Happy Xmas (War Is Over)
Christmas is almost upon us. It's a nice time of year, even if you don't personally celebrate the holiday--bright lights, Christmas carols and so on. But it's also a time when a certain segment starts complaining about a "War On Christmas" that sometimes has me longing for December 26th.
Yes, there are people who legally want to make sure we can't force our entire society to acknowledge Christmas (which is unquestionably a religious holiday) in our public square. There are even others who would like private society to be a little more non-denominational--saying things like "Happy Holidays" over "Merry Christmas." But really, a war?
I don't claim to be an expert on the Christian religion, but I'm pretty sure there's nothing in the New Testament that demands Christians take over their government and put religious symbols on display. Quite the opposite, I've been led to understand. So maybe, in this time of peace on earth and good will towards men, they can decide to stop fighting against this "war." They may discover there was nothing really to fight against in the first place.
posted by LAGuy @ 12:15 AM
2 Comments:
Undoing cultural assumptions creates all kinds of stress. Everyone bemoans things that are not the same as what they grew up with
The worstthing that ever happened to Christianity in Europe was its assumption by the government. In Germany, at least, and probably elsewhere in Europe, a portion of people's tax revenues is actually distributed to the mainline chuch denominatons.
Now, it is true that throughout history, the Church provided a lot of government functions (social services, education, etc.) for centuries. And today, the Churches own and amintain a lot of historic properties that the government would probably assume resposnibility for if the Churches didn't.
But the impact of such a close association between the government and religion is the tarnishing of religion's reputation. People don't give to the Church (why should they, it's tax supported). As with most things government undertakes, organized religion in Europe is inefficient and its resources misdirected. And public support/respect/ participation is in steady decline.
Naturally, the religions that are seeing some success are those the government's eschew. Germany has considered banning Mormonism (as a cult). Islam, of course, is becoming more and more prevalent, and winning converts from the traditionally Christian population who see government sponsored Christianity as empty and hollow.
So as a Christian I say - God bless the First Amendment in America!
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