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THE ANNUAL FAUX OUTRAGE OVER CHRISTMAS
12/08/2009
Tis the season once again for people to get their panties in a twist about what we call this season.
Bill O’Reilly and like-minded personalities, paid to be outraged, warn their followers that there is a war on Christmas.
Mayor Russell Wiseman of Arlington, Tennessee, accused the president of delivering his speech on Afghanistan at a specific time on Tuesday night just so he could pre-empt the airing of a Peanuts Christmas special, saying further that Obama was a Muslim who didn’t believe in Christmas.
And the annual chain emails are starting up – bashing retail store employees for saying “Happy Holidays” instead of “Merry Christmas,” and reminding us to call that green thing in our living rooms a “Christmas tree” rather than something else, as if there is anything else we would call it.
All of these faux outrages have to do with a certain segment of insecure Christians thinking they own December 25th, because it is the birthday of Jesus, and no one is allowed to use that day or the days preceding it for any other celebration or purpose.
Which is really, truly, incredibly hilarious, considering what every one of us, including Christians, have already done to Christmas, and started doing hundreds of years ago. What is particularly hilarious is that the things people seem upset about – clerks saying “Happy Holidays” to them as they join in the annual consumer fest, or not honoring the Christmas tree and a Peanuts special as sacred symbols – are about as far removed from the birth of Jesus as you can get.
Just a few things to consider regarding this Holy Day - Regarding the actual date of Jesus’ birth, there were many differences of opinion in the early years of the church, and the New Testament says nothing about the date. In fact, other feasts, such as the Roman Saturnalia and Winter solstice, were associated with that time, which made the date a convenient choice for the outlawed religion and its followers who had to hide their celebration. However, in the Eastern Orthodox Churches, which are also Christian, the birth of Christ is celebrated on January 7th. So when was Jesus born? We don’t know.
In addition, many of the traditions we now associate with Christmas, such as the Christmas tree, and evergreen wreaths and garlands, had their origins in pagan customs. During Roman times, evergreen plants were brought inside the house during pagan feasts, and pagan tree worship was common among Celts, particularly around the winter solstice. That Christians have adopted some of these customs over the centuries does not make them sacred.
The most obvious hypocrisy, however, has to do with outrage over the words on some store banner or what some low paid temp worker says as he hands you the unnecessary gift you bought for someone who probably already has everything they need anyway. What difference could it possibly make to your celebration of the birth of Jesus, on a day chosen by a consensus of church authorities, centuries ago, what someone says to you around the season? Does it upset your ability to celebrate in any way you wish? I don’t think so.
The last time I checked, Christmas was alive and well in this country, and people were free to celebrate it in any way they wished. In fact, it is a legal holiday in this and many countries, and almost all businesses, with the exception of a few drug and grocery stores, are closed on that day. It should be pointed out that there is no legal holiday for any Jewish celebrations, though there are many observant Jews in our country, and there is no holiday for Muslims, or Buddhists, or any other non-Christian religion. So Christmas as a Holy Day would seem to be treated differently than the Holy Days of other religions.
Though the majority of our citizens claim to be Christians, we should remember that we are a diverse nation. During this season preceding Christmas, other shoppers are making purchases too. Some give gifts to celebrate Hanukkah, others to celebrate Quanza. What possible harm can it do to wish them “Happy Holidays,” (which includes wishes for a “Happy New Year”) rather than insist they be wished a “Merry Christmas?” Are Christians really that insecure about their own religious customs?
The term “Merry Christmas,” after all, is not even a religious term. It is a British invention, and was first used in a letter by a British admiral, though the phrase was only popularized in Dicken’s classic work “A Christmas Carol.” So what is so sacred about using the term, and why should anyone get worked up about it? The truth is, they shouldn’t.
Each year at this time, a certain segment of our population becomes fearful that there is a war on their religion or they will lose Christmas, when the reality is that for Christians, Christmas has nothing to do with how much people spend, or what they call a tree, or a cartoon special on television, or what some clerk says to them in a store.
Christmas lives inside a person, whether or not there is a holiday to celebrate it. After all, the earliest Christians helped the feast survive, when it actually was outlawed, as was their entire religion. And if Christians today truly want to keep the feast “holy,” they might consider rejecting the entire frenzied exercise of consumerism that has nothing to do with Jesus and everything to do with greedy fat cats who want to sell us things we don’t need so they can pad their bank accounts.
Then the holiday might truly be a “Holy Day.”
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