I’d like to thank a Register reader who recently alerted me to a recent USA Today column by Amy Sullivan, who—according to her blurb—“is a contributing writer at Time and author of The Party Faithful: How and Why Democrats Are Closing the God Gap.”
If the Democrats are closing the “God gap,” it isn’t because of the level of thinking displayed in her column, which is titled:
Titles are often chosen by editors rather than authors, so this may not be her fault. But right now we’re only bouncing on the end of the diving board, and we’re about to plunge into the 12-foot end of the pool.
If it’s December, then it must be time to choose sides in the Christmas wars. One camp worries that the celebration of Christ’s birth has become too commercial and frantic. Its goal is a simple Christmas season, stripped of consumption and flashing lights and endless holiday parties. The other camp thinks the problem is that our December festivities are practically religiously neutral. They want shoppers to encounter more nativity scenes and fewer “happy holidays” banners.
I am at a loss to explain her perception of these two “sides.” The people who think Christmas is “too commercial” are usually the very same people who think that the “religiously neutral,” “happy holidays” issue is a big part of the problem (i.e., the commercialization leads to a de-emphasis on the religious nature of the holiday in order to sell more).
By seeing this one camp as two camps, the author is already off to a schizophrenic start. She’s imagining a single side riven against itself, when in fact she’s talking about the same side.
That doesn’t stop her from feeling torn herself, though.
Every year I’m torn. I like baking Christmas cookies. I enjoy the chance to dress up in party clothes and raise a glass with friends and colleagues. I like the excuse to give gifts to those whose lives are intertwined with mine. But as a Christian who wants to focus on the spiritual rhythms of Advent and truly commemorate God’s gift of his son to the world, I find that the Christmas season gets in the way.
We can agree that the pre-celebration of Christmas tends to step on the proper celebration of Advent.
So instead of engaging in a battle to reclaim Christmas, I propose an alternative. Let’s take Christ out of Christmas.
JAW. HITS. FLOOR.
Cutting bait . . . on Christmas? Why on earth would you do that???
The battle for the soul of Christmas ended a long time ago, and cultural forces won. That’s clear when Christmas trees fill homes and apartments in Japan, a country where 2% of the population is Christian.
This makes no sense at all.
What does the ordinary home in non-Christian Japan have to do with the “soul of Christmas” and its potential improvement in countries with a Christian heritage?
Couldn’t one view the celebration of Christmas even by non-Christians a “preparation for the gospel” (as the early Christian writer Eusebius of Caesarea would put it)—a preparation that Christians can build on, inviting non-Christians to a deeper consideration of the ultimate reason that they are celebrating?
Sullivan’s horizons are far more limited. She spends a good bit of her column pinching from what she describes as a “wonderful book, ‘Christmas: A Candid History,’ [by] Methodist minister and religious studies professor Bruce David Forbes.”
I downloaded this book, and it ain’t so wonderful. It does contain some interesting points from history, but it’s written from a faith-lite viewpoint that sharply limits its value.
Proceeding from this flawed staring point, Sullivan goes on to suggest the familiar canard about early Christians basing Christmas on pagan holidays—something for which there is no evidence (and, in fact, which there is evidence against).
At least in his book Forbes stresses how much of his theory is sheer speculation. Sullivan makes no such disclaimers.
She claims that a purely religious celebration of Christmas never existed and that it was always mixed with pagan partying. This cannot be substantiated from the historical record.
She then says:
That reality has frustrated religious communities for centuries. After the Reformation, the Puritans were appalled by the excess and non-biblical practices associated with Christmas, and launched an actual war on Christmas that culminated in the English Parliament’s 1652 decision to outlaw Christmas. In the American colonies, Puritan influence resulted in subdued observances. In fact, with few exceptions, the U.S. Congress met on Christmas Day every year until the mid-19th century.
Okay, let me get this straight. Sullivan is arguing that the battle for the soul of Christmas is irretrievably lost, and in the same breath she’s admitting that it survived a withering attack between the 1600s and the 1800s and has since become such a widespread celebration that it’s even normal in Japan?
