As part of its 24th annual Friend or Foe Christmas Campaign, Liberty Counsel released the Naughty and Nice List that catalogs some of the stores that are censoring Christmas and some that are publicly celebrating it.

The Friend or Foe Christmas Campaign is designed to educate and, when necessary, litigate to ensure religious viewpoints are not censored from Christmas and holiday themes.

For decades, the debate over whether businesses and people in the public square should say “Merry Christmas” or the more neutral “Happy Holidays” resurfaces each season. A 2024 You.gov survey found that about 65 percent of adults prefer “Merry Christmas” greetings over “Happy Holidays,” a similar result from a 2022 Monmouth poll that found a 61 percent majority preferring “Merry Christmas.”

For the last 24 years, Liberty Counsel has been evaluating the websites of certain retailers and how they approach the Christmas season through their online holiday marketing campaigns. While many retailers consistently acknowledge Christmas by using the word “Christmas” prominently and often, many others tend to avoid the word entirely and sanitize their websites with holiday-neutral greetings and generic gift titles.

Years ago, Walmart had banned its employees from even responding with the phrase “Merry Christmas.” Now the company is consistently on the “Nice List” by embracing the Christmas season. Three years ago, Target was on the Naughty List for going “all in” on woke “pride” decorations that mocked the Christmas holiday. However, the department store has earned a spot on the Nice List for the third year in a row by selling items that celebrate Christmas. Two companies on the 2025 Naughty List moved to the Nice List in 2026—Barnes & Noble and Big Lots. Barnes & Noble is featuring holiday gift cards saying, “Merry Christmas,” while Big Lots chose to feature a “Christmas” section on the seasonal page of its website. Thankfully, many other companies continue to acknowledge Christ’s birth during the season. Costco, Dillard’s, Hallmark, Hobby Lobby Stores, The Home Depot, Kohl’s, Lowe’s, and Sam’s Club are just some examples of the stores on the “Nice List” for acknowledging Christmas and offering Christmas gifting options. Bass Pro Shops, Dollar General, and Dollar Tree, all newly included in 2026, each make their debuts on the Nice List.

Consistently on the Naughty List for censoring Christmas from their holiday-themed campaigns are retailers such as Burlington Coat Factory, Dick’s Sporting Goods, Gap, Inc., J. Crew, Neiman Marcus, Nordstrom, TJ Maxx. Two retailers moved from the Nice List to the Naughty List in 2026: Belk and Best Buy. Each of these companies took a nearly sterilized approach to “Christmas” in their online holiday campaigns as compared to prior years.

First and foremost, Christianity remains the largest faith tradition in the United States. Christmas is both a religious holiday and a cultural tradition for Christians and is associated with worship, family traditions, nostalgia, generosity, and seasonal joy. When Christmas language, symbols, and decorations are removed, it can be viewed as society’s hostile push to marginalize the Christian identity and remove faith from public life. While corporate intentions may invoke political correctness, their displays of holiday neutrality divide rather than unify because it removes the meaningful celebration, community traditions, and joyous expression many religious Americans want at Christmastime.

Second, Christmas censorship can also trigger constitutional reflexes. The First Amendment protects religious liberty and primarily restricts what the government can do regarding Christmas expression.

In public schools, for instance, classroom discussion of the religious aspects of the holidays is permissible. A holiday display in a classroom may include a Nativity scene or other religious imagery. Public school music teachers have the freedom to include both religious and secular Christmas songs in their musical programs. If the students select their own songs independent of the direction of school officials, there is no requirement that the songs include secular selections. Students may distribute religious Christmas cards to their classmates during noninstructional time, before or after school, or between classes. If the students are not required to dress in uniform, they may wear clothing with religious words or symbols as well as religious jewelry.

In 2022, two cases involving religious liberty went to the U.S. Supreme Court which resulted in the elimination of the “Lemon Test.” The “Lemon Test” was a judge-made standard used to determine whether a law violated the First Amendment Establishment Clause. For 51 years, this so-called “test” was used to remove religious symbols and displays, such as The Ten Commandments and Nativity scenes, from the public square.

Then on May 2, 2022, the U.S. Supreme Court rejected the “Lemon Test” in Liberty Counsel’s unanimous victory in Shurtleff v. City of Boston. In this case, the High Court ruled the city violated the Constitution by censoring a private flag in a public forum open to “all applicants” merely because it was a “Christian flag.” Nearly two months later, on June 27, 2022, the High Court in Kennedy v. Bremerton School District, officially overruled the “Lemon Test” in favor of a football coach’s right to private, religious speech in silently praying on the football field after games. These cases now make it unlawful for the government to censor religious expression, symbols, or displays in public.

Liberty Counsel monitors cases each year across the country where there is intimidation by officials and groups to remove the celebration of Christmas in public and private sectors.

In 2023, city officials in Wauwatosa, Wisconsin emailed guidance to employees to refrain from using “traditional” Christmas decorations in public buildings, specifically red and green colors, to “foster a more equitable and inclusive community.” Administrators suggested using “neutral” and “non-religious” decorations, such as “snowflakes” or decorations inspired by the “Northern lights” with colors like “blue, green, and purple” to avoid “favoring any particular belief system.” After Liberty Counsel sent a demand letter to the city administrator responsible for the email demanding an immediate retraction of the ban on Christmas decorations, the administrator backpedaled the directive and allowed Christmas traditional decorations. 

Liberty Counsel Founder and Chairman Mat Staver said, “The First Amendment protects religious viewpoints from being censored by the government. Religious symbols and displays consistent with the Christmas holiday season are appropriate and constitutional on public property, including in public schools. Christmas is a recognized federal and state holiday. It makes no sense to pretend it does not exist or that the holiday should be stripped of Christian symbols and themes.” 

Liberty Counsel’s legal memorandum details how courts and the U.S. Constitution preserve the freedom to celebrate Christmas and religious holidays.

Learn more at LC.org/Christmas.