My Christmas experiment - freedom of religion and speech

The word 'Christmas' has often been replaced with the generic 'holidays'. I'm not saying everyone should convert to saying 'Christmas' (after all, there are a lot of atheists, Jews and so on who don't believe in Christmas or have their own holidays of different nomenclature). However, I realized I personally had got to the stage where I was almost afraid to say 'Christmas' for fear of offending someone. I needed to address this in a way that was (hopefully) non-offensive to others, but where I am clearly standing up for my beliefs.

Here started my Christmas experiment, which was to wear a T-shirt saying 'Merry Christmas! Happy birthday Jesus' during my Christmas travel (two flights each way). I was curious. Would anyone say anything to me at all about this? Would anyone take open offense? The result? No-one said anything to me either way. My belief in fellow man's tolerance for freedom of speech and of religion was largely regained during this experiment.

However, this optimism I had about freedom of speech and religion has undergone a fresh blow - see the recent lawsuit by an atheist to ban the phrase 'so help me God' from the President's inauguration. (See article) Huh? What's the problem? - The phrase as is neither creates new laws nor establishes a state religion. (If we have to re-examine this issue, it seems to me that the best solution is to let the person saying the words decide whether or not to use such a phrase i.e. true freedom of speech and of religion).

So, I have decided to keep on going. At Easter I plan to make a new T-shirt with something about Easter and Jesus on it. I might even make a few generic T-shirts for any occasion.

Some of the Pharisees from the crowd told Him, "Teacher, rebuke Your disciples." He answered, "I tell you, if they were to keep silent, the stones would cry out!"
Luke 19:39-40

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