If anything, that sounds to me like the idea of Christmas is extraordinarily resilient, and the overcommercialization of it is a recent historical phenomenon that might be no more longlasting than the Puritan attempt to suppress it was. Who knows what Christmas will be like in the year 2525—if man is still alive, if woman can survive?
When Christmas had its comeback en route to becoming the blowout holiday season we now know, it wasn’t because of religious leaders. Instead, cultural factors such as the publication in 1823 of ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas, the development of the Santa Claus figure, and the nascent social valuing of family togetherness formed our modern conception of Christmas.
So . . . maybe what we need is a new poem to rival ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas?
If one set of cultural factors has harmed the celebration of Christmas then maybe we need to work at re-evangelizing the culture, including the creation of new artistic works that better convey the Christian faith.
That’s part of that whole New Evangelization thing, right?
I’m not hearing anything that would warrant Christians abandoning Christmas. What exactly is Sullivan proposing?
t’s time to stop pretending that Christmas the cultural winter celebration is about the birth of Christ. Let’s just make it official and separate the two holidays that have been intertwined for most of the past two millenniums. It’s surprisingly easy to divide up the various Christmas assets left over from such a split.
First, there’s the name. Because Christmas the cultural season is so dominant, I propose that it retain the moniker, to be officially rendered X-mas. Everyone pronounces the holiday as “Chris-muss” anyway, which sounds like we’re honoring some dude named Chris, not the son of God. And despite campaigns by social conservatives to eliminate the greeting “happy holidays,” when a store clerk wishes me a “Merry Christmas,” she generally isn’t saying that she hopes I enjoy my religious observance of Christ’s birth.
As for the religious holiday, I’m calling it Jesus Day. When I was young, my family celebrated Christmas very literally as Jesus’ birthday. My Baptist grandmother baked a birthday cake for baby Jesus, along with more traditional cookies and pies. And at church, which we attended on Christmas Day, all the kids and children’s choir alumni gathered at the front of the sanctuary to belt out the tune “Happy Birthday, Baby Jesus.”
Hmmm. Interesting suggestion, Ms. Sullivan. One practiced within your very own lifetime—on Christmas Day yet. Maybe you’d like to devote a little more thought to that one before saying we should chuck Christ out of Christmas?
I would enjoy the goodwill and merriment of X-mas without reservation if I no longer felt it was co-opting and eclipsing my religious holiday.
I would feel all kinds of reservation and be totally weirded out. What kind of Twilight Zone holiday is this?
Lighting the Advent candles and reading daily devotions would provide a quiet respite during X-mas season.
So Advent would be celebrated at the same time as the de-Christed “X-mas”?
And on Christmas morning, instead of collapsing in an exhausted and mildly resentful heap, I could begin the real celebration with a full heart.
As a society, we need a designated time of year to celebrate with one another. We need the outlet of X-mas to give us a burst of festive energy to get through the winter. And we need fudge and Santa cookies, darn it. So let’s take Christ out of Christmas and make our culturewide secular celebration official. Just give me Jesus Day when it’s all over.
The proposal is thus to take Christmas, kick Christ out of it, rename it X-mas, and then rename St. Stephen’s Day as Jesus Day?
I’m sorry, Ms. Sullivan, but I think there are better ways to work out a “mildly resentful [holiday] heap” problem. I suggest an attitude adjustment.
Certainly there are better ways than surrendering a huge piece of Christian heritage and replacing it with something with the unbearably kitschy name “Jesus Day.”
Frankly, this plan zero chance of success, but it’s embarrassing and offensive that you would even make the suggestion.
I wonder what your Baptist grandmother would think.
Incidentally, this Friday I’m devoting an installment of the Jimmy Akin Secret Information Club to the top myths about Christmas—including the idea it’s a pagan celebration disguised as a Christian one. If you haven’t yet joined the club but do so before Friday (by going to www.SecretInfoClub.com), you’ll be sure to get this installment in your email inbox.
In the meantime, what do you think of Ms. Sullivan’s proposal?
