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THE QUESTION
Is Christmas Christian?
"Keep Christ in Christmas!" is the familiar refrain of Christians who fear the secularization of the holy day celebrating the birth of Jesus, their savior.
But in America, non-Christians often celebrate Christmas.
According to a recent poll by the Christian group LifeWay Research, "A majority of agnostics or those claiming no preference (89 percent), individuals claiming other religions (62 percent), and even atheists (55 percent) celebrate Christmas along with 97 percent of Christians."
Do you need to be Christian to celebrate Christmas? What is Christmas all about?
Posted by
On Faith on December 20, 2010 10:42 AM
FROM THE PANEL
'Happy Holidays' loses the spirit of the season
When we collapse Christmas and Chanukah into a mushy "holidays," we lose the uniqueness of both.
Posted by Jill Jacobs, on December 27, 2010 10:32 AM
A (Hindu) Christmas Carol?
Let "proper" and orthodox and religious Christmas continue in churches and homes of the believer. I certainly hope it stays as it always has been in the public space.
Posted by Aseem Shukla, on December 24, 2010 5:39 PM
Hindu leader receives warm hugs on Christmas
Christianity is the largest religion of the world and Christmas is the most widely celebrated religious festival around the globe. Even if one is a non-Christian, at many places of the world it is all around you and you end up celebrating at least non-religious portions of it.
Posted by Rajan Zed, on December 24, 2010 2:34 PM
Christians and non-Christian Christmas
"Keep Christ in Christmas" is a great reminder for Christians about "the reason for the season," but trying to put Christ into someone else's Christmas can chase them further away.
Posted by Ronald Rychlak, on December 23, 2010 12:43 PM
Cornbread and coffee with Santa
Yes, Christmas is magic for children, and New Year's Eve is a kind of Saturnalia for adults. It's all good. But, my Christmas wish always is that the love, goodwill, generosity, joy and peace that we speak of during this season will be a reality through the entire year, that we will carry the Christmas spirit with us every day of the year.
Posted by Valerie Elverton Dixon, on December 23, 2010 12:10 PM
Christmas from the mouth of a small boy
My gift this year is remembering the cold, dreary November night and the voice of a little boy, my son, who reminded me that the birth of this child Jesus was supposed to be the light that people internalized in order to change the world.
Posted by Susan K. Smith, on December 23, 2010 9:45 AM
Christians fought back for Christmas
Here in the United States, Christmas is a National Holiday celebrated by the people, by the Executive Branch, and the courts for two centuries. Christmas must be defended because liberal legal groups have threatened and filed lawsuits against towns and cities for continuing traditions.
Posted by Jordan Sekulow, on December 22, 2010 3:53 PM
Take a deep Christmas breath
For several years, I was alleged to be the evil general in charge of a war against Christmas.
Posted by Barry Lynn, on December 22, 2010 2:32 PM
The essence of christmas
If Jesus was not able to keep materialism out of the places of worship are a handful of priests going to succeed?
Posted by Arun Gandhi, on December 22, 2010 5:28 AM
How Aunt Susan may quell the "Christmas Wars"
New research suggests that the end of the so-called "Christmas wars"--battles over how exclusively Christian public greetings or holiday displays should be--may come from a surprising place: Aunt Susan.
Posted by Robert P. Jones, on December 21, 2010 3:43 PM
Christ welcomes you to His feast
Christmas is not for Christians, it is for the Lord Christ, and Jesus is merry. He loves all people, so if you are not a Christian: "Welcome to the party." God is not insecure, so even Richard Dawkins is welcome to celebrate the feast if he can loosen up enough to forget himself.
Posted by John Mark Reynolds, on December 21, 2010 2:51 PM
Christmas, Christians, and Christ
Christmas is not just about the birth of a child; it's about the birth of a whole new humanity. In Adam, all die; in Christ, all come to life again.
Posted by Fr. Frank Pavone, on December 21, 2010 10:05 AM
Christmas belongs to Christians
I love the lights, the glitter, the sparkle, and the celebration- I share in sending cards to non-Jewish friends and I enjoyg the odd Christmas drink or mince pie. But I am clear it is not my festival- and nor should it be.
Posted by Julia Neuberger, on December 21, 2010 9:31 AM
Rejoice! The good green news is born
The Deep Green Gospel (the ecological "Good News" of the Bible) is the same as the first principle of ecology: Everything that eats is also eaten. This is why Jesus is born in a manger (which, lest we forget, is a feed trough for animals). It is the reason why all of his best teachings are couched in ecological terms, using the language of animals, seeds and flowers, and the reason why, at the very end of his life he insists that he is food.
Posted by Clark Strand, on December 21, 2010 6:32 AM
Christmas has always belonged to other traditions
Instead of focusing on the Christian holy day, people today used the season to emphasize such non-Christian values as, say, consumerism, materialism, excess, overindulgence, fighting for the last "must have" toy on the shelf, and tacky displays of plastic yard ornaments.
Posted by Max Carter, on December 21, 2010 6:01 AM
Get Christ into Christmas
Every Christmas we hear again that Christmas is a mix of Christianity and paganism. Of course it is!
Posted by Willis E. Elliott, on December 21, 2010 12:27 AM
Reasons for the season
Those who want to put Christ-mas back into X-mas should at least be aware of indisputable facts about the holiday's pagan origins.
Posted by Herb Silverman, on December 20, 2010 4:28 PM
All I'm asking is for a little respect
Christmas belongs to Christians.
Posted by Jack Moline, on December 20, 2010 4:23 PM
The Winter holidays are for everyone
Much of what we now culturally consider "Christmassy" came from non-Christian/Pagan sources.
Posted by Jason Pitzl-Waters, on December 20, 2010 3:17 PM
Celebrating a Jewish Christmas
Christmas has played a role in the thought and practice of Jews for almost two thousand years.
Posted by Brad Hirschfield, on December 20, 2010 2:47 PM
Christmas for sale
Here's a radical idea. Let's move the Christian celebration of the birth of the savior, Christ our Lord, to late January, and let the marketers have the shopping part of Christmas in December. Let's realize there is no "war on Christmas." The war is over and the consumers won.
Posted by Susan Brooks Thistlethwaite, on December 20, 2010 2:41 PM
If Jesus isn't your savior, Christmas shouldn't be your holiday
It's no more "normal" for non-Christians to celebrate Christmas than it is for non-Muslims to observe Ramadan or non-Hindus to keep Diwali. Devout or otherwise, I think all non-Christians should take advantage of this annual opportunity to heighten our visibility by opting out of the Christians' birthday celebration more openly.
Posted by Tom Flynn, on December 20, 2010 1:45 PM
