Obama comes under fire for excluding 'Christmas' from Christmas card - India News and Travel Times Provides India-centric and other News and Features

President Barack Obama and his wife have come under fire for abandoning the word 'Christmas' in the White House Christmas greeting cards. The card selected by the Obamas announces: "Season's Greetings." Inside, it reads: "May your family have a joyous holiday season and a new year blessed with hope and happiness." The White House clarified that the Obamas are celebrating Christmas this year but they recognize that other Americans are celebrating other holidays this time of year and their holiday card reflects that idea. Republican lawmaker Henry Brown has launched a campaign to save the tradition of Christmas. On Tuesday, he introduced a resolution calling for the protection of the sanctity of Christmas. So far, 44 lawmakers, Democrat and Republican, have co-signed the bill. "I believe that sending a Christmas card without referencing a holiday and its purpose limits the Christmas celebration in favour of a more 'politically correct' holiday," Fox News quoted Brown, as saying. "This kind of reproach is exactly what my Christmas resolution, introduced to the House of Representatives earlier this week, is against as the resolution expresses support for the use of Christmas symbols and traditions and disapproval of all attempts to ban or limit references to Christmas," he added. American Presidents have been sending holiday cards since 1953, but in 2008, President George W. Bush set this trend by making no reference to Christmas. However, he included a passage from the New Testament, Matthew 5:16. "Let your light shine before men, that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven." Barry Lynn, executive director of Americans United for Separation of Church and State came to Obama's rescue. "It makes perfectly good sense for a president of all the people, all the 2,000 different religions and the 20 million non-believers in this country, to send out a card that says this is a good, happy time of year but without referring to any one specific religion," he said.