Well, Christmas is over. Too many gifts, to be sure. Too much money spent, undoubtedly. All in all, however, that is OK. The gifts are symbolic of the love we share, and they mimic not only the gifts of the Magi, but the ultimate gift of the Christian savior whose birth this day was meant to celebrate.
As has been the case for several years now, the Holiday season included a lot of talk about the "war on Christmas." I tire of hearing about a supposed “war on Christmas,” but not for the reason you may think. You see, I think there really is a war on Christmas. The war is not fought with slogans like “Happy Holidays,” however. Those who say it is are simply rabble rousers, trying to feign victimhood for their own selfish interests. In my opinion, those who criticize people or institutions for wishing others a happy holiday season are engaged in ugly and divisive demagoguery. What, after all, is wrong with the phrase “Happy Holidays”, which as everyone knows, is the same as wishing someone “Happy Holy Days”? Isn’t Christmas a “Holy Day”?
Nor do I think the war on Christmas is engaged when some demand the removal of nativity scenes from the courthouse square. Surely, there are plenty of church lawns scattered across town that would be perfect sites for such displays. My local tax dollars can better serve the spirit of Christmas by providing good food and shelter to the homeless and destitute in my community.
What, then, do I mean when I say there is a “War on Christmas”? Simply this: Christmas really isn’t much of a “Holy Day” any more. The “War on Christmas” is fought when we celebrate the holiday, but not the “Holy Day”. The war is fought when we buy the gifts, but give no thought to why the tradition of gift-giving developed in the first place. The war is fought when we sing or listen to countless repetitions of “Jingle Bells” and “Winter Wonderland”, but not to “Joy to the World” or “O Come, All Ye Faithful”, or “Angels We Have Heard on High”. The war is fought when we hear “Joy to the World”, but pay no heed to the words of the first verse: “Let every heart prepare Him room.” The war is fought when we hear “O Come, All Ye Faithful”, but pay no heed to the words of the first verse: “Come and adore him, born the king of angels.” The war is fought when we wake up Christmas morning eager to open gifts, but too distracted to shout the refrain from “Angels We Have Heard on High”: “Gloria in excelsis Deo! Glory to God in the highest!” The war is fought when we are concerned more with Santa Claus and elves, than with the words proclaimed on the hillside over 2,000 years ago, “and on earth peace to men of goodwill.” I shudder to think what the real Saint Nicholas would think about that!
What really disturbs me, though, is the fact that I am one of the combatants in this war. I am just as guilty of secularizing Christmas as anyone. I’m quite good at criticizing the lack of holiness in this most holy of days, but I do very little to enhance it. I grudgingly shop and contribute to the commercialization of the holiday as much as anyone. My shadow failed to darken the entryway of any church yesterday. I was a terrific standard bearer for the war on Christmas.
Many years ago I spent Christmas in a small village in the Italian Alps. After attending a packed Christmas Eve mass, the streets of the town were filled with carolers for several hours. Bundled children sang in the frigid nighttime air into the wee hours of the morning. It was a celebration unlike anything I had ever experienced before, and have never experienced since. There was no war on Christmas that night! I can imagine if that were to happen in my neighborhood, the carolers would be dispersed for disturbing the peace. Heck, I might even be the one calling the police to the scene!
I fully understand that Christmas is infused with myth, and incorporates traditions that predate the birth of Jesus. Perhaps the second chapter of the Book of Luke is not to be taken literally, that there was no manger or heavenly host of angels singing to the shepherds. Maybe King Herod really did not order the deaths of all Jewish children under the age of two in his futile attempt to protect his dynasty from the baby King of the Jews.
I understand that Christmas celebrations have also been used in the past as an excuse to persecute minority groups whose religious beliefs were outside the mainstream of Christian society. None of this detracts from the simple beauty or purity of the story. If crimes were committed in the name of Christmas, the perpetrators cannot justify those crimes from anything contained in the biblical Christmas story. There is nothing violent about the words “Peace on Earth.”
The acknowledgement of myth in the story of Jesus’ birth does not diminish the sanctity of the celebration any more than calling Christmas a “holiday” does. What destroys the sanctity of Christmas is not the giving of gifts, but the incessant commercialization that has resulted from that practice. What destroys the sanctity of Christmas is not the absence of nativity scenes on the courthouse square, but the absence of goodwill in the hearts of those who pass by.
