The Slow Death of Christmas? (Updated from 12/2/2014)

CHRISTMAS: A Christian holiday honoring the birth of Jesus Christ, Christmas evolved over two millennia into a worldwide religious and secular celebration, incorporating many pre-Christian, pagan traditions into the festivities along the way. Today, Christmas is a time for family and friends to get together and exchange gifts.

-- http://www.history.com/topics/christmas

This would be my father in the photo (above), back in the late 1950s if memory serves.  It was when we didn't own much, but what we did own was paid for.  You'll note the "Charlie Brown" Christmas tree, sparse of limbs and, therefore, sparse of ornaments and tinsel.  Notice the homemade popcorn garland?  Dad was putting together my gift, an electric train, and the cat looked like it was vomiting a fur ball.  Soon would come a conservative Christmas meal, and prayers for family, friends, and the blessed Jesus.    

The church service would come later, for now, there was prayer.  Mom had been "indoctrinated" in scripture while she was growing up in Mississippi, and Dad was Sicilian so he was steeped in Catholicism.  We wouldn't start going to church regularly, however, until we moved to northern California when I was nine years of age.  

He would soon start his own business, money would start coming in, and my parents would feel the overwhelming urge to screw me over by sending me to Catholic School.  It seems I wasn't learning much in public school.  I was "high active" which, today, might be diagnosed as ADD.  Back then we found a way to funnel the energy.  I called them nuns.  It took a single Catholic nun to point out that I couldn't see ten feet in front of my face.  Oh, joy.  I was outfitted with black horn-rimmed "birth control" glasses.  Buddy Holly, eat your heart out!

Does anyone know what happens when optometrists increase the strength of your lenses over the course of years?  Your eyes continue to try and keep up.  Increase, get worse.  Increase, get worse.  Pretty soon you have coke bottle bottoms for lenses.  Thanks, to the practice of medical science I learned about physics, in particular, gravity.  I became adept at constantly catching my heavy glasses every time I bent over and they left my face. 

Now, where was I?  Oh, yeah...

Christmas, like Christianity, is under attack.  I know, this wasn't where I was.  But it was where I was going.

Christmas is being assaulted by our old friends of the LPO, the League of the Perpetually Offended.  When it isn't under attack by them, it seems to be inadvertently attacked by people who would normally do no harm.  A particular Jew in Seattle that was upset there was no equal space for Judaism in the airport.  

Officials removed the offending Christmas tree and the Jew was the one who cried foul.  He just wanted a space for Judaism, not to have the tree removed.  Then it was Muslims that wanted equal time for two Islamic holy days on a school calendar.  Officials took Christmas off the calendar and replaced it with something like "Winter Break."  The Muslims were incensed at this.  They didn't want Christmas removed; they only wanted their holy days recognized. 

The message always gets lost in the knee-jerk reaction.  In these types of instances, the knee-jerk reaction usually comes from the knees attached to the jerks in charge.  The LPO tends to make more ludicrous requests.  They asked for the removal of a manger scene displayed in front of a church.  In front of a church, for God's sake.  What is Christmas coming to?

Threats are coming from all sides. Believe it or not, Christianity usually finds support from pagans, Wicca, and the Church of Satan.  Fortunately, members of the League of the Perpetually Offended, the LPO, for all their efforts, usually lose their battles in court.

Unfortunately, Christianity now has a newer, more destructive, enemy... ISIS, and all the other Islamic heretics perpetrating acts of terror on innocents, like when they behead children and cut five-year-olds in half just for being a Christian, or a Jew.  These are not acts that would be condoned by Muhammad or Allah.  This is not Islam. Again, these are acts of terrorism perpetrated by Islamic heretics, not mainstream Islam.

This is not an attack on Christmas, not directly, but an attack on Christianity, and Christ.  This would be the same Christ mentioned in the Holy Qur'an, with reverence, twenty-five times.  Islam is at odds with Christianity?  No.  Nor is it at odds with Judaism.  Muhammad married two Jewish women to keep peace in the kingdom. These are terrorists, and their affiliation with Islam is probably seen as an offense to Allah.

"You have freedom of religion given by God to believe in what you believe in. But in a world where conflict is increasing, a Muslim should be a bridge-builder and a peacemaker. It was due to the Muslim practice of Islamic ideals of respect and tolerance that the key of the holiest Christian Shrine in Jerusalem, the church of the Holy Sepulcher, remains entrusted with a Muslim family, as it has been for over 1400 years."

-- Abdul Malik Mujahid, "Treating Christmas with Respect"

http://www.soundvision.com/info/christmas/ctreat.asp

"Many Christians are unaware that the true spirit of reverence which Muslims display towards Jesus (pbuh) and his mother Mary spring from the fountainhead of their faith as prescribed in the Holy Quran. Most do not know that a Muslim does not take the name of Jesus (pbuh), without saying Eesa alai-hiss-salaam i.e. (Jesus peace be upon him).

Many Christians do not know that in the Holy Qur'an Jesus (pbuh) is mentioned by name twenty-five times."

http://www.islamicity.com/articles/Articles.asp?ref=IC0312-2171

This notwithstanding, many of you probably read the title of this post and said, "What the hell, Christmas is alive and well."  Is it?  reread the definition at the top of this post.  Christmas has evolved.  It is now a time for family and friends to get together and exchange gifts.  That's what it is, according to History.com.  But, truth be known, that is what it's become for the majority of Christians, as well.  If you're really devout, you might mumble a "happy birthday" to Jesus, even if it's just at Christmas dinner.  That's if you actually sit down at a table for dinner, an exercise few make time for, anymore, and one reason for the demise of the American family.  Just my humble opinion.

