward wishing the general public a "Happy Holiday" for the obvious reasons (more inclusive, etc.).

I noticed when I returned that a former grad student of mine posted this to his FB status:
Stand for Christmas

Millions upon millions in our nation deeply value the great truths of Christmas and the holiday's inspiring place in American life and culture. We hope you will take a moment to "Stand for Christmas" by sharing feedback about your Christmas shopping experiences.

We're asking YOU to decide which retailers are "Christmas-friendly." They want your patronage and your gift-shopping dollars, but do they openly recognize Christmas?

The part that depresses me isn't that Christians want to support retailers that acknowledge their holiday openly... fine, whatever. It really isn't any different than me supporting retailers that treat their employees fairly or are good stewards of the earth. The part that depresses me is that they are also bent out of shape about retailers who are "Christmas-negligent," meaning (I ascertained since they don't have any definitions on their site that I can find) that they fail to mention or "openly recognize" Christmas. In other words, stores that aren't overtly displaying religious-themed merchandise or using the word "Christmas" everywhere are deemed "Christmas-negligent." Excellent, too, are the comments from raters who are often deeply offended by clerks who wish them a "Happy Holiday" or stores that they characterize as hiding nativity figures in a corner. My favorite comment was from a woman who was pissed at M@cy's for failing to provide a selection of inflatable nativity figures for her lawn.