Merry Christmas!
We're counting down to a celebration of the birth of my personal spritual savior and that of some Billions of others around the planet. It's worth celebrating whether you're a Christian or not, because the true ethos of Christmas transcends Christianity.
In church this Sunday, our reverend called forth possibly the most revered and quoted biblical passage in Christianity: John 3:16
"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son,[a] that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life.
Now the beauty of this and it's intimate connection to Christmas cannot be overstated. "God so Loved the world that he Gave..." The power of Christmas is in this verse. Christmas is the season of giving as the expression of deepest love, most powerful love. Whether you accept an old-timey Christianity or just enjoy the secular season of presents, the truth of Chrsitmas must be re-stated and must be underlined: the source of all giving must be love.
If you're giving something because you feel you have to, don't. Just keep the present. Unless your giving comes from your experience of love, you must not give.
Now, we've watched over the course of the last few weeks as Christian Nationalists have created such a stir in American politics that they forced a vote in the US House in defense of Christmas. This is an expression of Demagoguery of the highest order, lead by the media, followed by gutless politicians and spurred by zealots who have clearly lost their way.
America is not a Christian nation. Indeed, the special character of America arose thanks to the way that the Enlightenment transcended Christian dogma in favor of a separation of Church and State. In the way that Christianity included the wisdom of Judiasm and transcended it in favor of a broader ethic, so did the Enlightment transcend dogmatic Christianity. The rule of law transcends the individual mythos of the risen christ, as the basis for American legal doctrine. That is Mr. Jefferson's great gift.
Our president, Mr. Bush, and his conservative movement have done everything possible to undermine the rule of law in reactionary power-grabs that threaten to eliminate Constitutional Checks and Balances, and threaten to elminate Jefferson's Separation of Church and State.
Mr. Bush has usurped our national civil liberties and continues to insist on illegally spying on the American people. The conservative, rubber-stamp congress has over-reached it's mandate by preferring one religion, mine, to others.
As Demagogues cynically use the trappings of true faith to cement political power, so our President is cynically using the trappings of national security to cement an authoritarianism unheard of in American history.
The Christmas of Bill O'Rielly and Jo Ann Davis belittles both American politics and authentic Christian spritiuality.
I think this needs to be said clearly and calmly: America is not a Christian nation. America's particular greatness is in it's ability to transcend religous dogma without losing the potential for authentic spirituality.
We forget that at our peril.