By Markham Hislop, Editor
Everybody take a deep breath. Now repeat after me: Christmas is alive and well. Worshipping Jesus Christ is still allowed in Canada. Judeo-Christian traditions have not been swamped by political correctness. And even we atheists are likely to wish you a Merry Christmas over the next few days.
A frequent theme in conversations this Christmas season is that Christmas celebrations are being neutered in the interests of socially acceptability. Justin Bills remarked on this phenomena in his recent Faith and Life column. Some of the complaints I hear include school children not being allowed to have Christmas parties or plays anymore, Nativity scenes are just about outlawed and, of course, for God’s sake don’t wish anyone a Merry Christmas.
Where is this paranoia coming from?
I don’t see much of it in Calgary, frankly. I’m an atheist and I wish people a Merry Christmas all the time. The people I’m addressing smile and respond in kind, regardless of their apparent cultural background. I’ve attended a number of Christmas parties that included decorated trees and the usual commercial Santa Claus paraphernalia. The Salvation Army’s Christmas kettles are out in full force. Nativity scenes seem to be as popular as ever. Southcentre Mall has the biggest Christmas display on the planet and Santa Claus keeps picking ‘em up and setting ‘em on his knee for yet another photograph.
Schools seem to be a common thread in the Christmas complaints, so I contacted Ted Flitton, media advisor for the Calgary Board of Eduction. He says the CBE has no formal policy on Christmas. On the subject of religion, students are taught that there are many faiths in the world and instruction is provided on the basic beliefs of the major ones. Religious celebrations should reflect the ethnic and cultural diversity of the student body, said Mr. Flitton. The nature of those celebrations is determined by individual school administrators. They can be as Christmasy or as Christ-oriented as staff and students want.
Mr. Flitton tells the story of a CBE school last year that received a complaint Christmas was not being celebrated in the school. The caller was informed a Christmas tree stood decorated in the lobby and Santa Claus was coming that very afternoon to visit the children.
That anecdote pretty much sums up the situation. Calgarians are fretting that Christmas is being suppressed while evidence to the contrary abounds all around us.
I think there are two culprits responsible for this very Grinch-like attitude.
First, as on most issues in Canada, look first to the Americans. The term “War on Christmas” was coined in the late 1990s, after some school boards banned Nativity scenes. Naturally, because it’s the litigious United States, there have been a plethora of legal challenges, from stopping the singing of carols in schools to the display of Christmas trees on government property.
But these days to really put an issue on the public map you have to make it part of the culture war between ’secular progressives” and “social conservatives.” Enter Bill O’Reillyof the Fox Network in 2005 with his wild-eyed accusations that the pupose of attacking Christmas is “to get Christianity and spirituality and Judaism out of the public square. Because if you look at what happened in Western Europe and Canada, if you can get religion out, then you can pass secular progressive programs like legalization of narcotics, euthanasia, abortion at will, gay marriage, because the objection to those things is religious- based, usually.”
My hypothesis, not proved admittedly, is that some of the Christmas Wars hysteria has bled over the 49th parallel. I see the process played out on my social media networks almost every day. One or two of my American Facebook friends will post about how Christmas – and by extension, Christians – are being persecuted in the name of political correctness, and it doesn’t take long before someone in Canada commiserates in a comment and pretty soon there is a discussion raging in which everyone feels put upon regardless of nationality.
The consequence of a wired world, I guess. With everyone so connected to everyone else we sometimes forget that our friend’s grievance is not necessarily ours. I think too many Canadians have absorbed the Christmas Wars by media (social and otherwise) osmosis.
Second, the magic of Christmas is more and more diluted every day by crass commercialism. It’s easy to think there’s a war on Christmas when for so many North Americans Christ’s birthday is little more than an excuse for plenty of gaily-wrapped loot and stuffing their face with turkey and the trimmings. The idea of Christmas as a day set aside to worship and be thankful for the Son of God is almost dead in modern society. Even for many Canadians who identify as Christians, Christmas is a holiday, not a holy day.
Here I’d like to point out a contradiction not well understood (or admitted) by social conservatives, who often lead the griping about the decline of Christmas.
Conservatives advocate for smaller and less intrusive government, free markets and the primacy of the individual, which usually expresses itself as a pro-business ideology. Well, since the election of Ronald Reagan, Maggie Thatcher and Brian Mulroney in the late 1970s and early 1980s, business has pretty much had its way (culminating in last year’s financial meltdown led by President Obama’s Wall Street fat cats, if we needed any further proof that mostly unregulated markets dont’ work all that well). And who is to blame more for the commercialization of Christmas than Madison Avenue marketing geniuses and their corporate clients?
Talk about the law of unintended consequences. Conservative governments get the state of of the business of business, and the first thing business does is corrupt conservatives’ most holy season, Christmas. When they stand before the pearly gates, conservative Christians will have a lot to answer for, including making Christmas irrelevant by turning it into just another consumer orgy.
Fortunately, for those who like a heartfelt Merry Christmas and who still want Christmas to genuinely mean something, it’s not too late. At least if you’re a Calgarian.
There are no restrictions, legal or otherwise, to demonstrations of the Christmas spirit. No tongue troopers to stop you from expressing your feelings in the name of Jesus Christ, no bylaws forbidding the erection of a Nativity scene nor school policies outlawing Christmas productions.
I suspect if you wish your Muslim or Hindu or Buddhist neighbor a Merry Christmas, he or she will grin right back and return the season’s greetings. They might even join you to sing a few carols around the neighborhood.
