South of the James

By Mike Harton

So Bill O’Reilly is being lauded as the savior of Christmas, and while awaiting the victory, some are boycotting retailers who don’t use the correct code words in their advertising. As my wife says of all the electronic “humor” floating in cyberspace, some folks just have too much time on their hands! Seems every year about this time, some folks get exercised about what we call the season. Some non-believers want any derivative of Christ (Christ-mas) excised, provoking a passionate response from their counterparts to “save Christmas.”

A sampling of the letters published in Saturday’s Richmond Times-Dispatch reveals the passion on one hand, and some logical reasoning on the other. One writer laments that story of Baby Jesus is being attacked, claiming that merchants are trying to steal Christmas. Another, however, avers that merchants, business and government are not the keepers of religious holiday traditions. With the latter I must agree.

Does the decision of some merchants to substitute “holiday” for “Christmas” signal the increased secularization of our culture? Perhaps. Or does it represent growing sensitivity to the increased religious diversity of America? Perhaps. The Achilles heel of a constitutionally free country is the plurality and diversity it attracts and protects.

What strikes me is the ever present assumption of many who gladly wear the label “Christian” that they are charged with defending God, and that, indeed, they must do God’s work for him. They are driven by a mission to attack culture rather than transform it. Disney, Halloween, and more recently Harry Potter, have been objects of their wrath (and boycotts) as though each threatened to undo all that Christianity stands for.

By now we should realize that Christian ideals cannot be legislated or forced (be it school prayer or putting Christ back into Christmas). In fact, such efforts generally have the opposite effect. It would probably surprise some of these folks to learn that the early Puritans, the “ultra-religious” in this country, refused to celebrate Christmas at all, viewing it as un-Christian. My hunch is that were they to see how Christmas is “celebrated” (commercialized) today they would affirm their refusal!

One religious ethicist observes that “[Christian protesters] are not saying they want stores to really focus on Jesus this year, they’re saying, ‘No, we want stores to continue to exploit the Christian faith and use the birth of Jesus to sell things…One of the oddities of this whole debate is that here you have these folks defending the commercialization of Christmas.’”

I would aver that the modern celebration has little connection to the Christ for most people, who give little thought to the meaning of the word (just as Halloween has little connection in our minds to “All Hallows Eve”). It’s a break in the season, an opportunity to be with family and to celebrate something.

Speaking of the linguistic meanings, I wonder how many of those insisting on consistent use of “Christmas” instead of “Holiday” are equally as insistent on living the meaning of their religious label Christian (meaning Christ-like). Saving the hot air and using the energy instead to care for those who can’t afford Christmas, visiting the sick, feeding the hungry and sheltering the homeless would demonstrate both the meaning of the label and the true meaning of Christmas.

What we call a holiday is not going to change a heart, or transform a culture. Life-style and actions – modeling, if you will – have much more of an effect. And, by the way, while Christians argue their linguistic cause, many other religious traditions are witnessing to their faith by showing care to those who need it. The same letter writer who thinks Baby Jesus is under attack correctly states her right, “As an American, I have the freedom to celebrate Christmas in the tradition of the Christian religion….” Amen! But nobody has claimed otherwise! Why is she threatened by a store using “holiday” instead of Christmas?

I’ll call it Christmas, my neighbor (and fellow shopper) can call it what he likes. Words won’t change a mind—or a heart. I agree with the Times-Dispatch writer who said, “The travesty is not so much the deletion of Christ from promotions as what we do in His name. If He were still there, I bet would turn over in His grave.” Well said.

Mike Harton is a contributing writer for South of the James. An ordained minister and educator, he is currently an administrator for a Lilly Endowment grant to the Cooperative Baptist Fellowship, and he edits a CBF e-magazine. Mike currently serves as Vice President of the Task Force for Responsible Growth.