Should we chuck Christ out of Christmas?
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To paraphrase Billy Madison:
“Ms. Sullivan, what you have just said is one of the most insanely idiotic things I have ever read. At no point during you rambling, incoherent article did you come close to anything that could even be considered resembling a rational thought. Everyone who reads this is now dumber for having seen it. I award you no points, and may God have mercy on your soul.”
Well written! Ms. Sullivans Ideas lokking like x-mess to me.
What is amazing to me is that USA Today devoted a half-page of their rag to her nonsense.
This is all a joke? Right? Come on now….. Ms. Sullivan should be checked, I believe she has had way too much eggnog!!! And that wasn’t spiked it has been nuked!!! By the way isn’t the “X” in X-Mas the Greek symbol for Christ?
Merry Christmas to all!
Thank you, thank you! It is more appreciated than you know! And we get our own secret club!?? I had no idea, does it come w/ a ring, a cape and secret handshake??? Joining right now!
She reminds me of.the.flannary O’conner character who started the ‘church of Christ without Christ- where the blind don’t see, the lame don’t walk, and what’s dead stays that way.’
I have no objection to adopting the Greek chi (X) as the symbol for Christmas. In fact, I propose we place it in every church maybe with a rho (p) superimposed. But raised Baptist I guess, Ms. Sullivan seems to have no idea what the “-mas” means.
Jimmy, I think Ms. Sullivan is 1,010 years ahead of you:
In the year 3535
Ain’t gonna need to tell the truth, tell no lies
Everything you think, do, and say
Is in the pill you took today
Just another X-ian.
No need to reinvent the wheel. What she is proposing sounds to me like the result of a proper celebration of Advent and Christmas seasons. She does realize that X-mas is still Christmas,right?
Time to round up the coal for the burlap sacks!
let’s chuck ms. sullivan
Miss Sullivan seems not to know that the true Christmas Season starts on Christmas Eve., so seeing how she is not a Catholic or even a Christian, she can party & drink all that she wants too, but of course, if Jesus (the bridegroom) just happens to come in the middle of the night, she won’t have any oil for her lamp & she will be left out in the cold with all of her party animals. Let’s face it, she makes as much sense as the big “o” with him trying to get rid of his rival: God & all of us God-fearing Catholics at the same time. Have a very Holy CHRISTmas. +JMJ+
Miss Sullivan accomplished her goal. She made us look.
Let’s keep it “Christmas” so we can remind people what we are (or should be) celebrating, and what they should be celebrating too. If non-Christians only want to celebrate family togetherness, they are free to call the season something else if they want, just as non-Catholics are free to call it Christ-service or Christ-birthday or something that doesn’t refer to Mass. Keeping the name “Christmas” is an opportunity to share the joy and truth of Christ and his Church with others.
Amy Sullivan - enough said. One of the worst writers on the topic of religion there is. A couple of years ago she attacked Midnight Mass for Christmas as being a case of culture triumphing over religion since Catholics weren’t going to Mass on Christmas day. While there are certainly vigil Masses, Midnight Mass does actually take place on Christmas day.
Does she celebrate Jesus-ween eight weeks before X-mas, too, after her resentful sugar rush wears off?
Just what we should expect from the author of “The Party Faithful: How and Why Democrats Are Closing the God Gap.”
It seems what Ms Sullivan really really wants is to bake pretty cookies, party in her red shiny dress, and celebrate ( yippee! ) and not have to feel guilty thinking about that Jesus person so much. Yeah! lets celebrate! celebrate celebrate! lets have fun and look Christmassy, and do it from Thanksgiving day, where we just finished celebrating and being so happy with our family, right through till New years day, when quite frankly, we will be all partied out . ( Enough already! ) well , January is the time for that trip south or somewhere away to re-cooperate from all that fun , and on it goes…
Even as Catholics who should know better, we tend to celebrate the Christmas season too early, the cookies and Christmas goodies are all out
and greedily consumed all through December , all Christmas parties are before Christmas, not after, and so we are all caught up in the celebration mode. The idea of fast first , feast later, is becoming remote, foreign and even contentious if suggested.
