To the editor:

There are many annual complaints from people and their clergy that Christmas has become too commercial. It has become not the season to remember a world-changing event but simply the peak of financial profiting in Christ's name.

After a clergyman's recent comment, I got the thought that the hierarchy of my professed belief has finessed the secularists into proclaiming "Happy holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas." If I am right, it is both brilliant and evangelical, something my church is not noted for.

Of course, what I am talking about is to say "Happy holidays" can be exactly the same as saying "Happy Holy Days." Reference your favorite dictionary. We can properly greet our neighbors with "Happy holy day" every day of the week since there are plenty of saints to remember.

Happy Hanukkah, Happy holy days, merry Christmas -- and remember the summation of the Ten Commandments is to love God completely and to love your neighbor as yourself.

ROBERT LUCAS, Cape Girardeau