The Separation Of Church And Christmas

There are a lot of people today who want to protest any public display of Christmas Celebration, but I have to question if there is really any point at all to what these people are doing.

Of course for Christians, such as myself, Christmas is about the birth of Jesus Christ. Most of us understand quite well that December 25th was not the actual date of our Lord's birth, but since this is when it has been celebrated for a few centuries, we are willing to go with the tradition. Even Christians though, tend to take part in a lot of practices that are not uniquely Christian, or even Christian at all for that matter.

Look at some of the songs that we sing. Songs like "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas" there's really nothing Christian at all about this song, in fact, it makes reference to the Pagan festival of Yule, and talks about the Fates, which are directly out of Greek Mythology. I'm not against this song, it's catchy and whatnot, but certainly shouldn't offend anyone, as it's not a Christian song at all.

Any what's the big deal about Christmas tree's? Again, I'm not against Christmas tree's, in fact, I'm rather fond of them, but again, there is nothing uniquely Christian about them. And yet, even Christmas tree's, which also have their roots in Pagan, rather than Christian, culture, seem to be a source of consternation for some of these people. Crazy as it is, they see Christmas tree's as a way of having religion forced upon them.

Then there's Santa Claus, some people even object to Santa Claus... I mean, calling him a religious symbol, I actually object to Santa Claus for exactly the opposite reason. I feel that too many Christians make far too big of a deal about Santa Claus, at the expense of teaching their kids about Jesus, in fact, most parents, even Christian ones, get very upset if their kids stop believing in Santa, but seem to care very little if they believe about Jesus.

As for the manger scene, well, ok, that's a different argument, because that is uniquely Christian, not that I think that public displays of it should be banned, but as I said, that's a whole different argument.

My point is that, while I Celebrate the Birth of Christ, Christmas has become a very broad holiday, which can be celebrated by a wide variety of people, who celebrate for a very wide variety of reasons. It is entirely possible that someone could celebrate Christmas, take part in many of the traditions, sing a very great deal of traditional Christmas songs, have a Christmas tree, have presents, have a big family get together and a great family feast, and never Celebrate the Birth of Christ at all.

I'm not saying that this is what people should do, but it is a what a lot of people do do. So there is really nothing for people to get all bent out of shape about, just because someone says "Merry Christmas" does not mean that they are trying to force you to believe in Jesus, they are just observing a holiday, and in the US an official Federal holiday.

I do love Christmas, both for the Christian traditions, as well as for some of the secular traditions, but it's not my favorite holiday, but I won't get into all of that right now. I just don't think that people need to get all bent out of shape, Christmas shouldn't be offensive, it's a holiday that anyone can choose to celebrate, either on it's secular side, or on it's Christian side, but absolutely no one needs to be offended about it.