And as an atheist, I like that. Even if I don’t share the Christian faith, I can respect the values of this most Christian of holidays – love, charity, compassion to those less fortunate and a profound appreciation for the wonder of life. We need holidays like Christmas to remind us of the many good things humankind is capable of.
Peace on Earth and Goodwill Towards Men. All you have to do is do it. No one will stop you and most of us will probably cheer you on.
Because you certainly don’t want to leave it up to us atheists to keep the spirit of Christmas alive.
Merry Christmas from the gang at SE Calgary News
Related posts:
- MERRY CHRISTMAS VS. HAPPY HOLIDAY Justin Bills, Canyon Creek Fellowship “Merry… err.. I mean Happy...
- CHRISTMAS KINDNESS THAT CAN CHANGE A LIFE Pastor Rick Bayers, Canyon Creek Christian Fellowship It was a...
- THE MAGIC OF CHRISTMAS IN GERMANY Troy Media – By Sid Kaplan German Christmas markets, a...
- SOUTHCENTRE INTRODUCES "MAGICAL" NEW CHRISTMAS DISPLAY New Christmas display at Southcentre Mall was designed by Atlanta,...
- CONSIDER A PET ADOPTION GIFT CERTIFICATE THIS CHRISTMAS Santa Claus often leaves a puppy or kitty under the...
Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.
Here’s my Christmas card for O’Reilly and the other Christmas warriors:
http://nmmng.co.uk/498a648d
How long have you been an atheist? Why as an atheist would you wish someone a merry christmas thereby acknowledging their jesus? think you need to rethink your atheism
Dear Jim
Thanks for the comment. I’m a live and let live kind of guy. I believe people should find their own truth in their own way. If some people find truth in Christianity, great for them as long as they don’t try to impose their beliefs on me. I also try to look for commonalities and those things in life that draw us together, rather than than force us apart. Christmas exemplifies the best of Christianity, as I pointed out in my op-ed piece, and i see no contradiction supporting the holiday/holy day for that reason. I feel the same way about Islam, Judaism or any other religion. Acknowleding Jesus is not the same as believing he was the son of god and the savior of humankind. I’d argue that my atheism is tolerant and inclusive, which are not bad qualities in a belief system. If your atheism doesn’t include those qualities perhaps it’s time to do a little rethinking of your own.
Markham
How can you be pinning the economic woes on Obama and get off calling Wall St. Obama’s fat cats? I believe the economy was tanking big time on G.W.’s watch. I am sure you don’t recall John McCain cancelling his Letterman appearance during the presidential campaign because the economy was turtling. Obama wasn’t even in office yet!
Dear Bill
Thanks for the comment. You’re reading too much into that sentence. Obama recently called the bankers “fat cats” in a speech and I was alluding to that. I didn’t say, or even imply in my opinion, that Obama was responsible for the recession. The paragraph clearly states that unregulated financial markets were to blame. The deregulation of American finance was begun by Reagan and continued by every president thereafter, including Clinton and Bush. And, yes, I do remember McCain cancelling his appearance on Letterman.
Spot on.
I rethink my atheism daily…and I have been doing that ever since I slowly became one many years ago. I came from an ultra conservative christian background. My wife and kids do celebrate christmas…my living has the tree and full decor.. I have to deal with the salute of “merry christmas” several times a day.If you believe there was an actually jesus..interesting situation.
Here in Connecticut we are becoming more and more secular but have a long way to go.
Well said Markham and I appreciate the dangers you bring out through consumeristic practices. I must admit however that given a few decades ago Christianity would have definitely been suppressed in the CBE. Bonnie and I do not have any children so I must admit the atmosphere may be different now but, the 90’s would be a different story for “political correctness”.
I must admit pondering and questioning the thought pattern behind such issues as legalization of narcotics, euthanasia, abortion, and gay marriage being related to having a religious combative motif. Particularly being pointed at a Christian world view.
In the first sense, it is true that when religious beliefs are practiced as ideological they in most cases become idolatrous and corrupt which in most characterizations is reflected through exclusivity and becomes purely a moral dogmatic expectation of others rather then a relational truth shared in community. However, that ideological existence and judgmental hypocrisy is not exclusive to Christianity and can been found in any belief structure or institution including Atheism.
Morality whether understood subjectively or objectively is ultimately rooted in a person’s belief structure; whatever that might be. That being said, I do not believe that my being a follow of Christ or Christianity is entirely a moral practice. Christianity is more then moral understanding. If anything in those regards it is an acknowledgment of an incomplete moral existence which cannot be completed simply within a human conception or ideology. Hence my favorite quote, “Concepts Create idols; only wonder grasps anything.” – Gregory of Nyssa
My faith (notice I do not say “religion” as I see that more as ideological) as a follow of Jesus is in the pursuit of truth. All truth which includes moral existence but it also includes creative possibilities, beauty, and the essence of what it means to exist!
I compare it to that of light passing through a prism. In the realities of this world we see fragmented incomplete patterns containing bits of truth yet missing other parts. Yet, pass through the prism and what we find is a truth which is whole, complete, and pure. I will let you find the nature of that prism within your own journey even if I do find it in the existence of Jesus but, whatever answers that is found cannot be true within any concept or ideology which is found or created in human or worldly existence.
I guess what I’m trying to say is that solving issues such as legalization of narcotics, euthanasia, abortion, and gay marriage is more complicated then being simply a moral or religious issue. It is an issue of what is the truth or should I say the Truth?