Christianity, culture and Christmas
This Christmas season is turning out to be quite odd. The presidential election this year revealed a larger “religious” population in the US than was previously thought. It seems that this has awakened those in culture who are terrified of Christianity gaining any kind of voice in the public square. This has made for a very different kind of Christmas season. Even before this year, Christmas has been a strange time of year. Originally started as a Christian celebration of the incarnation of Jesus, it has turned into an opportunity for commercial gain. It is no secret that big business counts on this time of year as one of the biggest spending seasons. Oddly though, it is they who are now trying to downplay Christian aspects of the holiday. From the Christian perspective it seems as though these companies are biting the hand that has fed them. (see an interesting article in the NYTIMES on the history of gift giving).
There are many news stories which tell of individuals who claim that any mention of certain aspects of Christianity in relation to Christmas are a broach of the separation between church and state. This can be seen most clearly through businesses who encourage their employees to say “happy holidays” as opposed to “merry Christmas” to their customers. There are others who see this as simply trying to put a band aid on an open wound and would rather that we do away with Christmas altogether. Oddly enough this has been taken to such broad extremes as trying to ban the presence of evergreen trees and forbid students to wear the colors of red and green during the month of December (see Albert Mohler’s article) This has raised concerns amongst some Christian groups who are now on the offensive, attempting to again place Christ at the center of Christmas. Recently on the news was a story about a pastor in the south who encouraged his congregation to boycott stores which did not explicitly use the phrase “merry Christmas”. This seems to be somewhat of a strange response because it uses the aspect of the season which most Christians preach against, namely commercialization and materialism, and uses it as a weapon against secular businesses.
All of this raises interesting questions related to the place of Christianity in American culture. Ought the government recognize a holiday specifically associated with a religion? If so, how much can the government implicitly condone the celebration of such holidays? Moreover, who decides which religions and holidays will be recognized? If they do not promote them in ways appropriate to the specific religion, are they being unfaithful to that religion and ought they then abandon the celebration all-together? On the other hand, it is inevitable that many religions will be present in a country. In a democracy such as America, where the country is, in some sense, governed by the people, is it not then unreasonable to think that the country recognized days of celebration will be a reflection of the concerns of the people, many of whom will be members of some form of organized religion? Even if the government tries to remain non-religious, is not this too a form of “religion”?
Perhaps something to keep in mind is that this season is not being “forced” on anyone. Although that is what the secularists want to say, no one is forcing anyone to buy or celebrate anything. I think the question we need to ask is: In America, being a free society and a democracy, the majority of people want to engage in buying and selling gifts around December; if the majority of people freely choose to do that, what should those who do not want to participate do?
In the end, this state of affairs puts both parties, secular and sacred, in difficult positions. The secular feels that religion is given too much recognition when the government sanctions religiously affiliated holidays. So too, the sacred feel that their traditions are being disrespected when the state acknowledges but severely twists them.
Given this current situation, what is the Christian’s duty? Humbly, I say that it is the Christian’s duty to live peaceably with all his or her neighbors; to let their love be genuine. I also say that it is the Christian’s duty to stand firm upon the faith once for all delivered to the saints. Be resolute in your convictions: that Jesus Christ, the second person of the Trinity was born of a Virgin; that he was both fully God and fully man; that he came to this earth to save his people from their sins; that he was crucified, died, and was buried, but that he rose again and is now with the Father in heaven and that he will come again. Jesus Christ is both Savior and Lord. That is our confession. May we honor him in all we do this season so that he, alone may receive all the glory. Merry Christmas!