“Sure, I know I sound like a reincarnation of a flower child, but really, do we have to be so crass during the Christmas season?” — Roland Martin

I’ve kept silent up until now regarding the apparent controversy of preferring “Happy Holidays” to wishing “Merry Christmas” to the odd passerby, choosing instead to grab a front-row seat to Bill O’Reilly’s yearly frothing about the “War on Christmas” and other such nonsense. Frankly, I find the phrase useful since I encounter many people from varied religious backgrounds on a daily basis, as we all do. For example, if I know someone is an observant pagan, Jew, Muslim, or Christian, I will tailor my greeting accordingly, but one can hardly feign such intimate knowledge of the random strangers we encounter; “Happy Holidays” both conveys the spirit of “Merry Christmas” while acknowledging the existence (and validity) of a great many other religious holidays occurring around the same time. Thus, I find that those who take issue with this greeting are themselves going out of their way to be offended — not the opposite.

This week I was finally motivated into action by a recent CNN commentary, the same from which the above quote is extracted. It’s definitely worth the read: a crassly-worded article upbraiding American culture for being crass. One major point the author tries to make — a sentiment undoubtedly echoed by many across the nation — is essentially that preferring the former to the latter is tantamount to a “push to remove Christ from the Christmas season” without going into specifics over how this is being accomplished, unfortunately. This debate strikes a familiar chord with me, having taken and defended both sides of the debate at various points in my life, so I held my breath waiting for the inevitable — Martin didn’t disappoint:

A Christmas tree? Oh, no! It’s now a holiday tree. Any Christmas song that even remotely mentions Christ or has a religious undertone is being axed for being overtly religious. And I’m sorry, forget X-M-A-S. Malcolm X? Yes. X replacing Christ? No.

And around we go for yet another year.

First of all, anyone who feigns umbrage at substituting X for Christ is either ignorant or merely unaware of the fact that X is the first letter in the Greek name for Christ — Christos — and has been a universally-accepted substitute for centuries; it’s not sacrilege, it’s abbreviation. Conversely, anyone who opts to use Xmas or Xian purely for the purpose of stirring the turd should also be aware that only those with chips firmly in place on their shoulders would ever find such a thing offensive.

Secondly, that Christmas tree you so dearly love — where in the Gospels can be found any reference to decorating a tree in honor of the Messiah? Rather, this practice can be traced to ancient pagan Germanic tribes in Scandanavia, adapted for the Christian observance of Christmas by Saint Boniface. So why choose to be outraged over something so trivial? What does a Christmas tree, no matter what its called, have anything to do with the Biblical account of the birth of Christ?

Finally, I actually prefer the deeply religious Christmas carols over the secular any day of the week, mainly because they’re less hokey and, of course, inextricably linked to my childhood celebration of Christmas. I endure a similar struggle to the one Martin mentions even within my own church: as a composer, I am constantly at odds with the Unitarian Universalists because the texts I choose are ostensibly “too Christian.” I tend to choose Biblical texts because, whether you love or hate the book or even recognize its authenticity, it has been a rich resource for composers for centuries. This fall I was asked by a local Unitarian church to write a choral setting of the traditional Irish Rune of Hospitality — which mentions the Triune and Christ — and again this was decried by numerous other UU music directors as being “too Christian” despite the fact that a.) the central message of the text is hospitality, not belief in the Trinity, and b.) it was written by an atheist who believes neither in the Triune God or that Christ is the savior of humanity. The fact is, my non-belief changes in no way the purity of the text’s message, nor does it negate the fact that such belief is paramount in the lives of many, in turn providing a wonderful snapshot of the culture from which this text originates. It isn’t necessary to believe every single detail; what on earth ever happened to thinking for ourselves?

For me, the fatal twist of the knife in this article was Martin’s admonishment that “we should continue to remember that Jesus is the reason for the season.” For Christians, yes, absolutely — I’m behind you completely. But let me be blunt: Jesus is not the reason for my season, nor, I imagine, is he the reason for the season for a great many of us. Why make such a blanket declaration to a nation that includes many whose religious views don’t include the deity or even the existence of Jesus? And to those who proclaim a similar sentiment to Martin, I ask one simple question: what does that even mean? Would Jesus really have wanted us to restrict adherence to his teachings to one month of the year? Isn’t it far greater to do so year-round? And, knowing this to be true, what is it specifically that makes Christmas so special?

I’ve asked myself that question quite a lot, actually. Even when I was a Christian, the birth of the savior was not the reason I looked forward to Christmas. Mainly, it was the comfort of tradition, the rituals my family had accumulated over time. School was out, gifts were exchanged, and there was an obscene amount of food just lying about the place that under normal circumstances we would never have been permitted to eat, let alone in such massive quantities. However, as I grew older, I began to feel as though I’d lost my Christmas spirit, as though Christmas was solely the providence of children — an elusive feeling to be remembered but never experienced again. I felt that way until this year. It wasn’t until I realized that holidays are about falling to your knees and getting your fingers dirty that I finally found what I was looking for. For this reason, this past year I had the best Thanksgiving I’ve had in my adult life so far. It took staying up all night shopping and cooking, then getting up at the crack of dawn and doing it all over again the next day; I finally took the focus off myself, and I found my holiday spirit.

Martin writes, “We spend an inordinate amount of time focused on shopping and buying gifts, but really, what does any of this have to do with the birth of Jesus?” I actually agree wholeheartedly that commercialism has little to do with the “true” meaning of Christmas, but I do wonder how many of those who proclaim such a noble idea are actually ready to forgo such pleasures and hop on down to the homeless shelter. Over the course of this entire article, I feel Martin presents a very confused message. I believe this season is about creating a global family — something he seems to agree with — but is that sentiment less potent if it comes from an atheist whose season doesn’t need Jesus to verify its moral content?

So, my advice to Christians who want to recapture the “true” meaning of Christmas: no presents (too commercial), no Christmas trees (those pesky pagans!), don’t sing “O Holy Night” unless you’re singing the original French text (a Unitarian minister translated the words we know and love, so gone is every reference to Jesus being responsible for the cleansing of our sins), and while you’re at it, do some scholarly research and inform us all when the actual date of Jesus’ birth was. Until then, technically Mithra is the reason for the season, since without him, Christmas never would have been designated a December holiday. And I’d rather it hadn’t, since I don’t think I can bear another chorus of “Let It Snow.”

Or, how about this preferred piece of advice: relax. Coexist. Christmas is celebrated by many around the world from all different religious backgrounds, and the percentage of people who use it as a time to truly reflect on the virgin birth in a spiritual sense is smaller than you probably imagine. To get to the “true” meaning of Christmas would require the deconstruction of a jumble of pagan and Christian elements now forever tied to the culture of this holiday. This is not cultural misappropriation; we are not hijacking your holiday. You hijacked it from the pagans long ago. So let’s make this a community effort.

Relax. Jesus will understand. It’s his job. If someone wishes you a Merry Christmas and you find it offensive, consider the sentiment behind the greeting and respond in kind. Likewise to those who are offended by “Happy Holidays.” Breathe. Relax. Coexist. I do agree, however, that “Season’s Greetings” needs to go. What the hell does that even mean? It’s so clinical, like signing “Best” at the end of a letter. So all of you Merry Christmas purists out there, behold, for I give you our shared struggle. Rejoice!

Happy Holidays, everyone!

Filed by Trevor at 6:24 am under Religion, Atheism, UU, Social Issues, Pop Culture, Fightin' Words