Is the Culture at War with Christmas?
— Thursday, December 6th, 2012 —
Flipping through magazines on an airplane the other day, I found myself sighing with irritation. An advertisement for Budweiser was tagged with the headline, “Silent Nights are Overrated.” A few minutes later, in a second magazine, I came across an ad for a high-end outdoor grill, which read: “Who says it’s better to give than to receive?”
My first reaction was one that I’ve critiqued in others, to take some sort of personal, or at least tribal, offense: “Would they advertise in Turkey during Ramadan with the line, ‘Fasting is Overrated?’ or by asking in India, ‘Who says everything is one with the universe?’”
I was missing the point—and that matters.
Every year about this time, there’s a lot of hubbub about a so-called “war on Christmas.” In some instances, there are legitimate questions of religious liberty involved and complicated church/state questions that we ought to be concerned about. More commonly, though, the outrage is directed toward the commercial marketplace, for replacing “Merry Christmas” with “Happy Holidays” and so on.
As Christians, we ought to recognize that a militant pull toward what Richard John Neuhaus called a “naked public square” is bad for people of any and all religious traditions. But there’s a difference between, for instance, standing against a school system penalizing a child for writing “Merry Christmas” on her “holiday card” and the kind of huffing and puffing we do when commercial marketers don’t “get” our Christian commitments.
I should have thought about the fact that the advertising agencies behind this beer company and this grill corporation are trying to sell products, not to offend constituencies. Taking shots at any group’s religious beliefs isn’t good economics, and that’s just the point. I’m willing to bet whoever dreamed up these ad campaigns didn’t “get” at all that they might be making fun of Jesus Christ.
Madison Avenue probably didn’t trace through that the song “Silent Night” is about the holy awe of the dawning Incarnation in Bethlehem. It’s just a Christmas song, part of the background music in our culture this time of year. Saying it’s overrated probably didn’t feel any more “insensitive” to these copywriters than making a joke about, say, decking the halls or reindeer games or Heat Miser and Cold Miser.
And they probably never thought about the fact that the statement “It is better to give than to receive” is a quotation from Jesus (Acts 20:35). It probably just seems like a Benjamin Franklin-style aphorism. It’s the same kind of thing that happens when someone says “scarlet letter” without recognizing Hawthorne or “to be or not to be” while not knowing the difference between Hamlet and Shrek.
We ought not to get outraged by all that, as though we were some protected class of victims. We ought to instead see the ways that our culture is less and less connected with the roots of basic knowledge about Christianity. Many, especially in the culture-making wing of American life, see Christmas in the same way they see Hanukkah. They know about Menorahs and dreidels, but not about the Maccabean fight.
That ought not make us angry. It ought to instead give us an opportunity to understand how we look to our neighbors. They see us more in terms of our trivialities than in terms of the depths of meaning of Incarnation and blood atonement and the kingdom of Christ. They know something about “Silent Night,” just as they know something about “Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer.” What they don’t recognize is the cosmos-shifting mystery of Immanuel as God with Us.
All that means is that we need to spend more time lovingly engaging our neighbors with the sort of news that shocks angels and redirects stargazers and knocks sheep-herders to the ground. That it seems increasingly strange is all the better—because it is strange. A gospel safe enough to sell beer and barbecue grills is a gospel too safe to make blessings flow, far as the curse is found.
Christmas, then, isn’t about a fight for our right to party. It’s a reminder that we, like every generation before us, live in a “land of deep darkness” (Isa. 9:2). The darkness isn’t overcome by sarcasm or personal offense or retaliatory insults. The light of Bethlehem shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not, cannot, will not overcome it.
And that’s enough.
21 Responses to “Is the Culture at War with Christmas?”
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Didn’t Calvin speak against the “superstitious observation of days”? Is Christmas any different? Christians get just as much into the materialistic hoopla, when the more I think about it, much like infant baptism, Christmas seems like leftover Roman Catholic baggage.
@Neophytos, Well, Jesus birth is recounted in the Bible and seems a worthy “day” to celebrate even given we do not know the exact date and the date we use has come down by tradition. Is the alternative that we as Christians *not* celebrate the birth we see as the single most important event since Creation? And insofar as Calvin may not have agreed, that is up to Calvin who doesn’t appear in my Bible and who we all know was such a fun guy anyhow. Dr. Moore was not speaking about “Christmas hoopla” as much as hoopla excluding the significance of Christ. I am as up for a party and gift giving as the next celebrant but with memory and respect for why I am so happy and not with the aggressive antipathy we see from so many now. They work very hard to justify to themselves their decision to not believe. They feel they have to tear down our beliefs to accomplish that self-justification which, if I may say so, is a pitiful way to proceed. Pitiful equals pitiable and we can only hope that the message of Love sinks in at some point. God still wants them.
@Neophytos,
No Christian is compelled to celebrate Christmas, as if eternal salvation hangs on whether or not he puts up a tree and tinsel. For that matter, you don’t have to celebrate anything: birthdays, wedding days and anniversaries, or memorial day for our veterans. Life can be all gray and antiseptic, because you have the Christian liberty to do that.
