This post was written by Patrick Rist on November 21, 2006
As we enter into the Advent season, let us pause and reflect on . . . the Culture Wars.
If you’ve managed to get on the same email lists that I have, your mailbox has been filling up with messages of outrage concerning one retailer after another jettisoning the phrase “Merry Christmas� in favor of “Seasons Greetings.� In fact, the word “Christmas� itself is being more or less banned from advertising and official business documents.
Many Christians take umbrage at this development, and call for boycotts and letter-writing campaigns. It seems like last year this issue became the cause celeb of talk radio personalities and some of the values-oriented organizations. Perhaps because the de-Christianization of Christmas has picked up momentum, the reaction is back this year with a vengeance.
The concern is that the banning of the word “Christmas� is part of the trend towards forcing religious practice and language further and further into the private sphere and out of public sight. This may be plausible. It is usually done in the name of “tolerance� or “diversity.� It does seem to single out Christianity for unwarranted severe treatment. Those making this argument may be on less firm ground when they try to assert that there is an anti-Christmas conspiracy.
There may also be an element of “special pleading� in the rhetoric used. Although it’s a historical fact that various types of Christians founded our country, and that public celebrations of Christmas were once commonplace, First Amendment interpretation has ceased to acknowledge these facts as relevant. I don’t like this, but I’m not sure that raising a ruckus over “Merry Christmas� is the best way to seek a change to the law.
(Since I’ve already transgressed into the first person voice, I may as well say that I remember the first time a person I actually knew, a brother-in-law, wished me “Season’s Greetings.� After I recovered from what I’d thought were the effects of a stun gun, I was possessed by a desire to shake him, all the more so since he’s a practicing Catholic.)
What’s at stake here? It’s hard to say. Our culture has come a long way from a full, robust view of the miracle of the Incarnation. Even much of the religious sentiments surrounding Christmas today revolve around a sappy celebration of Jesus’ baby-ness. When Christmas cards portray all the characters of the Nativity as teddy bears, one is long way from Nicea.
There was a time when I thought we should just “let the pagans have the holiday.� I confess that this was before I had children. It is true that the Puritans did not celebrate Christmas. But as much as I respect the Puritans, we don’t live in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, or under Cromwell. It would certainly be counter-cultural not to celebrate Christmas. But one would have to consider carefully if this would not appear as just simply weird, even to Christians.
Now I’m of the opinion that despite the commercialization (that’s been an issue for more than 40 years, now – see A Charlie Brown Christmas, 1965) and its increasing secularization, Christmas can be in some small way, redeemed. The first step for us as Christians is to learn again what it means — not just its story, but also its significance. The Incarnation is a rich, powerful doctrine that we need to devote ourselves to studying.
Christmas can also present an opportunity to discuss our faith with co-workers and friends. It remains, after all, a religious holiday. Asking questions about what Christmas means to them might be a way to open a conversation about Christology, of all things.
The University’s politically motivated and highly selective embrace of diversity is well documented, and need not be rehearsed here. But this season can be a time for us on the campus to model and point to the highest ideals and best traditions of the western celebration of Christmas, which have content and substance that even (some) fallen hearts desire. In other words, what we have in the Christian theology and tradition of Christmas can be a powerful witness to a university culture utterly devoid of meaning.
In all of life, including the Culture Wars (and yes, Virginia, there is one), we must choose our battles. I’m just not convinced that the battle for Christmas is one of mine. I wish those who do fight it an overwhelming victory. But my main battle concerning Christmas is within my own heart, as I seek to practice the very things I’ve discussed here.
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