You Needn’t Be Christian To Celebrate

A Washington Post article reported that across the country twice as many Nativity scenes are being vandalized this year. Several figures of the infant Jesus have been stolen, and William Donohue, president of the Catholic League, is quoted as saying, “But this is happening so much this year, I can only see it as part of the trend of Christian-bashing and trying to stamp out Christmas.”As I drive around Staten Island looking at the decorated homes, I see many with front-yard creches lit brightly, and the undiluted words “Merry Christmas” abound in these displays. There’s not too much bashing going on in this borough, which has no problem with religious displays of all kinds.On Monday, I attended the Christmas stage show at the renovated St. George theater, which was quite a bargain at $15.The delightful production even had its own version of the Rockettes and a ballet vignette of the “The Nutcracker.” The elaborate closing featured a living Nativity scene, including a New Jersey donkey named Bill. Hymns were sung, and the narrator read the gospel on Christ’s birth, leaving no doubt about the true meaning of Christmas.To get the proper perspective of this season’s anti-Christmas campaign by the very few against the wishes of the many, I had to envision living in a country where the dominant religion was one I didn’t believe in. I tried to imagine what I’d feel like if every year this country celebrated the birth of the founder of this dominant religion by giving gifts to friends, relatives, strangers, and the needy, decorating the town with bright lights and symbols of the faith, and made the feast day a national holiday for all; if companies gave their employees bonuses and held office parties; if good will, health, and happiness were wished for all – and yet if taking part in this grand celebration did not require me to reject my own beliefs. Would I join in the celebratory mood? Of course. Why not?If I lived in a town that worshiped Frank Costanza from the “Seinfeld” TV show as the founder of the Festivus season, I might think this was a crazy thing to do, but as long as I wasn’t obligated to worship him as my god, I’d consider the celebration harmless.It would never occur to me to insist that all symbols of the religion practiced by the nation’s majority be removed. Because I am secure in my own faith and beliefs, I do not fear the influence of others practicing their faith in a nonthreatening manner. Yet this is what is happening throughout the country by individuals insisting that these Christian symbols are offensive to them. What on earth are they afraid of?When I lived in Spanish Harlem, my upstairs neighbors were a Jewish family who ran a bakery in La Marqueta under the train tracks on 113th Street. Every Christmas they’d give us presents with loaves of challah and other goodies. During the High Holidays, the adults in my family would bring them treats and offer them a toast to the New Year with a glass of Mogen David wine. That may not sound like much, but this was a poor neighborhood rich in friendships like those.It’s clear to me that the individuals most upset at the image of creches in public areas misuse the First Amendment to conceal their own lack of faith in their own principles. They express concern about their children being influenced by religion. O ye of little faith! Surely if they feel threatened by symbols exerting influence over their children, then perhaps it’s because they lack sufficient belief in their own ideology.Unfortunately, these attacks on their sacred images are provoking many Christians to enter into a defensive and angry mode. The anger that I read and hear in calls to talk-radio programs and postings on Internet forums is disconcerting, because it, too, betrays the meaning of this season: peace on earth, goodwill to all.We should feel blessed that we can express our religion publicly whether others agree with us or not. December 25 is only a symbolic date chosen to celebrate Jesus Christ, who was probably born in June. The date was selected because Christians were being persecuted and they hid their celebrations behind the pagan winter festivities. Thankfully, we don’t have to do that anymore, and we should remember the words of that Christian hymn to St. Francis: “and they’ll know we are Christians by our love, by our love.”To Christians: Merry Christmas!To everybody else: Have a happy holiday!See? It’s not that hard.

You Needn’t Be Christian To Celebrate

You Needn’t Be Christian To Celebrate

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