The War on Christmas

[ciphergoth]

Instead of looking forward to Christmas, it is a spirit of inquiry as to how far we can go at Christmas. We are asking whether we dare, as Christians in a Christian land, whisper the Name that gives Christmas its meaning. That is, the Christians are doing the Christmas asking early this year. Christian teachers want to know if they will be discharged if they give their classes a bit of Christmas flavor, as all our teachers gave us when we were young. The contrast between the schools which we of the mature generation attended when we were young, and the schools of today whose pupils are carefully screened from the fact that Christmas celebrates Christ, is such a contrast as ought to give mature Americans a pause.

Henry Ford, 1920 (propogated from ebonmuse)

Comments

[dreamsewing.livejournal.com]

*pauses* That's the first recent para/quote I find more pleasant/LESS disturbing OUT of context.

[ciphergoth.livejournal.com]

Yes, I didn't put the full context in the text of the link because it's more disturbing if you only find it when you click/hover over...

[redcountess]

*shrug* Every generation thinks it's got it worse than the previous one.

Besides, Henry Ford inspired Brave New World ;)

[pavlos.livejournal.com]

The inconsistency is real. There are two questions to consider:

Q1: Is Christmas a meaningful religious event, or a diluted and reformed commercial fete?
Q2: Is Christmas a community holiday that one can partake if they belong, or is it a social norm that applies to all?

The answers give rise to four ways of dealing with the holiday:

00: A meaningless commercial fete that you can be part of or ignore. The strong secular/humanist view. My preference (I mean I'd like it to be forgotten completely, but this will do).
01: A meaningless commercial fete that is imposed as a social norm on everyone. The status quo in the West. Motivated by profit but also a regrouping tactic of establishmentarianism. Annoying.
10: A meaningful religious event for Christians only. Good for you if you are one, a cultural curiosity otherwise. It's like this, for example, in Japan. Orthodox Easter is somewhat like that. I wouldn't mind that view.
11: A meaningful religious event imposed as a social norm on everyone. Clearly a goal of conservatives who seek a uniform Christian society as opposed to a multi-cultural or secular one. What Ford wanted.

[lovelybug.livejournal.com]

*waves* Nice to see you about! Me and Paul were up in Edinburgh a couple of weeks ago, and were saying we hadn't seen you in ages. Hope you're well.

Jess (changed my username)

[pavlos.livejournal.com]

*waves back* I heard from Alison. I've become a bit of a hermit, but should get myself to London at some point. Have fun.

[henry_the_cow]

There are more than these four answers. I, for example, treat Christmas as a midwinter community holiday that everyone can participate in, whether or not you particularly care about the religious elements.

Pavlos's two options of "religious significance" or "meaningless commercial fete" omit the more general community aspect of the holiday. Maybe he feels excluded from that, but that doesn't mean it doesn't exist.

[pavlos.livejournal.com]

What community though? I understand "community" as a group that you can be in or out of, and in that respect Christmas is a religious festival of the Christian community. As another example the Chinese New year is a festival of the Chinese community and i don't know if it's best described as secular or religious. I don't feel a member of either community, so I can only appreciate these festivals as a guest, or find them annoying.

There are indeed some midwinter activities that are secular and open and give a feeling of community, such as putting up an amusement fair and an ice rink alongside a german market. They literally give out warmth and light in the dark days of winter. However I don't know how to place that semantically: Is it a benign aspect of commercial Christmas? Are we pretending to be a community of German townsfolk? Is it a civic good that the city council provides? I think the latter qualifies as a good interpretation of a community holiday, so I agree in that respect.

[bileandvitriol.livejournal.com]

"Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion" had been around for a good 130-odd years in 1920.


Framers 1, Ford 0.

[OT]

[bootpunk.livejournal.com]

Well, Xmas wouldn't be too bad if I got Xmas pressies like this.

Apologies for thread hijack - hope the Quad are having a fab day. Love from me & Fran.