Is Christmas dead?  No.  Christmas is alive and well in the hearts of atheists, and non-Christians, everywhere.  It is a time for friends and family, commercialization, and consumerism.  No?  Ask yourself when was the last time you actually sent a letter for Christmas instead of a purchased card.  When was the last time you actually took the time to write more than a few trite lines on a card that you hadn't already copied to fifty other people?  When was the last time you actually sent that many cards?  And did you give more to feed the hungry than you put under your own tree?  

When was the last time you actually thought about the true meaning of Christmas?

Christmas isn't dead, not yet.  But, it is dying a slow, painful death.  Who is to blame?  All of the perpetually offended we pay way too much attention to, just so they can go on being offended over...anything, and nothing?  No.  They are given way too much credit.  Like an annoying fly, one must remember they only exist because no one has swatted them yet.  Is it ISIS and other terrorist organizations?  No.  Christianity, like Judaism and other religions, has suffered the tyranny of intolerance.  Christians have weathered worse vermin than this for two thousand years and more.  No.  Christmas is dying because we, all of us, have fallen victim to one, or all, of the seven deadly sins.  We do so while fighting amongst ourselves.  Racism, sexism, and intolerance eat at us daily.  It is reality TV, without the TV (which was probably stolen out of your shopping cart during Black Friday).

My parents and I won't be will be celebrating a quiet Christmas this year.  My mother and father have passed on.  I will probably have a conservative dinner and open the few gifts my girlfriend and I have put under a small, non-descript, tree.  

We have come full circle at my house, only now I am the head of the household.   We will praise the Lord, and I might even take Terry to church for Christmas Mass.  I will be thankful for the gifts I have been blessed with, my children, grandchildren, and their extended families.  I will remember lessons taught to me by my mother and my father.  I will say prayers for all of my family, present and not, and I will ask God's grace for all of my friends, past and present, who struggle daily to find some inner peace.  I will also try to send more food to the soup kitchen to feed those less fortunate, for what is Christmas if it isn't a celebration of life? 

Christmas is in the heart.  It is a Christian holy day honoring the birth of Jesus Christ.  That we do anything else, on this day, is insignificant to remembering why we honor the day.  We should honor the day always, and keep the spirit alive in our hearts throughout the year.  

Christmas will never die, any more than Christianity will.  Where two or three are assembled in His name, there He is in the midst of them.  Have faith.  With faith, have hope. Have love.  Have tolerance.  Have forgiveness.  Have understanding and reasonableness.  And remember to carry Christmas in your heart throughout the year.  

If all of that fails you, remember, you have Christ. 

“I know what I really want for Christmas. I want my childhood back. Nobody is going to give me that. I might give at least the memory of it to myself if I try. I know it doesn't make sense, but since when is Christmas about sense, anyway? It is about a child, of long ago and far away, and it is about the child of now. In you and me. Waiting behind the door for hearts, for something wonderful to happen. A child who is impractical, unrealistic, simpleminded, and terribly vulnerable to joy.”

― Robert Fulghum

Editor's Note

(Re: disclaimer cum "get out of jail free" card)

Before you go getting your panties in a bunch - it is essential to understand that this is just an opinion site and, as such, can be subjected to scrutiny by anyone with a differing opinion. It doesn't make either view any more right or wrong than the other. Opinion, presented in this context, is a way of inciting others to think and, hopefully, to form their own opinions, if they haven't already done so. This is also why, occasionally, I will present an "opinion" just to stir an emotional pot. Where it may sound like I agree with the statements made, I'm more interested in getting others to consider an alternate viewpoint.

I fervently hope that we keep open and active minds when reading opinions while engaging in peaceful and constructive discussion in an arena of mutual respect concerning those opinions offered. After twenty-three years of military intelligence, I believe that engaging each other in this manner, and in this arena, is a way we will learn tolerance and respect for differing beliefs, cultures, and viewpoints.

We all fall from grace, some more often than others; it is part of being human. God's test for us is what we learn from the experience... and what we do afterward.

Pastor Tony spent 22 years with United States Air Force Intelligence as a planner, analyst, briefer, instructor, and senior manager. Following his service career, he spent 17 years working with the premier and world-renowned Western Institutional Review Board, helping to protect the rights of human subjects involved in pharmaceutical research. He also served 8 years on the Board of Directors for the Angela J. Bowen Foundation.

Ordained in 2013 as an "interfaith" minister, he founded the Congregation for Religious Tolerance in response to intolerance shown by Christians toward peaceful Islam. As a weapon for his war on intolerance, he chose the pen. He wages his "battle" in the guise of the Congregation's official online blog, The Path, of which he is both author and editor. "The Path" offers a vehicle for commentary and guidance concerning one's personal, spiritual path toward peace and the final destination for us all. He resides in Pass Christian, Mississippi, where he volunteered as the lead chaplain at a regional medical center.

Feel free to contact Pastor Tony at: tolerantpastor@gmail.com