War on Thanksgiving

I avoid stores on Black Friday. Whatever they are selling at whatever price simply isn't worth the hassle of the crowds. Though I am considering a movie tomorrow afternoon… At a small theater. Not attached to a mall.

Josh Eidelson of Salon notes that the same people who get into a snit every year in what is now known as the War on Christmas seem quite unperturbed that the commercialization of Christmas has resulted in a War on Thanksgiving. Yeah, Black Friday now begins at 6 am Thursday morning. It also seems that many of the stores that insist they are selling you Christmas presents and not Holiday gifts are the ones opening on Thanksgiving day.

Unpaid celebrity endorser in a made-up war

Justin Lee of the Gay Christian Network discusses why Christians should avoid The War on Christmas. He gives several reasons.

* There are many holidays in December. Wishing people a generic "Happy Holidays" includes them too. It is respectful of non-Christians.

* Forcing people to refer to an event centered on Jesus when they don't believe in him is like taking God's name in vain (and there is a Top Ten against that).

* Jesus is not an unpaid celebrity endorser for Wal-Mart, so it is better to leave him out of a secular practice -- what does buying a flat-screen TV have to do with Christmas anyway?

* So many Christian traditions (the date, the tree, etc.) had pagan beginnings, so Jesus isn't entirely the "reason for the season."

A war on Groundhog Day next?

Now that Thanksgiving is behind us it is time to get ready for Christmas! As you do your Christmas shopping don't forget to remind all the salesclerks you see that you'll be rating them and their store how "Christmas Friendly" or "Christmas Negligent" or "Christmas Offensive" they are. You can check out the ratings of previous patrons by going to the Stand for Christmas website (no link-love from me, dearie). Somehow Bass Pro Shop tops the list as being most Christmas Friendly. Who'd a guessed? Department store Dillard's (not a Detroit store) got a mixed review -- perhaps reviewers can't agree on what Christmas Friendly means? One review dinged them for being "too commercial" -- they're "most interested in making money rather than the real meaning of Christmas." Hellloooo! Dillard's is a store. They're in it to make money. That's what stores do. If you're so concerned about the real meaning of Christmas why are you in any store? Sheesh.

Ah, but the culture war is expanding. There is now a War on Thanksgiving. We can't let the president remove God "from American's one true Christian holiday." Apparently, Obama suggested we should thank each other and didn't mention thanking God. I think the reasoning behind the claim of a Christian holiday is that it was the Pilgrims, religious refugees that the were, who were the ones fed by the Natives. And look at what thanks they got.

The war within the war on Christmas

Every year we get crusaders trying to force people to say "Merry Christmas" instead of "Happy Holidays." You've heard it before. But having store employees say that it seems they are reinforcing the idea that Christmas is a secular, capitalist holiday, not a religious one. So why do it? Perhaps because by tying a religious tagline onto an American holiday they are pushing a tiny facet of the idea that America is a Christian nation and should be following Christian laws.

The war of Christmas is older than you think

Happy New Year! I'm back from a week in Texas visiting my brother's family and attending my nephew's wedding. While I enjoy hanging out with my nieces and nephews (I stayed with another nephew and his family), this is the brother who is the reason why I don't give much identifying information in this blog.

Another rant about the secular society reducing Christmas to just another Happy Holiday produced a commentary about how the date for Christmas was chosen. If shepherds "watched their flocks by night," which they only need to do in lambing season, then Jesus was born in the spring. So why December 25? Archaeologists now say that the Basilica of St. Anastasia in Rome was the first to celebrate the birth of Christ on the date we know. The Basilica was built next to the grotto where Romulus and Remus, founders of Rome, were supposedly nursed by a wolf, and the date had commemorated the birth of the sun god (Apollo?). It is also the date of the birth of the god Mithras. Who can throw a better party?

But Christians seem to be missing the point, and I don't mean the ones about freedom of speech and separation of church and state (though they miss those points too). The Christmas they seem to be defending these days, the one about "holiday trees" and stores accommodating pagans, is the Christmas of secular consumerism. Advent, the time leading up to Christmas, was originally set by the Church as a time of intense prayer and reflection about the theological implications of Christmas. It has become a marathon of pointless shopping. By the time the actual Christmas season (12/25 to 1/6) arrives we're sick of the whole thing. So why aren't Christians who are fearful of the dilution of their sacred day joining up with anti-consumerism progressives?

The comic strip Candorville has a Dec. 30 strip appropriate to the topic.