Exclusivity and Multiculturalism

Somewhere in Florida, a Seinfeld appreciation society has placed a sign celebrating a “Festivus for the rest of us.” They had a responsibility to find a good aluminum pole to observe the holiday properly, though. I am amused, not offended. But I always hear a lot of people this time of year bemoaning the fact that the meaning of Christmas is being lost in the increasing use of “Happy Holidays” instead of “Merry Christmas.” “They’re taking Christ out of Christmas,” goes the complaint. Many religions and cultures seem to have some important holiday around this time, though—Hanukkah and Kwanza being the foremost. There is, of course, also New Year’s Day on the horizon and Thanksgiving not long gone. So “Happy Holidays” seems quite appropriate.
At root, this is probably a longing for somewhere we can never go again—and I strongly contend we shouldn’t want to. We are not in a majority culture any more; we shouldn’t stand for these attempts to impose a majority agenda on those outside of it. Where do you fall outside the majority? Are you comfortable in abdicating your rights in those places to the majority merely because of number? What do we allow those in power to do in the name of majority? Who suffers? We should value peace, we should value equality, and we should value justice. Majority rule works against such things. Perhaps I am getting outside of the bounds of this discussion whereas all that needs to be said is that legalizing morality would only work if we were in a uniform culture, and we aren’t. I’m not sure that I would be comfortable if my own denomination were to create laws by which we all should live—we differ in a couple of ways. And what would it mean? If there were a nativity scene and the Ten Commandments at every city hall, would that really do God honor? If every child recited the Nicene Creed in class, would that do God honor? What would that mean for the individual? What would that mean for a Muslim child? From a Christian perspective, would that make her any more a Christian or would it make our country really any more Christian? I mentioned that we are no longer a majority culture. Since Islam is the largest religion worldwide, what sort of justice or respect would there be, if we were in a majority Islamic country, to force Christians to pray five times daily to Allah while facing Mecca? We shouldn’t want that, and though it may be more difficult to swallow, our faith is stronger in a society that doesn’t take for granted that all its citizens are Christians. The conversion of Constantine, in uniting politics and religion, ultimately did us no favors. We should insist, along with the strongest civil libertarians, on a separation of church and state. It protects us.
That all makes me unabashedly liberal politically, but you’ll shortly see that I am rather conservative theologically. We Christians should not hold back whatsoever in celebrating Christ’s birth at this time—just put the nativity scene in your own yard and don’t think that means we need to elect a president who wants to bring back the Crusades. Christ is born! God in the form of man entered the world to mend the relationship between us and Him so that we can spend eternity in His presence, and yes, merely and only belief in this can ensure this eternal life. That’s unpopular. It should be—it’s radical and exclusive. It’s radical partly because it’s so simple; I’ve heard some protest that it’s almost blasphemous to suggest salvation can be obtained merely by assent. Christians believe we must take earning out of the equation, though, in that we could never really earn it. And one could look at it as being exclusive—God healed the gap between us and Him essentially by sacrificing of Himself, but we must believe it. All roads don’t really lead to the same place. There are some real differences between the world’s major religions, and it does each of them a disservice to maintain that they are basically the same. Today we celebrate the birth of the historical person who said, “No one comes to the Father but through me.” It’s that easy and that specific. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays.

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