X is sometimes used as a shorthand for Christ (hence Xmas) but that doesn’t seem to make the meaning clearer.
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The abbreviation “XMAS” really is the answer. Some Christian communities object to that spelling, maintaining that using the “X” is akin to “taking ‘Christ’ out of ‘Christmas’“† The priest in the comic presumably fears that he is being treated by some sort of “heathen” equipment.
P.S. † – This objection ignores the fact that the “X” is derived directly from “Chi-Rho“, a very ancient symbol of Christianity.
So just before this panel the padre said “You’re taking Christ out of my Christ-Ray”?
@ Darren – I don’t think he needs to speculate on the “real” name; the question “Does the X mean that you took Christ out of it?” would be a workable antecedent.
Or desperate wordplay on “excommunicate”?
Or exorcism?
@ M-A & D-X – I think either of those EX-words would require at least one of the two “anythings” to be replaced with an “anyone“.”
@Kilby- I think that’s correct (no other explanation).
If my memory is correct, Pardon My Planet is supposed to be kind of on the vague side of things. And it does make sense, if you read Kilby’s explanation, and go back to the cartoon.
Kilby is spot on with the Chi Rho reference and, in fact, the use of “x” to represent “Christ” in manuscripts is quite ancient…. Digging for source…. I will get back to you.
As for this comic, I’m not sure if it’s Christmas. I actually would think exorcism makes the most sense given the line about it, being a concern of taking something out.
I’m still befuddled why the priest was wearing his Roman Collar during a medical procedure- those things are not permanently attached to their bodies when they become ordained.
I deeply envy all of you who have the capacity to not get this joke. If you’ve encountered the type of fulminating performative pseudo-Christianity this is making fun of, it’s hard to forget.
Those people genuinely are offended by people writing “x-mas” because they think it’s deliberately to take “Christ out of Christmas.” Even though … everything which everybody else said.
Probably so you know it’s a priest.
I’ve heard that they’re taking the “Christ out of Christmas” millions of times, but I never realized it was a reference to the X. I always thought it was about the commercialization of Christmas.
I get the taking Christ out of a Christ Ray thing, but I don’t get anyone never hearing of an X Ray before. But it is Pardon my Planet.
I thought the guy’s name was Ray. Thought the collar was a lead shield. But, yeah, probably about taking the x(Christ) out of Christmas.
Those people genuinely are offended…
Are they though? You mentioned “performative”; these seem to be the type of person looking to find offense, which is often ironic when what “offends” them is the supposed performative offense of others whom they disagree with….
As a veteran of GoComics comments, that sort of generated outrage for “forgetting the reason for the season” is all too familiar. Of course, one can reply that the reason for the season was to absorb the pagan winter solstice celebrations and convert them to a sort of Christian holiday. That doesn’t really change any minds, of course.
At first glance I thought maybe the priest had heard “X-rated” and was upset by that, perhaps because the procedure brings into view many parts of the body that are normally not uncovered in public. But then I remembered “Keep Christ in Christmas” from so many years ago when I was a good little Catholic boy.
@ Winter Wallaby – The primary complaint is against commercialism, but one prominent feature of many Christmas ad campaigns is that “XMAS” is used to save space, so there is a connection between the two.
P.S. Or, as Tom Lehrer once put it: “…the [Christmas season] gives us all a chance to reflect upon what we most deeply and sincerely believe in. I refer of course, to money.”
I agree with what everyone has said here, but vary in one degree. I don’t think he’s worried the doctors are taking ‘Christ’ out of the x-ray, but just that they are taking something out of the procedure.
He’s definitely linking it to the x replacing Christ in Xmas, and this is so ingrained in his mind (being a priest and all) that whenever he hears “x – something”, he assumes something has been left out. This is not what you want to hear when you’re about to undergo a medical procedure, hence the worry and need for reassurance.
@ Stan – That is a brilliant generalization, and right on the money (so to speak)!
P.S. It would be utterly impossible to translate this comic into German. Part of the problem is that the “fulminating … pseudo-Christianity” that Ian Osmond mentioned is virtually unknown here (virtually all Germans who are Christians are either Catholic or mainline Protestant; splintered and/or rabid Evangelicals form a vanishingly small percentage of the population). However, the primary problem is (in contrast to Scott’s comment about English readers) that most Germans would never understand what an “X-Ray” is: in German they are (still) named for their discoverer, Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen, who won the very first Nobel Prize in Physics for this work.
