More Canadians say “Merry Christmas” than the secular “Happy Holidays,” and most non-Christians are fine with it, according to a Leger opinion survey commissioned by Postmedia.
Almost 30 percent of respondents who grew up in Christian households said they avoid saying “Merry Christmas” to strangers in case it offends them. But 92 percent of respondents who grew up in non-Christian households said they are not offended. Of course, that does leave an 8 percent minority who are offended.
“Institutions, governments, businesses, sometimes they make a lot of effort trying to come up with, I guess we could call it a politically correct approach, to passing on greetings. It seems a strong majority tend to just use Merry Christmas,” said Andrew Enns, an executive vice-president at Leger, in a Postmedia article….