The War on Christmas

I finished my Christmas shopping today. Town was busy and its going to get a lot worse. Derby has chosen the pre-Christmas period to do all the roadworks that they’ve been putting off for a while.

I think that if I were an evil genius seeking to crush Christianity, then it would be hard to come up with a better idea than Christmas shopping. I didn’t see anyone over 16 smiling. It raises the question what is Christmas for? Ophelia Benson points to an article in the Times which has this gem:

It was and is a highly cosmopolitan and egalitarian religion, recognising neither Greek nor Jew, bond nor free. That, in addition to such novel ideals as charity, compassion and peace, and the status attached to women, differentiated Christians from a surrounding society based on cruelty, hedonism and organised slavery.

OB comments on the Christianity of slave owners in the American south. I can’t help wondering if Saint Nicholas will be delivering all those games consoles and DVDs for spiritually uplifting purposes rather than Hedonism.

The point is you can’t accuse Christianity of corrupting the nation simply because the Derby branch advertises a special offer on the Playboy channel for Christmas*. Equally you’d be somewhat simplistic if you credited Christianity with charity as Michael Burleigh does in the article. Euergetism which was effectively public charity, was a big driving factor in ancient society way before Christ. None of the virtues Burleigh argues for are derived from Christianity any more than approval of the Playboy channels can be, though Christian practice could adopt them and act as a powerful force for them the virtues.

Instead Christmas, and by association Christianity, is being used to drive people into competitive consumption. You can make people shake with careful use of Santa icons. Bringing Christ into Christmas would be a hugely successful way of generating a similar Pavlovian response to the Son of God.

At the moment I’d argue that Winterval and the Happy Holidays are Christ’s allies.

While digging up the links for this I found this post featuring an interview with Julian Baggini.

*I didn’t ask. It was on an A-frame outside the store in the car park. Not an offer on satellite channels, it was very specifically an offer on Christmas porn. At least I imagine the Playboy channel is porn, I’ve never subscribed to find out. Perhaps some people just watch it for the documentaries.

I’ll shut up now before I dig myself into a bigger hole.