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4thofelevenEntertainingly idiotic editorial in The Age today, offering an incoherent criticism of modern Christmas celebrations. It’s a jumbled mess of the traditional complaints about commercialism, mixed in with brand new rants about how those damn secularists are ruining everything for those poor put-upon Christians.
And it’s clearly all secular people’s fault, as the author points out that he’s “never met a Muslim, Jew, Buddhist or Hindu who resented Christmas. Indeed, they welcome it, and hope only that their religious festivals might also get a modicum of recognition.” Of course it’s not as if he devotes any time to complaining about how schools aren’t doing anything to mark this week’s Eid festival, so it’s not as if he actually cares if other religion’s holy days are recognised or not. Still, it’s nice to see a token attempt to argue that he doesn’t have anything against other religions, just non-believers.
But clearly, secularism has destroyed Christmas, through such actions as ensuring the Myer Christmas Pageant is dominated by advertisements for products sold at – shockingly – Myer stores. I’d perhaps suggest that a Myer department store may not be the best place to be looking for a spiritual experience, and perhaps he’d be better off trying one of the rather nice churches just down the road instead. But then, I’m a filthy secularist, so what do I know?
The author’s argument is confused at best. He complains about commercialism taking over the holiday, but judging by the rest of his rant, would be thrown into a fever if stores decided to stop observing Christmas altogether. He’s annoyed at secular messages replacing explicitly Christian ones, while at the same time insisting he doesn’t expect Christmas to be a uniquely Christian festival. He wants “to keep some spiritual relevance in Christmas, for believer and atheist alike”, apparently believing that atheists will be able to find some relevance in the birth of the Christian saviour – and apparently forgetting again about the existence of non-Christian believers. So he wants a non-commercial Christmas, with corporate sponsored pageants that focus entirely on the religious message of the day, which will deliver a non-denominational generic ‘spiritual’ message to everyone, while schools teach explicitly Christian carols. Yeah… I’m going to have to get back to you on that one.
What is it about Christmas that inspires these sorts of ranting? You don’t see Christians complaining about how the non-religious aren’t participating in Easter enough; it’s a religious festival, people of that religion observe it, the rest of us eat chocolate eggs. It doesn’t seem to confuse people when you say you’re not Christian and therefore don’t observe it. Christmas though – well, alright, it’s gotten out of control. I can understand Christians not likening what it has become. But the problem isn’t that secular people are corrupting it; the only reason we’re involved at all is because people like the author of this piece are convinced that everyone needs to observe their religious festival. I’d be more than happy if Christianity returned to its religious roots – but only as long as those of us who aren’t of that religion can extricate ourselves from it. I’ve no more interest in participating in a generic ‘spiritual’ Christmas than in any other religious festival.
And it’s clearly all secular people’s fault, as the author points out that he’s “never met a Muslim, Jew, Buddhist or Hindu who resented Christmas. Indeed, they welcome it, and hope only that their religious festivals might also get a modicum of recognition.” Of course it’s not as if he devotes any time to complaining about how schools aren’t doing anything to mark this week’s Eid festival, so it’s not as if he actually cares if other religion’s holy days are recognised or not. Still, it’s nice to see a token attempt to argue that he doesn’t have anything against other religions, just non-believers.
But clearly, secularism has destroyed Christmas, through such actions as ensuring the Myer Christmas Pageant is dominated by advertisements for products sold at – shockingly – Myer stores. I’d perhaps suggest that a Myer department store may not be the best place to be looking for a spiritual experience, and perhaps he’d be better off trying one of the rather nice churches just down the road instead. But then, I’m a filthy secularist, so what do I know?
The author’s argument is confused at best. He complains about commercialism taking over the holiday, but judging by the rest of his rant, would be thrown into a fever if stores decided to stop observing Christmas altogether. He’s annoyed at secular messages replacing explicitly Christian ones, while at the same time insisting he doesn’t expect Christmas to be a uniquely Christian festival. He wants “to keep some spiritual relevance in Christmas, for believer and atheist alike”, apparently believing that atheists will be able to find some relevance in the birth of the Christian saviour – and apparently forgetting again about the existence of non-Christian believers. So he wants a non-commercial Christmas, with corporate sponsored pageants that focus entirely on the religious message of the day, which will deliver a non-denominational generic ‘spiritual’ message to everyone, while schools teach explicitly Christian carols. Yeah… I’m going to have to get back to you on that one.
What is it about Christmas that inspires these sorts of ranting? You don’t see Christians complaining about how the non-religious aren’t participating in Easter enough; it’s a religious festival, people of that religion observe it, the rest of us eat chocolate eggs. It doesn’t seem to confuse people when you say you’re not Christian and therefore don’t observe it. Christmas though – well, alright, it’s gotten out of control. I can understand Christians not likening what it has become. But the problem isn’t that secular people are corrupting it; the only reason we’re involved at all is because people like the author of this piece are convinced that everyone needs to observe their religious festival. I’d be more than happy if Christianity returned to its religious roots – but only as long as those of us who aren’t of that religion can extricate ourselves from it. I’ve no more interest in participating in a generic ‘spiritual’ Christmas than in any other religious festival.