What destroys the sanctity of Christmas is the lack of consideration of the words spoken by the man whose birth the day honors:
I was hungry, and you gave Me no food;
I was thirsty, and you gave Me no drink;
I was a stranger, and you did not take Me in,
naked, and you did not clothe Me,
sick and imprisoned, and you did not visit Me.
To that, I plead guilty as charged, and pray for mercy.
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Comments
You write, “The war is fought when we buy the gifts, but give no thought to why the tradition of gift-giving developed in the first place.”
Interestingly, I don’t think there are any of the popular Christmas traditions that have anything at all to do with Christianity; gift-giving, putting up trees, decorating homes, parties, family gatherings, etc; all predate Christianity and none relate to the supposed birth of Jesus.
I think there are many “spirits” lurking behind the original intent of the Christian form of the December 25 celebration; none of them appear to be related to “peace on earth”, but rather to oppression of the Other. As you know, I’ve addressed some of those “spirits” in my own post to which you responded.
If you are guilty of participating in the “war on Christmas”, I say, “Keep up the good fight,” although, I think we could do without ALL the materialistic commercialization that has occurred. Of course, as you know, I am firmly anti-religion, anyway. But in the case of Christmas, I think there is much deception and corruption afoot, and I prefer to focus on the origins of this Christian “Holy Day”, that appears to have had more secular/political inspiration than anything sacred.
I fully agree with spreading “good will”, but religion is the wrong tool for that action, as it is, by its very nature, about exclusion, oppression, etc, especially Christianity, which was not created by someone named Jesus, but by others who capitalized on His name, after His departure from our realm (assuming this character, Jesus, ever really existed).
You and I seem to differ to some degree on our perception of December 25th. You think the religious components should be accentuated; I think they should be eliminated. We both agree that the superficial elements are a detriment in virtually every way possible. There must be some middle ground between our two perspectives regarding religion. Perhaps we could make New Year’s Day the major holiday of the season instead of Christmas?
A lot of bad stuff has been done to others in the name of religion. When that happens, it is a perversion of religion, not a correct practice of it. There is nothing in the Bible that justifies the atrocities of the Crusades or pogroms against the Jews.
Your antagonism toward religion in general is understandable due to the evils that have been perpetrated in religion's name. I won't speak for other religious traditions, but if Christians would only act in accordance to the book they claim to venerate, the world would be a far different and better place. If Christians would act in accordance to the book they venerate, then you may not be so antagonistic toward their religion, I suspect. Christmas is a good time to reflect on how far Christians like me are from acting like Christians, or at least what the word "Christian" means to me.
@ Boanerges and Beckster, thank you for stopping by and commenting!
Thanks for saying my outspokenness is “always welcome”. That sentiment is not always present from many people and it is not always easy to be outspoken. Without meaning to be argumentative, I wanted to address your response to me.
You present a common defense of religion; “…much good has been done because of religious faith.”
I’m always curious as to how someone might actually support that statement. Since religion is, in fact, an invention of men, it seems unlikely that one can say with any certainty that it is religious faith that actually causes the good to which you refer.
On the other hand, the “evils that have been perpetrated in religion's name” are unquestionably the result of religious faith, as individuals committing these “evils” do so because of their religious faith in leaders who direct those “evils”.
An aspect of this debate that I think is rarely discussed is that doing good deeds for others feels good; it actually creates the same bodily pleasure responses that other pleasurable experiences produce. Meanwhile, doing “evil deeds” does not. Therefore, doing good deeds is something that we do not generally have to be forced into doing. But doing evil deeds is something that the average person does not go out of their way to do. But religious faith causes people to go against their instincts, against their inherent predispositions against committing atrocities.
The problem with Christmas is that rather than create a holiday that solely honored the birth of Jesus, Christians attempted to use the celebration of his birth to eliminate the beliefs of others. Elimination of other beliefs is a foundational tenet of Christianity, as well as the other Abrahamic religions. One of the primary goals of these religions is to convert others into them. It is difficult to see how this is conducive to peace.
I present this purely in the mindset of discussion with a respected peer.
You are of course correct that the evil perpetrated in the name of religion would not have made the perpetrators "feel good." On the other hand, an anti-Jewish pogrom might have caused property to be transferred from the victims of the pogrom to the perpetrators of it, in which case the evil act did, in fact, result in some benefit for the evildoer. Even in the case of the Crusades, the knights that engaged in those evil deeds believed they benefited from papal forgiveness of their sins. They also believed they had the opportunity to benefit materially by becoming the masters of new petty kingdoms in the Mideast.