Comics I Don't Understand 
The abbreviation “XMAS” really is the answer. Some Christian communities object to that spelling, maintaining that using the “X” is akin to “taking ‘Christ’ out of ‘Christmas’“† The priest in the comic presumably fears that he is being treated by some sort of “heathen” equipment.
P.S. † – This objection ignores the fact that the “X” is derived directly from “Chi-Rho“, a very ancient symbol of Christianity.
So just before this panel the padre said “You’re taking Christ out of my Christ-Ray”?
@ Darren – I don’t think he needs to speculate on the “real” name; the question “Does the X mean that you took Christ out of it?” would be a workable antecedent.
Or desperate wordplay on “excommunicate”?
Or exorcism?
@ M-A & D-X – I think either of those EX-words would require at least one of the two “anythings” to be replaced with an “anyone“.”
@Kilby- I think that’s correct (no other explanation).
If my memory is correct, Pardon My Planet is supposed to be kind of on the vague side of things. And it does make sense, if you read Kilby’s explanation, and go back to the cartoon.
Kilby is spot on with the Chi Rho reference and, in fact, the use of “x” to represent “Christ” in manuscripts is quite ancient…. Digging for source…. I will get back to you.
As for this comic, I’m not sure if it’s Christmas. I actually would think exorcism makes the most sense given the line about it, being a concern of taking something out.
I’m still befuddled why the priest was wearing his Roman Collar during a medical procedure- those things are not permanently attached to their bodies when they become ordained.
I deeply envy all of you who have the capacity to not get this joke. If you’ve encountered the type of fulminating performative pseudo-Christianity this is making fun of, it’s hard to forget.
Those people genuinely are offended by people writing “x-mas” because they think it’s deliberately to take “Christ out of Christmas.” Even though … everything which everybody else said.
Probably so you know it’s a priest.
I’ve heard that they’re taking the “Christ out of Christmas” millions of times, but I never realized it was a reference to the X. I always thought it was about the commercialization of Christmas.
I get the taking Christ out of a Christ Ray thing, but I don’t get anyone never hearing of an X Ray before. But it is Pardon my Planet.
I thought the guy’s name was Ray. Thought the collar was a lead shield. But, yeah, probably about taking the x(Christ) out of Christmas.
Those people genuinely are offended…
Are they though? You mentioned “performative”; these seem to be the type of person looking to find offense, which is often ironic when what “offends” them is the supposed performative offense of others whom they disagree with….
As a veteran of GoComics comments, that sort of generated outrage for “forgetting the reason for the season” is all too familiar. Of course, one can reply that the reason for the season was to absorb the pagan winter solstice celebrations and convert them to a sort of Christian holiday. That doesn’t really change any minds, of course.
At first glance I thought maybe the priest had heard “X-rated” and was upset by that, perhaps because the procedure brings into view many parts of the body that are normally not uncovered in public. But then I remembered “Keep Christ in Christmas” from so many years ago when I was a good little Catholic boy.
@ Winter Wallaby – The primary complaint is against commercialism, but one prominent feature of many Christmas ad campaigns is that “XMAS” is used to save space, so there is a connection between the two.
P.S. Or, as Tom Lehrer once put it: “…the [Christmas season] gives us all a chance to reflect upon what we most deeply and sincerely believe in. I refer of course, to money.”
I agree with what everyone has said here, but vary in one degree. I don’t think he’s worried the doctors are taking ‘Christ’ out of the x-ray, but just that they are taking something out of the procedure.
He’s definitely linking it to the x replacing Christ in Xmas, and this is so ingrained in his mind (being a priest and all) that whenever he hears “x – something”, he assumes something has been left out. This is not what you want to hear when you’re about to undergo a medical procedure, hence the worry and need for reassurance.
@ Stan – That is a brilliant generalization, and right on the money (so to speak)!
P.S. It would be utterly impossible to translate this comic into German. Part of the problem is that the “fulminating … pseudo-Christianity” that Ian Osmond mentioned is virtually unknown here (virtually all Germans who are Christians are either Catholic or mainline Protestant; splintered and/or rabid Evangelicals form a vanishingly small percentage of the population). However, the primary problem is (in contrast to Scott’s comment about English readers) that most Germans would never understand what an “X-Ray” is: in German they are (still) named for their discoverer, Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen, who won the very first Nobel Prize in Physics for this work.