I am personally struggling and trying desperately to keep Christ in my own families Christmas. we keep the Nativity central, though it still dwarfs the tree , advent wreaths, more prayer, avoidance of excess shopping, hiding treats till Christmas eve. shopping for gifts at Chalice.org instead of struggling to buy for nieces and nephews that frankly need nothing.Ask God for one of the gifts of the Holy Spirit, ( courage! just what i needed!) I guess what i am rambling on about is that it is hard for Christians to keep Christ in his rightful place and to observe the Holy season as we should, so I think we should just ignore her silly idea, and then try our best set a good example.
“X-mas”—seriously? I think she’s been watching too much Futurama.
But I myself conversed with a priest in one of these temples and asked him why they kept Crissmas on the same day as Exmas; for it appeared to me inconvenient. But the priest replied, “It is not lawful, O stranger, for us to change the date of Chrissmas, but would that Zeus would put it into the minds of the Niatirbians to keep Exmas at some other time or not to keep it at all. For Exmas and the Rush distract the minds even of the few from sacred things. And we indeed are glad that men should make merry at Crissmas; but in Exmas there is no merriment left.” And when I asked him why they endured the Rush, he replied, “It is, O Stranger, a racket”; using (as I suppose) the words of some oracle and speaking unintelligibly to me (for a racket is an instrument which the barbarians use in a game called tennis).
But what Hecataeus says, that Exmas and Crissmas are the same, is not credible. For first, the pictures which are stamped on the Exmas-cards have nothing to do with the sacred story which the priests tell about Crissmas. And secondly, the most part of the Niatirbians, not believing the religion of the few, nevertheless send the gifts and cards and participate in the Rush and drink, wearing paper caps. But it is not likely that men, even being barbarians, should suffer so many and great things in honour of a god they do not believe in.
This, from and essay by C.S. Lewis, found here in full.
http://twog.wordpress.com/2007/12/17/cs-lewis-on-christmas-and-xmas/
Ms. Sullivan’s article was ironic.
Articles like hers smack of a sort of nouveau puritanism (well, with a small ‘p’; actual Puritans get a bad rap, after all, they were beer drinkers) that I think would repulse her if she recognized it. It’s the idea that trees and ornaments and gifts and lights and, at the extreme, holidays and celebration at all are suspicious in and of themselves. They can’t possibly coexist with something holy. As I said elsewhere, it’s the kind of mentality that sees no difference between an occasional social drinker and an alcoholic. The odd twist here is that she does seem to be trying to have it both ways whilst still condemning the ‘secular’ trappings.
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Here’s the really funny part:
Everyone pronounces the holiday as “Chris-muss” anyway, which sounds like we’re honoring some dude named Chris, not the son of God.
The etymology of the name Christopher is Greek—“Christ bearer.” You can’t get away from it even when you try.
Articles like hers smack of a sort of nouveau puritanism (well, with a small ‘p’; actual Puritans get a bad rap, after all, they were beer drinkers) that I think would repulse her if she recognized it. It’s the idea that trees and ornaments and gifts and lights and, at the extreme, holidays and celebration at all are suspicious in and of themselves. They can’t possibly coexist with something holy. As I said elsewhere, it’s the kind of mentality that sees no difference between an occasional social drinker and an alcoholic. The odd twist here is that she does seem to be trying to have it both ways whilst still condemning the ‘secular’ trappings.
Here’s the really funny part:
Everyone pronounces the holiday as “Chris-muss” anyway, which sounds like we’re honoring some dude named Chris, not the son of God.
The etymology of the name Christopher is Greek—“Christ bearer.” You can’t get away from it even when you try.
Giving up December 25th according to the Gregorian calendar might make sense if we did something constructive with it, like celebrating Christmas on according to the Julian calendar along with the Orthodox church. That would be January 7th according to the Gregorian calendar. We would strengthen our ties to the Orthodox and bypass the December holiday rat race altogether.
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