You say people possess a natural predisposition not to commit atrocities, and religion causes them to go against that predisposition. In some cases, that may be true. If so, and a Christian commits atrocities because of his religious faith, then I believe his Christian faith is badly corrupt. It is not the same Christian faith that I profess. It is not a faith that follows the teachings of the New Testament. And frankly, there are no Christians that I know who would be willing to kill or steal on the basis of their faith.
Perhaps, as John Lennon implied in "Imagine", the world would be a better place without religion. We'll never know, since as far as I know mankind has always had a religious impulse, and has created myths to explain man's place in the world. Those religions have usually entailed an almost universal moral code as well, a code which, if followed, would certainly make the world a better place.
That brings me back to the point of this post. If the people who call themselves Christians would follow the precepts of the teachings of Christ as described in the Bible, then the world would be far more peaceful than it is now, and society would be far more just. Christmas, to me, is a perfect time to reflect on the best of the Christian religious tradition, and reflect especially on the actual words one finds in the New Testament. For me, it is those words that define Christianity, not something a pope said 500 or more years ago, and certainly not something a recent president or televangelist might have done in the name of their religion.
I often wonder, as I watch these unhappy people, where Christ was in this Christmas gluttony. The only answer I could ever come up with is that it is in each of us...if we just let it in.
Five years ago I switched sides in the War. In my house it stopped being about the gifts, either the size of them or the cost of them, or the number of them. Instead I swore to make Christmas about Christ. Time with family, peace and mediating on the meaning of the day takes precedents over all other things.
It's not perfect, but it is just my way and I'm happy with it. Even this year, with all the bad crap going on in my life, Christmas day proved to be a wonderful, uplifting, and life affirming day for me.
I had a wonderful Holiday and I hope you and yours did as well. Now that it is over I want in good spirit to try and explain why many considered "leftists" insist on separation of church and state during the Saturnalia feast. Simple, they insist on the truth being recognized and acknowledged so we can all move on. All these "Christian" practices of "Christ"mas and Easter, all are ancient practices ... one shouldn't call them pagan, pagan is a greek christian slang word and hardly begins to give Platonism and so many others the respect the Catholic League simply demands today.
All the gift giving and so on is what we, humans, have done for 40,000 years or so, maybe more, maybe less, but a long time and certainly a looooooooong time before Joshua of Nazareth story was combined with the "Mass"teries by Mark, nicely gnosted by John- then sadly forged faked and frauded by Mathew and Luke. A clear-headed read makes it all clear, there are interpolations in Mathew and Luke, and the only outside reference and interpolation in Josephus, theres your problem. And that is exactly why all the other dozens of christians from gnostics to arians to cathars werent any more likely to believe in flying Magi and God's intercepting magic missile of "Petros" (Jesus spoke Greek?) - much less the eye-blinding bird droppings of Tobit, it was all military and political, simply taking the reigns of Rome, where they stay even today, and glad to hear the Pope I don't feel great about nonetheless was not hurt yesterday. I encourage anyone who wants to know the real story, how the Winter Solstice Saturnalia was stolen by the Catholic Church, to look into the real Christians, the Ecumenicals of New Rome and their entirely Christ-Like leader Bartholomew who is living a modern day crucifixion in Constantinople right now. Google 60 Minutes and Charlie (stole Columbo's hair and wardrobe) Rose shows.
The sooner we start thanking the Universe for the tilt of the Sun and the crops it brings again instead of pretending that re-birth was a trinity/logos/human metamorphosis the sooner the world will be at peace. Bless us all in 2010 ... God, she is great.
IMUA
You have a lot more confidence in the peaceful nature of man, even those who follow the ancient pre-Christian practices, than I do!
Personally, I'm giving my Christmas-Friendly rating to all the Chinese restaurants that stay open on Christmas Day and have saved many a family's dinner that didn't turn out as expected. Deck the hars with berrs of horry, fa ra ra ra ra, ra ra ra ra!
(That's "A Christmas Story" reference, for those of you who haven't seen that movie.)
It's disgusting, nauseating, and trite. It sucks.
Science and reason and western civilization makes room for peace. Does not guarantee it. We are still stuck with being human. The war you describe is against self-sacrifice and generosity, in favor of self-gratification and consumption. Our culture is at odds with its own best intentions.