There is a tendency among the Religious Right to talk about their victimization. The whole bogus "War on Christmas" is a great example of that. Even though most of us are perfectly happy to use the religious neutral greeting of "Happy Holidays" the Religious Right seems to think that they are being discriminated against by this inclusive phrase.
The idea that "Christ is the reason for the season" just goes to show a fundamental misunderstanding of history and cultures world wide. Just about every culture that we know of has some kind of holiday around the solstice. In ancient Rome there was the Saturnalia a week long festival running from December 17th to the 23rd, Druids celebrated rather later, when it became clear that the sun was actually raising earlier and further to the east.
"Originally posted at Squarestate.net"
And the Christians celebrate their winter holiday on the 25th of December. There is almost no biblical evidence one way or the other to pin point the birth date of Christ. The story of the census which Mary and Joseph traveled to Bethlehem for tends to indicate that it was in the fall, as Romans generally held their census in October. The story of the shepherds sleeping in the fields tends to indicate the spring when sheep would be lambing and needed the protection of the shepherds from predators, most of the rest of the year they slept in their homes and left the sheep to fend for themselves.
In any event it is well known that the celebration of the birth of Jesus was moved the the 25th of December by the Bishop of Rome in 353CE to compete with the Saturnalia and the Festival of Sol the sun god which was on that very day.
Given all that and the vast majority the combined sects of Christianity enjoys in this country it is hard to see how they could be oppressed or even that upset that everyone wants to celebrate some Winter holiday and does not want the be forced to just celebrate Christmas, but would rather has respect for all religious and non-religious celebrations equally.
Whether it is the Catholic League getting their undies in a twist over the fact that Santa was removed by a NYC YMCA in favor of Frosty or Sen. Jim Inhofe (Asshole- OK) refusing to participate in his local parade after it was changed from a Christmas parade to a Holiday parade, they are out there insisting that there is a war against them and the holiday that celebrates the supposed day of the birth of their god.
All this might just be so much silly season bluster if there were not those who really are oppressed for their religion suffering and dying today all over the world. Christians are fleeing Iraq, where they have been a presence nearly since the religion was founded. The members of Falun Gong are in prison today for trying to follow their beliefs. There are Hindus living on sufferance in Pakistan and Muslims doing the same in Hindu India. People regularly die in these places over their religion. They are beaten or killed or imprisoned because they are of a religious minority and can’t defend themselves.
This is real oppression and the pompous strutting of jackasses like Bill Donahue of the Catholic League makes a mockery of the actual suffering of those who can’t speak out for their religion or who do so at the risk of their lives and the lives of their families.
What makes the actions of Sen. Inhofe and others of his ilk so disgusting is the fact that they are, in a small but noticeable way, putting this nation on the path of religious intolerance and perhaps violence by insisting that theirs is the only legitimate claim on this time of year and in move towards inclusiveness and non-discrimination is an attack, part of a war on Christmas.
In one way I am happy that we have a society so dedicated to tolerance that these fools can’t even conceive of a place where they would actually be harmed for their beliefs. However it is only their majority status that keeps this from being true. If they were a minority the size of say the Muslim population in this nation, they might have suffer some of the indignities and out-right attacks that Mosques and Community Centers have suffered. At which point I would feel constrained to defend their rights.
It is unseemly for a powerful majority to act the victim. Sure it is good politics, having your base feel like they are in a bunker and only by staying true to the strict line of the party can they prevail, but it is not good for the nation as a whole. I often say that political violence is one of the killers of democracy, however religious violence can kill whole nations. Playing the victim card over and over and over on a yearly basis gets it in to the heads of your partisans that they really are under attack. Playing with this kind of fire is dangerous in the extreme.
So, this year when you celebrate Kwanza or Chanukah or Solstice or even Christmas, lets try to give everyone a little space to be happy at during the longest nights of the year. If you are of a pagan bent it is the time to celebrate the dark, the great mother womb from which the world emerges into light. For others it is time to celebrate family or the birth of a god or the lights staying lit even when there was not enough oil to make it through.
There is something about this time in the Northern Hemisphere that makes humans feel the need to celebrate and surely that is enough reason for us all to take what is positive about this season and leave false victimhood aside. After all, Santa doesn’t like ugly, so we should not be ugly in our hearts, even if the old Elf of the North really doesn’t exist.
The floor is yours.