This week's column: Getting cross at Xmas

Getting cross about Christmas

Turn on a television or radio anywhere these days and you’re sure to hear a debate or comments being made about an active conspiracy to take Christ out of Christmas.
Suddenly even President Bush has joined the rank and file of the liberal-left, according to members of the ultra-right, using the phrase "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas" on his yearly Christmas cards.
And every year we hear people scream and shout about people who use Xmas in advertising or Christmas cards.
But what’s really behind the abbreviation? Does X mark the spot of anti-Christianity?
Many think Xmas is a recent invention of liberal Hollywood or leftist New Yorkers.
But use of Xmas can be found in the Oxford English Dictionary in 1551, 50 years before the first English colonists arrived in the New World and 60 years before the completion of the King James Version of the Bible.
At that time Xian and Xianity were both common abbreviations as well.
It’s been suggested that the X is simply an indication of the cross Jesus was crucified upon, but that is unlikely. The shape of the cross Jesus died upon is traditionally believed to have been the shape of a "t" rather than an "X".
The X can however be traced back to Christ and the early Greek church.
The Greek transliteration for Christ is Christos, which begins with the Greek X, pronounced "Chi."
During the Roman rule of Jerusalem and much of the known world, Christians would identify themselves with several symbols including the Greek X, the Chi-Ro or XP (the first two letters of Christos, the XC (first and last letters) or IC (last two letters).
The Christians used the symbols to identify each other in a time when they were commonly fed to lions and killed for their faith.
An interesting side story is a dream the Roman Emperor Constantine I had in October 312, involving the Chi-Ro. After his dream, he emblazoned the Christian symbol on all the military shields and armor before they marched to a great victory at the Battle of Milvian Bridge. After his victory, he legalized Christianity and accepted the new faith.
With the legalization of Christianity, the religion continued to spread across the world through oral and written tradition.
As Christianity spread, the abbreviation continued on manuscripts, charts and tables to save space.
And with the advent of the printing press, the church used the abbreviation even more during a time when font sizes were limited and type was set by hand.
But now the abbreviation has come 180 degrees as the phrase is now viewed as sacrilegious and boycotts are threatened for businesses who use it.
And thus the conspiracy continues.