The Woke War on Christmas

Well, here we are again. Another December, another round of “cultural inclusivity” that somehow always ends with Christmas being rubbed out like a smudge on the windscreen of progressive politics.

In Australia, this year’s festive farce is a 14.5-metre Christmas tree in Sydney’s Martin Place, curated by the luxury fashion house Dolce & Gabbana. You’d expect something bold, brash, and unapologetically festive. Instead, you get “Happy Holidays.” Not a whiff of “Merry Christmas” to be found. Just the usual beige platitude, which is as hollow as it sounds.

While some might retort that it's just wording on a banner, the reality is it’s a slow, calculated erasure of cultural confidence. The type that tells us, year after year, that to avoid offence we must dismantle tradition. A Christmas tree that doesn’t say “Merry Christmas” is like an Anzac Day dawn service that tiptoes around the word “soldier.” It’s absurd.

Political commentator Matthew Camenzuli summed it up perfectly:

“Australia, if we do not begin to push back now, we will lose everything that made our nation great.”

I would add that when you take Christ out of Christmas, you’re not making space, you’re making nothingness.

This anti-Christmas bah-humbuggery is occurring right around the Western world, just as it does every December.

Take a short flight to the UK, where Tesco, the retail Goliath, decided its “Christmas trees” are now “Evergreen Trees.” A tree, decorated for Christmas, was sold in red and holly-strewn packaging, but no mention of the word itself. The excuse? A “product differentiation” from fir trees. The public, unsurprisingly, wasn’t buying it, literally or figuratively. Boycotts were called, shoppers were enraged, and social media lit up like, well, an actual Christmas tree.

And while Tesco insists it's “still celebrating Christmas,” the fruitcake (formerly known as Christmas cake) now arrives on shelves stripped of its festive title. It's a fruitcake, we’re told. Because “Christmas isn’t a flavour,” one defender declared. No, but it is a tradition. And apparently, that's the problem.

In London, Mayor Sadiq Khan has mastered the art of pretending to celebrate while actively diluting tradition. This year’s official tree is a tired twig from Norway, barely lit and entirely uninspired. Even Bangkok put up a more resplendent display, and Thailand isn’t even a Christian country. It’s as though embarrassment is the new holiday aesthetic in the West.

Cross the Atlantic and Portland’s Christmas tree lighting ceremony, sorry, I mean to say “The Tree Lighting,” managed to forget the word “Christmas” altogether. Instead, revellers were treated to a Palestinian flag-waving protest and chants of “Free Palestine.” Yes, really. Because nothing says peace on Earth and goodwill to all like hijacking a community celebration to shout about war.

What’s behind this never-ending, quiet coup against Christmas? Quite simply, this is about subtraction. Dilution. The belief that Christian identity is dangerous and traditions must be “neutralised” for safety. It’s the bureaucratic equivalent of beige paint; safe, boring, and guaranteed to offend nobody by inspiring nothing.

The truth is that most Australians, Britons, and Americans aren’t asking for over-the-top public Christmas celebrations. We’re asking for honesty about the Christian holiday. One that doesn’t apologise for existing. One that understands that “Merry Christmas” is not an act of aggression, but a gesture of goodwill anchored in something real: our history, our faith, our culture.

“We're saying MERRY CHRISTMAS again!”
– Donald Trump