Religious Meaning of Patriotic Greetings

So, no longer are we content to defame Christmas via commercialization; we have to turn this celebration of salvific birth into one of lachrymose nationalist piety (“A Greeting With Meaning,” Nov. 25).

Of course, we don’t do this for Ramadan or Hanukkah because, most certainly, the Islamic and Jewish communities would vociferously object to such debasing of these sacred times. It’s very sad that people have so fallen out of touch with the meaning of Christmas that they resort to profoundly inadequate substitutes for it. After all, what greeting could be more meaningful (no matter how ironic) than “Peace on Earth, Goodwill to Men”?

KEN JOHNSON

Westlake