ORLANDO, FL – Liberty Counsel has launched its 23rd annual Friend or Foe Christmas Campaign that is designed to educate and, when necessary, litigate to ensure religious viewpoints are not censored from Christmas and holiday themes.

For decades, the debate over whether businesses and people in the public square should say “Merry Christmas” or the more neutral “Happy Holidays” resurfaces each season. A 2024 You.gov survey found that about 65 percent of adults prefer “Merry Christmas” greetings over “Happy Holidays,” a similar result from a 2022 Monmouth poll that found a 61 percent majority preferring “Merry Christmas.”

Censoring Christmas—whether by avoiding the word entirely, removing religious imagery, or directing employees to use holiday-neutral greetings—tends to polarize public reaction due to several interconnected cultural, emotional, and constitutional reasons.

First and foremost, Christianity remains the largest faith tradition in the United States. Christmas is both a religious holiday and a cultural tradition for Christians and is associated with worship, family traditions, nostalgia, generosity, and seasonal joy. When Christmas language, symbols, and decorations are removed, it can be viewed as society’s hostile push to marginalize the Christian identity and remove faith from public life. While corporate intentions may invoke political correctness, their displays of holiday neutrality divide rather than unify because it removes the meaningful celebration, community traditions, and joyous expression many religious Americans want at Christmastime.

Secondly, Christmas censorship can also trigger constitutional reflexes. The First Amendment protects religious liberty and primarily restricts what the government can do regarding Christmas expression.

In public schools, for instance, classroom discussion of the religious aspects of the holidays is permissible. A holiday display in a classroom may include a Nativity scene or other religious imagery. Public school music teachers have the freedom to include both religious and secular Christmas songs in their musical programs. If the students select their own songs independent of the direction of school officials, there is no requirement that the songs include secular selections. Students may distribute religious Christmas cards to their classmates during noninstructional time, before or after school, or between classes. If the students are not required to dress in uniform, they may wear clothing with religious words or symbols as well as religious jewelry.

In 2022, two cases involving religious liberty went to the U.S. Supreme Court which resulted in the elimination of the “Lemon Test.” The “Lemon Test” was a judge-made standard used to determine whether a law violated the First Amendment Establishment Clause. For 51 years, this so-called “test” was used to remove religious symbols and displays, such as The Ten Commandments and Nativity scenes, from the public square.

Then on May 2, 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected the “Lemon Test” in Liberty Counsel’s unanimous victory in Shurtleff v. City of Boston. In this case, the High Court ruled the city violated the Constitution by censoring a private flag in a public forum open to “all applicants” merely because it was a “Christian flag.” Nearly two months later, on June 27, 2022, the High Court in Kennedy v. Bremerton School District, officially overruled the “Lemon Test” in favor of a football coach’s right to private, religious speech in silently praying on the football field after games. These cases now make it unlawful for the government to censor religious expression, symbols, or displays in public.

Liberty Counsel monitors cases each year across the country where there is intimidation by officials and groups to remove the celebration of Christmas in public and private sectors.

In 2023, city officials in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin emailed guidance to employees to refrain from using “traditional” Christmas decorations in public buildings, specifically red and green colors, to “foster a more equitable and inclusive community.” Administrators suggested using “neutral” and “non-religious” decorations, such as “snowflakes” or decorations inspired by the “Northern lights” with colors like “blue, green, and purple” to avoid “favoring any particular belief system.” After Liberty Counsel sent a demand letter to the city administrator responsible for the email demanding an immediate retraction of the ban on Christmas decorations, the administrator backpedaled the directive and allowed Christmas traditional decorations. 

Liberty Counsel also provides a Naughty and Nice List that catalogs some of the stores that are censoring Christmas and some that are publicly celebrating it.

Years ago, Walmart had banned its employees from even responding with the phrase “Merry Christmas.” Now the company is consistently on the “Nice List” by embracing the Christmas season. Two years ago, Target was on the Naughty List for going “all in” on woke “pride” decorations that mocked the Christmas holiday. However, the department store has earned a spot on the Nice List for the second year in a row by selling items that celebrate Christmas. One company on the 2024 Naughty List moved to the Nice List this year—Best Buy—for offering many “Christmas” products in its online store. Thankfully, many other companies have done the same to acknowledge Christ’s birth during the season. Costco, Dillard’s, Hallmark, Hobby Lobby Stores, The Home Depot, Lowe’s, and Kohl’s are just some examples of the stores on the “Nice List” for acknowledging Christmas and offering Christmas gifting options.

Barnes & Noble, Burlington Coat Factory, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Gap, Inc., Neiman Marcus, TJ Maxx, and others consistently remain on the “Naughty List” for censoring Christmas from their holiday-themed campaigns and offering little more than generic “holiday” decorations and gifts. Four retailers moved from the Nice List to the Naughty List in 2025: Academy Sports + Outdoors, Big Lots, Lord and Taylor, and Nordstrom. Each of these companies took a nearly sterilized approach to “Christmas” in their online holiday campaigns as compared to prior years.

Liberty Counsel Founder and Chairman Mat Staver said, “The First Amendment protects religious viewpoints from being censored by the government. Religious symbols and displays consistent with the Christmas holiday season are appropriate and constitutional on public property, including in public schools. Christmas is a recognized federal and state holiday. It makes no sense to pretend it does not exist or that the holiday should be stripped of Christian symbols and themes.” 

Learn more at LC.org/Christmas.

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