As this holiday season has been revving up to full swing I have noticed, heard, and read some things that I think we need to think about.
First of all, you can’t even get through Halloween until you begin to see the holiday aisles going up in Wal-Mart. There’s just something about the juxtaposition of Santa Claus and Freddy Kruger that makes my skin crawl. Do we as a society have to begin the head long rush to Christmas with a daily countdown. This first countdown sign that I remember this year said we had only 64 shopping days until Christmas. 64 SHOPPING DAYS. It wouldn’t be so bad, if our culture had any remnant of what Christmas was all about.
The other thing that concerns me is the multicultural approach that our society seems to be taking. There is no denying that we live in a society with varied ethnic groups: Asian, African-American, Native American, White Europeans, Hispanics and many other smaller groups. There is denying that we live in a culture with many different religious beliefs. I am Christian. Others are Muslim. Others are Jewish. Others are (fill in the blank). Each of these ethnic and religious groups have their own traditions and their own holidays. I have no problem with this diversity of ideas and cultures. I do have a problem, however, when one or more of these sub-cultures decides that Christian references are not permissible in our society because they offend that particular sub-cultures sensitivities.
For instance, there is a movement across the country to no longer call the town Christmas tree a “Christmas tree” Christmas, after all, refers to the holiday that only Christians celebrate. Therefore, the most popular title seems now to be the Holiday Tree. The last time I checked, there is a holiday on December 25th called Christmas! Which brings to mind what is happening in Australia.
The Australian government has decided that it offensive to refer to the season as Christmas and is beginning a campaign to eradicate the term from secular use. They now want to refer to this time of the year as Winter Holiday (or for them Summer Holiday).
The cry goes up from near and far, “LET’S GET RID OF CHRISTMAS!” Our culture would love nothing more than to rid itself of the last vestiges of religion. Unless we do something, there’s a good chance that one day our children will look at us and ask, “What’s Christmas?” I don’t know about you, but I pray that day will never come, but the way things are going, I fear that it will.
Well, I’ve had my rant, now it’s your turn.
