{"id":3466,"date":"2015-12-28T07:01:50","date_gmt":"2015-12-28T13:01:50","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/admin.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/?p=3466"},"modified":"2015-12-28T10:45:59","modified_gmt":"2015-12-28T16:45:59","slug":"the-war-on-christmas-an-opportunity-but-also-lets-face-it-a-loss","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2015\/12\/the-war-on-christmas-an-opportunity-but-also-lets-face-it-a-loss.html","title":{"rendered":"The War on Christmas: an opportunity, but also (let’s face it) a loss"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

So in the days leading up to Christmas I spent my time reading about Islam<\/a> (yeah, I know \u2013 not very Christmassy, but I figure, there are so many authors with so many reflections on Christmas that you all will manage if I\u2019m off-topic), and one of the things I realized was that the \u201cMuslim Reform Movement\u201d seems to be occurring online and in other sorts of forums but not necessarily in communities of like-minded belivers.<\/p>\n

And as we celebrated Christmas, and watched Christmas being celebrated around us, it occurred to me that the fundamental issue in the so-called War on Christmas is this: secularists want to rid the public sphere in America of religious observance. \u00a0No crosses on public land, no nativity scenes at city hall, no Christmas parties or performances at schools, no Christmas trees at public universities, etc.<\/p>\n

But it is in our nature to want to celebrate our holidays in our communities, not just in our homes and our churches. \u00a0We want to celebrate with our neighbors, and children (and adults) want to celebrate with their classmates or workmates.<\/p>\n

So the \u201copportunity\u201d is this: \u00a0for churches to provide outreach opportunities within their neighborhoods. \u00a0Perhaps, to reinforce the neighborliness, neighboring churches could ecumenically sponsor Christmas celebrations for the neighborhood, with the cookies and crafts and Santa-visits typical of a school \u201cChristmas event\u201d but with traditional Christmas carols as well, rather than the combination of secular \u201cChristmas\u201d songs plus the Dreidel song, that seem to be the new standard at public schools.<\/p>\n

But the \u201closs\u201d is this:<\/p>\n

Consider the descriptions you read of how other cultures celebrate their holidays: \u00a0articles on \u201cChristmas in Mexico,\u201d for instance, will describe \u201cLas Posadas<\/a>,\u201d a public procession occurring for the nine days prior to Christmas, reenacting the travels of Mary and Joseph to the stable in Bethlehem. \u00a0\u201cEaster in the Philippines<\/a>\u201d yields articles about traditional Way of the Cross public reenactments. \u00a0Germany has its Christmas Markets with a Christkind greeting children, and a public advent wreath, and adds to that a public St. Martin\u2019s Day procession in November as well. \u00a0One suspects that the celebration of the two Eid festivals in Islamic countries also occur in public, rather than purely at the mosque and at home (though I can\u2019t find a nice link). \u00a0And \u2014 though I\u2019ve returned the book so can\u2019t pull a direct quote, Sumbol Ali-Karamali<\/a> talks about a feeling of missing out that Ramadan and the Muslim holidays were celebrated only in their own families and friends\u2019 homes, not as a larger community as her parents described of their childhoods. \u00a0And when we speak of traditions in other countries, we have no problem with the fact that the practices\u00a0of the majority religion dominate and are a part of public life there.<\/p>\n

When we can no longer celebrate our holidays in our communities, but must retreat to our homes and churches, we have lost something, and we have, in the service of multiculturalism, diminished our own culture. \u00a0Hence, in pursuit of the good of not excluding minority religions, we lose a part of our traditions and move even more into that impoverished version of America in which there are no traditions, and there is no culture, in which we think of traditions and culture as \u201cethnic\u201d and imported from elsewhere, not living and still vibrant.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

So in the days leading up to Christmas I spent my time reading about Islam (yeah, I know \u2013 not very Christmassy, but I figure, there are so many authors with so many reflections on Christmas that you all will manage if I\u2019m off-topic), and one of the things I realized was that the \u201cMuslim […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2209,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-3466","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\nThe War on Christmas: an opportunity, but also (let's face it) a loss<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"So in the days leading up to Christmas I spent my time reading about Islam (yeah, I know - not very Christmassy, but I figure, there are so many authors\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/janetheactuary\/2015\/12\/the-war-on-christmas-an-opportunity-but-also-lets-face-it-a-loss.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"The War on Christmas: an opportunity, but also (let's face it) a loss\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"So in the days leading up to Christmas I spent my time reading about Islam (yeah, I know - 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