Ok, so how many people were surprised by me saying "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas" (or "Happy Christmas" as they say over here)? This simple change of phrase has caused such an amazing amout of controversy, it would be unbelieveable if it weren't for the fact that it's the same old ideological camps in the same old turf war that's been going on for almost a half-century now. Let me highlight some recent incidents:
- The city of Boston decided to change the name of its "Christmas Tree" to "Holiday Tree." The man who cut down the tree said he would have thrown it into the chipper if he knew about the change before. Jerry Falwell has called it part of "a concerted effort to steal Christmas."
- Target decided to wish its customers "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas."
- A city in Florida denied a request by Mr. Koenig to display a private nativity scene in a public park.
Literally thousands more could be mentioned, but these represent three fundamental areas of the Christmas battle: government, business, and private. What do all three have in common? Every decision mentioned above has been reversed by the tactics of the Christian Right, who feel that, in the words of John Gibson, "The war on Christmas really is a war on Christians."
Instead of rushing to join the infantry on either side, I've taken the chance to back up a few paces from the nativities and the trees and reflect on what we Christians are really fighting about...
Otherworldy beings in the sky. Philosophers basing their decisions about the future of global politics on astrology. People basing their hope on a line of kings. Messages coming in dreams and visions. Promises of a reversal of the political order, where poor people take over the world.
If this were a TV show, we might be entertained. More amusingly, many Christians would boycott it for having occult influences.
But this is no TV show. It's one more symbol that conservatives are trying to make sure remains permanently attached to "American culture." Are we for real?
Let's pretend this story is new, without the 2,000 years of cultural baggage attached. Pretend you're walking down the street, trying to convince people that this story is true. How many people would believe you? More to the point, would you walk into someone else's business and demand that it recognize your story?
During a carol service last night, in spite of the cultural security that comes with a traditional holiday, beyond the traditional language and comfy sweaters and warm conversation, it really hit me: we're completely crazy! This story makes the "X-Files" look unimaginative, and yet we insist that it's true! I wanted to laugh out loud and pretend I was Jack Nicholson in "One Flew over the Cuckoo's Nest."
Let's just face it, we Christians are nuts. Really. At the very least, we're strikingly un-democratic and un-patriotic, since we belive in a king who's not American, and we'll be leaving this citizenship entirely when he comes.
I, as an orthodox Christian, recognize that I am over the edge. I am not normal. No normal person would believe a story like that.
Furthermore, I'm convinced that if Christians recognized how absurd their story really is, they would stop going around demanding that the rest of the world recognize it. Our real joy would come from revelling together in our crazy story, enjoying it as only a crazy story can be enjoyed. Our Christmas services would stop pretending to be a safe cultural haven, and begin to reflect the wonderment of the insane. And strangely enough, our story might become a little more appealing when we've given up shoving it down the nation's throat and started figuring what it means to live it for ourselves. Many people who thought they believed in Christmas might realize they really don't, and many who don't might realize that they really want to.
The stated goal of cultural conservatives is to "keep the Christ in Christmas," and yet the effect of their legislative and boycotting actions is quite the opposite. An authentic Christian Christmas consists of people who believe the Christmas story getting together because of that common faith. In fact, we need to get together in order to keep the normal people's sanity from rubbing off on us. We need to keep repeating the story. But when we begin enforcing Christmas on the rest of the world (the vast majority of whom are much too rational for this sort of thing), it neccessarily becomes divorced from Christ and attached to such things as trees, presents, and other, less offensive stories. Sound familiar?
To my fellow Christians: Wake up! You're kicking the football into your own goal!
To my also-fellow non-Christians: Please excuse us Christians. I know we're crazy, but we're often quite dull as well. I sincerely hope you have a Happy (and rational) Holiday.
And lastly, to all the believers in our loony Story, and sharers in the common Faith: Merry Christmas!
8 comments:
I think i agree with you, Chris. Generally, our self-absorption causes us to demand, "You must tolerate my beliefs being in your face (but i don't want yours in mine)." The problem occurs when we believe that having nativities and 'Christmas' trees are actually helping...anything at all. Has anyone given his or her life to Christ solely based on a nativity? I have certainly never seen a store customer stop and receive Christ because of a friendly clerk's "Merry Christmas" wish.
Things will greatly improve when the loud Christians in this country realize that you cannot change someone's heart by changing their actions - you can only ask God to change their heart (and through that, their actions), while doing your part to share Christ with them.
-Brad
Well said, Chris. As a non-Christian, I heartily support any idea that gets Christian beliefs shoved down my throat just a little bit less. After all, wasn't Jesus's message one of love and tolerance, not conversion and dominance?
A few interesting points to ponder, as well...
Jesus's birth is placed sometime in the Spring of 7 to 6 BC. The holiday was moved to coincide with the Druidic observation of Solstice and the Roman observation of Saturnalia.
The "Christmas" tree is also a Druidic tradition. How many pine trees do you think there are/were in Bethlehem?
Santa Claus (Saint Nicholas) got his "traditional" red outfit from a Coca Cola add in the 30's. (http://www.saint-nick.com/santa/index.html)
Anywho, good stuff, hope you guys are doing well over in Europe. Happy Holidays to you and Mel.
