The European Union’s Commissioner for Equality, Helena Dalli, recently issued a memo on inclusive communication. The guide sought to “reflect diversity” and combat “stereotypes deeply rooted in individual and collective behaviour.”

The report was full of the usual dreck about the necessity of replacing “Ladies and gentlemen” with “Dear colleagues,” and the perils of assuming anyone’s gender. It even noted that instead of potentially referring to the “colonization of Mars,” we should say “sending humans to Mars.” Okay.

But that’s not all. The EU’s Equality Czar issued this timely direction: all references to Christmas should be avoided, since referring to elements of Christian culture is tantamount to “assuming that everyone is Christian.” The generic term “holiday” is to be employed instead. The memo even implied that Christian names such as Mary and John were problematic and borderline offensive.

What about names like Muhammed, Ahmad, or Aisha? No problem? Thought so. Which is why they will soon outnumber Mary and John in much of Europe. But don’t worry, nothing else will change. For the worse, anyway. Right?

Referring to elements of Christian culture is tantamount to “assuming that everyone is Christian?” Would that mean that referring to elements of Muslim culture is the same as assuming that everyone is Muslim? Like referring to water is tantamount to assuming that everyone can swim? Preposterous.

 Fortunately, the Commissioner of the EU, Ursula von der Leyen, withdrew the guidelines after multiple complaints, stating: “It is not a mature document and does not meet to our quality standards. So I withdraw it and we will work on this document again.”

Great. Can’t wait to see what the next one proposes. Perhaps a moratorium on the word “Jewish” and/or a ban on names such as Simon and Matthew?

Onward, non-Christian soldier! Progress!

Photo credit: European Parliament CC BY 2.0 license

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