There I was, just two days before Christmas, making my way
through the over-crowded shops to pick up a few last minute
Christmas gifts. It’s a situation I’d been in many times before.
This time, however, something was different. Upon entering each
store, I was greeted with signs and banners that read “Happy
Christmas,” the same salutation enthusiastically offered by sales
clerks after each purchase I made. Outside the shops, Christmas
trees, lighted angels and creches adorned the busy sidewalks and a
large poster invited passers by to attend a Christmas carol service
at a nearby church. Christmas hymns could even be heard emanating
from a nearby government building.
Did 2006 mark the end of the War on Christmas?
No. In fact, this year saw many of the usual suspects lining up
to take their shots against the annual Christian festival
celebrated by 95 percent of Americans. There were agitated atheists
upset over public displays of nativity scenes, and politically
correct public schools re-writing Christmas songs so as not to
offend non-Christians. The attacks on Christmas seemed to reach new
levels of absurdity. A Texas school district barred the colors red
and green from all of its holiday displays because those colors are
most often associated with Christmas. Meanwhile, the city of
Chicago banned showing promotional clips from the movie The
Nativity Story at its annual, er, Christmas Festival.
Fortunately, I did not experience any of this bah humbuggery,
because I spent my Christmas in England, where across the country
— from London to Lands End to the Shetland Islands — Christmas
was celebrated without any of the hand-wringing and finger-wagging
that have come to dominate Christmastime in America.
I knew Christmas in England would be different when I arrived at
Gatwick Airport and saw a “Christmas tree” proudly displayed. All
week I sat amazed watching television as newscasters wished their
viewers a hearty “Happy Christmas” and talk shows held Christmas
specials. Even Britain’s leftwing Guardian newspaper announced it
was taking two days off for Christmas, writing: “We would like to
wish our readers a very Happy Christmas.”
It was all rather disconcerting. How is it that in the United
States — where 90 percent of the public calls itself Christian and
well over half goes to church — the public recognition of
Christmas has been stifled to the point that even many pious
Christians think twice about wishing their coreligionists a “Merry
Christmas”? And, how is it that in England — where according to a
Christmas Eve Guardian/ICM poll, non-believers outnumber believers
two to one, only one in ten regularly attends religious services
and an overwhelming majority (82 percent) sees religion as a cause
of division and tension in the world — Christmas still reigns
supreme?
It’s not that Americans are any more “politically correct” than
the British when it comes to religion. Anyone who has spent
significant time in Great Britain knows that tolerance, diversity
and multi-culturalism have become the cardinal virtues of British
society. Illustratively, Prince Charles recently said that when he
becomes king, he will change his title as English sovereign from
“Defender of the Faith” to “Defender of Faith.”
The reason the British celebrate Christmas with such alacrity,
paradoxically, is that for the vast majority of Britons, Christmas
and Christianity no longer represent what they once did, or indeed
what they fundamentally are. Most Britons view Christmas simply as
a custom — an inheritance from the past — and as an opportunity
to spend quality time with family and friends. So while many
Americans — an impressive majority according to most polls —
continue to understand Christmas as the celebration of the birth of
the savior of mankind, in post-Christian Britain you’d be hard
pressed to find many Englishmen who think the substance of
Christmas is much more than a sentimental myth, akin to Americans’
understanding of Halloween.
America’s Christmas wars also derive from the fact that
Christianity continues to be a powerful force in American society,
shaping our culture, politics, purchasing habits and much more. Its
substance remains wholly relevant to scores of millions of people,
which is why activist judges and liberal special interest groups
work so diligently to expel Christmas from the public square.
Christianity still matters in America.
That is not the case in Britain, however, where, for the vast
majority, Christianity is perceived as a rather quaint phenomenon,
something to read about in school history books and to be viewed in
magnificent centuries-old, and largely empty, churches. Britain has
just as many liberal advocacy groups as the United States; but most
simply do not see a need to incite a battle over something few
believe in.
Of course, Americans have their problems when it comes to
Christmas. Too many children grow up believing Christmas ends just
after the final present is opened on Christmas morning (as opposed
to January 6th, the Feast of the Epiphany). But, in the end, as
dispiriting as they are, America’s Christmas wars ought to be seen
as a sign that the birth of the Christ Child still has the power to
influence hearts and minds and that the Nativity Story has not yet
been relegated to the status of legend.