Hi Chris Merry Christmas (and a Happy New Year) Sarah E. (old cello student)
Cool, cool.
I've been listening in to some of the recent jabberings and I loved reading your point of view. It's great being insane.
Merry Christmas.
I just wanted to say that it feels good to get positive feeback from both Christians and non-Christians!
"After all, wasn't Jesus's message one of love and tolerance, not conversion and dominance?"
Hm, that's an interesting thought. "Tolerance" is one of those funny words that beome part of the fundamental creed in pluralist/relativist societies. What do you mean by it? When my Dad does metal work, it means "margin of error." When people use it in a cultural context, I sometimes get the sense that it means "whatever you want to do is ok." But if I were to use the term, I would want it to mean "Even if what you're doing is not ok, I'm going to choose to tolerate it anyway."
The last sense does relate to Jesus: he "tolerated" scorn, "tolerated" violence and injustice done to himself for the sake of serving others, not to mention "tolerating" his followers' shortcomings; and we need to imitate that character. We shouldn't tolerate things because they're ok, but for the very reason that they're not.
In the end, Jesus' message is not primarily where-you-go-when-you-die, or love-your-neighbor-101; it was about God being King. For most people, that will always be an "intolerant" message: there's one King and one Kingdom. In the end, God doesn't tolerate any imitations.
But a very few people respond differently: they understand that freedom from the King is the worst kind of slavery, and servitude to the King is the only experience of true freedom. In the end, we won't have to worry about tolerating each other any more; in the shekinah glory, there is only love.
:)
Couldn't agree with you more! How schizophrenic American Christians are--they complain about the commercialization of Christmas, and then rip Walmart and Target apart for having their staff saying "Happy Holidays" instead of "Merry Christmas". I would much rather Walmart DID disassociate itself from Christmas, since it is really not providing anything specifically Christian. We also need to face the fact that there are many millions of Americans who are not Christian, and we are turning them off permanently by insisting they conform to our cultural expectations. We are practicing a form of idolatry by elevating Christmas Day to a higher level than the God we claim to adore. I would much rather see Christians live the true Christmas story EVERY day and stop wasting time and energy over the display of nativity scenes in public areas. After all, God did tell us not to make images of Him.
"We also need to face the fact that there are many millions of Americans who are not Christian, and we are turning them off permanently by insisting they conform to our cultural expectations."
The bizarre argument that many Christians use is that our cultural imperialism is really beneficial for everyone else... even if they don't think so. It goes something like this:
1) morality is good
2) Christianity promotes morality
Therefore...
3) enforcing Christian culture will help society be more moral
The Christians who follow the above argument realize that they can't enforce religion directly, so the next best thing is to enforce culture. The very people who are so eager to cry "oligarchy" about liberal judges are trying to set up their own cultural aristocracy, with increasing success.
My most profound experience of this phenomenon happenned during the 10 commandment fiasco in Alabama. James Dobson was part of a rally to support the judge who refused to take them down from a courthouse (which somehow didn't qualify as "judicial activism"...) and he made a reference to Rosa Parks, making the correlation that by refusing to take the commandments down, Christians were "refusing to sit in the back of the bus."
Amazing... apparently, Christians are the only ones who have a right to dictate what goes on our public buildings. A Christian petitioning in favor of a monument is called civil rights, but a non-Christian petitioning against it is called persecution. Where's the logic? Their cultural dictatorship means that they can cry foul when they don't get their way, and they can use the principles of democracy to support their anti-democratic vision.
The funny paradox is that these people believe that religion is necessary to protect democracy (another form of the above argument), and yet they have to override democracy in order to protect religion. Hence, "protecting democracy" really means "bypassing democracy," and "the will of the people" really means "the will of the Christian Right." Doublespeak, anyone?
I've probably offended a lot of people who might be reading this, but my only apology is that I'm not demonizing anyone except the mastermind architects of these absurb (and powerful) political/cultural movements. Most people, including most Christians, have good intentions, and they're not trying to take over the world. But if you're still offended... leave a comment and say why!
:)
My only argument with what you said above has to do with the 10 Commandments. They're not Christian!!!! The 10 Commandments are Old Testament. Granted, Christianity has its roots in the Old Testament (every major monotheistic religion today does). However, Christianity has in large part abandoned everything Old Testament, except when it is beneficial to them to have not. Christian's don't observe any Old Testament laws or holidays. Why not? If you're going to abandon that part of the OT, then you aren't allowed to get up in arms about the 10 Commandments.
All of the major Jewish holidays and laws are followed as part of the OT Covenant with G-d, which is secured by the 10 Commandments. I'm sorry, but if you're not going to follow the laws and holiday observations of the OT, then I don't think that you should be able to get upset about the 10 Commandments. Many Christians have told me that they don't follow them because "When Christ came, he set forth a new Covenant which supercedes the old Covenant." Fine. Old Covenant doesn't apply to Christians. No 10 Commandments for you!
Sorry, I just realized that I'm going off on a bit of a rant. I'll stop now.
Happy New Years!!!!
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