Thoughts on the “War on Christmas/Christianity”

As a Christian living in America, I was surprised recently to hear someone express their distress about the assault on our faith, and I was struck by the very different perspective I have.

Having been raised within and choosing to stay as a United Methodist, I have never felt discriminated against or persecuted because of my faith. I have noticed some changes, such as public schools’ more careful adherence to the separation of church and state. As a country growing ever more diverse and having family of another faith myself, I accepted these changes as proof of our country’s guarantee that all beliefs will be respected in our civic institutions. I took that guarantee as a protection, rather than an assault. When and if I become a minority, I would welcome those protections, wouldn’t you?

And regarding Christmas, how can we complain? Isn’t Christmas the only religious holiday in our country that is written into the federal holiday calendar? Frankly the only war on Christmas I see is the way American business has used it to sell, sell, sell. It is no longer about a celebration of Christ’s birth, but a marketing bonanza. How much junk can we buy and wrap!

Where do these feelings of persecution come from? Whom do they benefit? Because from my perspective, there is no war on Christianity. Instead I feel that others are using the Christian label to separate me from my Jewish, agnostic, Islamic, etc., friends. In fact, I do not label myself.

I have always done this. I think of myself as a person. So in those times in which I have experienced sexism, it has come as a shock. Being evaluated based on someone else’s view of the label “woman” rather than on my skills and abilities as a person limits and demeans me.

This happens every time we attach a label to something – be it to ourselves or others. So I even avoid the term Christian. I think of myself of a “person of faith.” To me, that means I have a working relationship with God. And it allows me to respect other persons of faith, regardless of their chosen beliefs.

And frankly, I fear the label Christian because our history, like all human history, has been a story of abject failures and atrocities as well as triumphs – the Crusades, the Inquisition, our treatment of Native Americans, to just scratch the surface.

Our faith is the story of human struggle. Jesus calls us to love God and one another, and we fail at that every day. Yet it is our sacred responsibility. To be judged by that standard is enormous, and frankly, I fear it. So Christian is not a label I wear easily. Instead, to quote an old hymn, I hope people will “know we are Christians by our love.”