It is OK to write or pronounce “Christmas” as “Xmas,” according to Professor J.O.Y. Mante, the immediate past Moderator of the Presbyterian Church of Ghana.
He denied that using “Xmas” instead of “Christmas” was blasphemous, as some have claimed.
There is false material in the public domain that has recently gained popularity, particularly on social media, claiming that “X” is associated with evil or was blasphemous and that Christians shouldn’t use it to describe Christmas.
“Today we have come to celebrate as I have said, the birth of Jesus Christ, he is not born today oo!, we are celebrating his birthday. Nobody knows when he was born. We have created this day for him for a long time and we celebrate it.”
“Recently somebody sent me a WhatsApp message that he has gotten a message that we should never say ‘Xmas’ because the ‘X’ is something evil and that we should say ‘Christmas’. It was a school [WhatsApp] page so I had to immediately go unto the page to correct the notion,” Prof Mante said.
“Please I beg you, there is nothing wrong with it. It is just that when we say ‘Christmas’, the ‘Ch’ in the Greek, it is ‘X’ that is all.
