Conflicts over the permissible boundaries of both public celebrations and personal meanings behind Christmas are becoming as intractable in Great Britain as they are in America. In both cases, the primary source of the problem are Christians who feel that the expanding boundaries of Christmas and winter holidays are a personal affront, an effort to deny and undermine their own religious, cultural, and even personal identities. They never seem to notice how hypocritical they become in the process.

Terry Sanderson writes for Britain's National Secular Society:

Who are these “aggressive secularists” who want to rob Christians of Christmas? Come on, Johnny, name names. And don’t trot out Richard Dawkins, because he has never said any such thing. Nor has anyone at the National Secular Society. We’re all for people celebrating the season – usurped, as it was by the Christians from its pagan origins – in whatever way they want, whether that’s in the church or the shopping mall, in the Cathedral or in front of the telly pigging out on selection boxes.

The Christian push to incite resentment against non-Christians is dishonest and dangerous. I was in conversation with the Bishop of Lichfield on Radio Northern Ireland when he made one ridiculous claim after another. First he said that 50% of the population would be in church at Christmas. In fact it is much more likely – according to Christian Research – to be 5% at the Church of England and little more than 15% for all denominations put together. A few glamorous cathedrals might be overflowing, but the parish churches will be struggling, as usual, to fill their pews.

After explaining that he had just come back from a procession through the centre of Stafford after which he blessed a nativity scene in the town centre (all paid for by the taxpayer), he then had the cheek to berate other (unnamed) councils which he claimed were putting up “secular decorations” which were a “mish-mash”. He urged Christians to be more upfront about their religion, and presumably ram it down everyone else’s unwilling throats along with the mince pies.

Society itself is becoming less Christians and even Christians themselves are becoming "less Christian," at least when viewed from the perspective of traditional Christian practices and behaviors. Some Christian leaders are aghast at this development, but rather than look to their own abject failures of leadership they seem to prefer instead to blame atheists, secularists, government, and everyone else they can think of.

Brian Reade writes:

Surveys by Christian Research shows that in 1979 almost 12 per cent of Britons went to church on a Sunday. Now it's down to 6.8 per cent. Despite there being 46 million of us of Christian origin.

Meaning 93.2 per cent of Britons can't be bothered practising Christianity. Yet to listen to supposedly outraged voices over councils and firms who choose to give out a non-specific festive greeting, you'd think it was 93.2 per cent of us genuflecting before Christ every Sunday.

The real affront to Christ is the tiny group of agitators running grotesquely aggressive campaigns to turn Christmas into an annual whingefest for all who worship the religion of "PC Gone Mad".

Fanatics who see anti-patriotic conspiracies in everything which doesn't conform to their mythical world view. Bigots who believe if an immigrant doesn't know the date of the Magna Carta, he's a sponger, unworthy of working and living here.

The devotees of PC Gone Mad aren't religious. They do it because they're cynics feigning persecution for personal profit. They don't believe in the immaculate conception, don't care that Santa's red costume was invented by Coca-Cola, know it says nothing in the scriptures about celebrating Christ's birth by racking up more debt than the Queen Mum and turning into a bloated pig in front of the Little Britain Xmas Special.

The most significant issue may be the distinction between public and private celebrations of Christmas. People who are still devoutly religious Christians can privately celebrate Christmas in much the same ways they always have; what's changed is the decreasing public reinforcements and supports for such celebrations.

Public references to Christmas are today much broader and less narrowly religious than they once were. Why? Because more and more people are less religious or at least less Christian. Public celebrations will try to include as many people as possible and Christians shouldn't expect to be singled our for favoritism or special treatment.