For the rest of normal Christendom which finds joy in her feasts because the God of the Feast broke into this age, we actually think it’s a big deal to involve the created order by decorating, crafting ornaments, making delicacies and fattening foods for feasting, letting mulled wine and fine drinks flow, because the Incarnation IS A BIG DEAL.
This “Roman Baggage,” you so irreverently term, is part of our household custom. Your anabaptist proclivities aside, it’s clear you’ve made little ado about something HUGE. I sorrow for you, friend, if celebration with the Church over the Divine drama of salvation has been muted, whether by a creeping gnostic-leaning ascesis, or a fundamental mis-reading of Sacred Scripture– the attitude is still soul-stealing.
Great! I wrote about this same subject in a far less articulate and astute manner on my own blog. Thank you for writing my own thoughts way better than I did! :)
Fantastic article Dr. Moore. Thank you for sharing.
All true, thank you very much. Part of the problem is we take ourselves too seriously.
But I guess I respect the skill and perception of the marketers more highly than you. I suspect that the ad writers know exactly what they are doing and are deliberately jumping onto the anti-Christian bandwagon in order to promote their product.
@Michael Hutton, I am not sure either you or I are qualified - in fact I know the Bible teaches us that we are not - to judge the hearts of others, including advertisers. But what we are to constantly judge is our own lives and whether we are shining the light of love Christ commands us to do regardless of the actions of non-believers and believers alike.
I also disagree that we, as Christians, take our selves “too seriously.” I think we instead don’t take our position in Christ serious enough. The Bible teaches us that we are ambassadors for Christ. We are to live a life of a Christian - open and obvious. It is through the light in our life - and their desire to want the peaceful, assured life of a Christian shone through us - that is our testimony, our calling and the light we are commanded to shine. We are nowhere commanded to judge others openly, loudly or with ill thoughts, nor is our ambassodorship to be used to petition advertisers, restaurants, schools, etc., to force them to “respect” our love of Christ. In fact, Christ teaches us to expect that they will not, and shine regardless - just as he did, with love, compassion for the fallen and our own personal commitment to the Lord. Instead of criticising or condemning the hearts of non-believers, we need to ensure that we draw them near by the way we live, the way we love - and then share the Gospel with them so that they may have what we have: everlasting joy, forgiveness, the love of the Father, and directions for our lives that honor God.
If advertisers, legislators, restaurant owners, and people are not revered of Christian values and insensitive to our strong commitment to Christ and what that means . . . we need look to ourselves, our lives and our “light” shone to them and ask God and the Holy Spirit to help US be better, more dedicated “doers” of the Word so that maybe one or even the many may seek Christ and be blessed by the opening of their hearts and the hearing of the Gospel. This is our task - let’s be sure every day [especially when celebrating Christ's birth] that we are being obedient in the tasks He has laid before us and not preoccupied with our own sense of hurt feelings or the “trampling of our rights” which we should expect and endure with grace in this sin-filled and dark world.
@Kathy,
I think we agree more than you suspect. I’m sorry my brevity was misleading.
Don’t you think that the more seriously we take Christ the less seriously we will take ourselves. I am in total agreement with Dr Moore and yourself that wounded offendedness is unbecoming when these culture challenges come. But I believe the more we are hid with Christ the less these things will offend the “me” in me. I think a good sense of humour helps too. This is the way in which I think we take ourselves too seriously.
With regard to judging, I suspect we will disagree somewhat there. I do not think any form of social comment needs to be quashed as judging. You jump to conclusions, Kathy. Perhaps you misjudged me. I was judging their practices, not their hearts. And this we are commanded to do. “You will know a tree by it’s fruit.” Remember also Jesus rebuke of his hearers for not being able to judge the times and his praise of the wicked servant for being shrewd.
Surely it’s a good thing to have an understanding of the trends and developments in society.
And I’m sorry Kathy, but, in this, the behaviour and track record of advertisers (as an industry) tells a clear story. Whatever can be used to sell a product will be used. Sex, profanity etc. The advertising people will use good things (humour, pathos) they will use good things in the wrong places (sex, patriotism…) and they will use bad things (shame, peer pressure, greed…) They are also very intelligent, insightful and creative. You have to be to survive in the industry.
I humbly suggest that my comment that advertising execs are smart people who say what they say in order to sell things is no more judging than your assertion that this is a sin-filled and dark world. I’m just saying they’re smart sinners, not random sinners, at least when it comes to the ads they craft.
I think, however, that my comment holds. If this is happening then it is helpful to be aware of it. I suggest that when an advertising exec has decided that (say) a deeply offensive ad will sell more beer this tells us something about the state of our culture and gives us a rough barometer to gauge our influence and respect in the target audience in particular.
Which would lead me to the same conclusion as yourself.
We have some work to do breaking down barriers, eroding stereotypes and loving our neighbours.
