Over the next week, the paper ran a series of passionate letters, many critical of the advertisement:
"What happened to the land that my parents, Eastern European immigrants, adopted as their beloved country -- a country of fairness and tolerance?" wrote Harriet Lasher.
An Episcopal priest wrote to compare the campaign to the Nazi policy requiring Jews to identify themselves with yellow stars.
Judah Segal, executive director of the Raleigh-Cary Jewish Federation, said he was not disturbed by the advertisement, and hoped it was intended to "remind Christians that there is an essence to the holiday," not to shut out others.
"We really respect and admire people who want to have religious content in their own holiday," he said.
Wooden, 43, considers the campaign such a success that he has already set aside money in the church budget -- full-page ads cost about $7,600 -- to buy a similar advertisement next year. Fresh off the fierce debate over same-sex marriage, which he opposes, he says condemnation from the left does not trouble him. On the contrary, he said: "It seems to me the greater the persecution, the stronger the church."
As far as complaints from people of other religions go, Wooden looks at it this way: An ice-cream vendor doesn't have to like every flavor he sells.
"There's one group of people who get bullied all the time, and that's Christians," he said. "I know what it is like to be bullied. It is apartheid in reverse -- the majority is being bullied by the minority."
Little has changed at Cary Towne Center, where Wooden's members delivered letters in late October: Festoons of tiny lights twinkle from the ceiling, garlands of artificial pine deck the halls, and the word "Christmas" is hard to find. Phyllis Maultsby, who owns the shop Light Years Jewelry, said pressure would not change her holiday decorating choices.
"I'm not going to be influenced, because we embrace diversity," Maultsby said. "I certainly would never want to feel like I was being bullied."
But some retailers say they're behaving a little differently this season.
Kevin Coggins, who owns a bicycle shop called Spin Cycle in Cary, said he finds it easier -- more comfortable -- to wish people a "Merry Christmas" this year, as if after years of careful "Happy Holidays," he had suddenly been given permission.
"I think the Christians are out of the closet," Coggins said.
Ed Jones, president of the Greater Raleigh Merchants Assn., agreed. This Christmas, he is more conscious than ever of "a conspiracy of leftist-leaning people that want to bring down traditional values in our country," he said.
"I don't see anything to gain by offending others, but many of us are offended ourselves," said Jones, who owns a remodeling business. "I think we -- the collective we -- are allowing a small minority of people to rule our lives. I'm opposed to that."
His wife bought cards that read "Happy Holidays" this year, Jones said, but he was careful to ink "Merry Christmas" onto every one of them.
Times staff researcher Jenny Jarvie contributed to this report.