See I do agree after all.
God bless you.
As one who has often taken offense at merchants who fail to say “Merry Christmas”, I found this to be a challenging article. I suspect you are right regarding the lack of intent to offend on the part of the advertising agencies. I also believe that we as Christians are sensitive because we believe, with some justification, that we are fair game when it comes to the arena of public ridicule. But I also know that Jesus told us this would be the case. So, while we are not surprised, we still struggle with the need to defend our faith and our Savior. But if by doing so, we alienate the lost, what have we accomplished? I pray that as my family and I enjoyed this blessed season, we will focus on expressing kindness and compassion to others and not taking a wrong or confrontational attitude toward unbelievers. I’m not always good at that, but this article has at least caused me to consider it and pray toward that end.
@Frank Spires, Amen, Frank!
The last two paragraphs are Excellent, whether your talking about Xmas or not.
However, I just don’t understand why Christians get upset about a day that was NOT instituted as a day of worship by God, but in fact was completely man-made? You want to celebrate Christ’s birth-awesome, go ahead -it should be done everyday, especially on the Sabbath. But if someone else wants to have fun with santa clause or wants to say happy holidays instead of merry xmas, what’s the big deal? The Truth is that it is a holiday and not a Biblically instituted holy day, which is Sunday.
@Patrick Brink,
You referred to Christmass as “a day that was NOT instituted as a day of worship by God, but in fact was completely man-made.”
I challenge the assumptions that it was “completely man-made.” Of course nowhere in the Bible do we find, “And thou shalt set aside December 25th to recount the birth of the Son of God into the world.” — true enough! But you read the Lucan account of the birth of Jesus Christ, and you have the angels themselves heralding His entry into the world through song. That’s a big deal. The early Church read this piece of drama continuously, cyclically, through her prayers and liturgy announcing the very same thing year in and year out. Nowhere in the Gospel were they “told” to do this, but why do you presuppose you need a “command” to have a reason to faithfully remember this day in the life of our Lord? We don’t wait to get commands from Scripture to celebrate birthdays for loved ones and family, to commemorate and decorate war heroes who fought bravely, to repeatedly celebrate anniversaries and such — yet if you do not do these things, people rightly question what you’re hang up is (after all, “Give honor to whom honor is due.”)
But when it comes to Christmas, all of the sudden this canard about “oh, you can celebrate it every day,” is somehow an adequate apologetic to drop out of the very appropriate expressions of ceremony and tradition for those milestones in our common history that changed the world. Somehow the birth of the Messiah warrants less feasting and merry making than anniversaries and graduations.
“Man-made,” indeed! Men do what comes naturally to them, what they were designed to do. God did not have to command a Mass for Christ’s entry into this world anymore than He did a party for our little ones whom we celebrate year in and year out. But it is *fitting* to do so because the Church’s business is no less a human affair. It is more than human, yes! But no less so.
The same holds true if the apathetic (anti) Christ Mass crowd started rumblings about how Easter Day (or “Resurrection Day” for the overly scrupulous) is a man-made holiday and that we were not prescribed to celebrate it (after all, every day is Resurrection Day for us, right?)
At the end of the day any man may, in the name of “liberty”, opt out of Christ Mass. But what bondage it must be to have to go out of one’s way to avoid formalized celebration. C. S. Lewis noted how the sin of pride is often found in those who are too guarded and self-conscious to lose themselves in ceremony that is greater than themselves. It really does require taking a posture of humility to accept that the birth of the Son of God might, just might, warrant a special season of song, festivities, wine and fatted meats, liturgical chant, gift-giving, wonderment. If this occasion brought the Ministers of Fire to earth to announce such glad tidings, I should be an unthankful brute not to find as many of the faithful to commemorate and celebrate this fact.
I say, Merry Christ Mass!
Mr. Moore,
Here is the problem with your argument, the public market is marketing itself toward what it believes will sell. The markets are a direct reflection of the culture. While I agree that there is no point in huffing and puffing about Christmas in the market, your views are contributing to the continued hole hiding of Christians who think we should not be engaged in the public square at all.
As a Catholic (convert from Protestantism), I find this statement “We ought to instead see the ways that our culture is less and less connected with the roots of basic knowledge about Christianity.” EXTREMELY Ironic. Let’s ponder the words holiday and Christmas. Where did they come from??? Holiday comes from Holy Day as in Catholic liturgical Holy Days, days of in which a High Holy Mass is celebrated and Christmas comes from Christ’s Mass, a High Holy Mass that celebrates the Nativity of the Lord. The “culture” has forgotten things holy and liturgical. The history is this: the Holy Day and the Holy Mass are inseparable. Pax.
I agree with this article. You’ve raised legitimate arguments here.
But on the other hand, I think the advertisers were just doing their jobs in trying to get people’s attention by using catchphrases. They were successful, right? Coz it didn’t only catch your attention, it actually led you to write an eloquent article!
Peace on earth!