You can celebrate Christmas, just don’t mention why we have a Christmas holiday. From Donald Jeffries at donaldjeffries.substack.com:
This is the most wonderful time of the year, as the song reminds us. The bright lights, the holiday treats, and the timeless music. I’ve seen more homes with elaborate, Chevy Chase-style lighting this year. Maybe it’s a silent way of rebelling against a system that frowns on Nativity scenes and actual Christmas Carols.
I understand the reason for the season. Although it’s almost a certainty that Baby Jesus wasn’t born on December 25, it’s still an important part of faith to acknowledge that he was born. Of the Virgin Mary. In a lowly manger, with no place for a bed. The Star of Bethlehem. The Three Wise Men. I’m old enough to have sat in the Oakton High School planetarium every December, while we watched a fascinating recounting of the story of the Star of Bethlehem. I don’t think there is any discussion of the Star of Bethlehem permitted in today’s schools. Anywhere. It’s a magical and riveting story, no matter what day of what month it actually took place. The masses still pay some homage to it. They enjoy Linus’s speech in A Charlie Brown Christmas. But do they really believe it? I recall reading a while back that a majority of Jesuit students didn’t believe in the Immaculate Conception. More importantly, they didn’t accept the divinity of Jesus. You know, the entire basis of Christianity.
Nowadays, in America 2.0, Jesus is a character on cartoons like Family Guy and South Park, to be mocked instead of worshiped. The primary signs of life for the religion can be found in the nondenominational churches. The “super” churches that preach the prosperity gospel. And, of course, emphasize the Jewishness of Jesus Christ. Call him a rabbi. It’s a wonder they don’t claim he wore a yarmulke. I have no idea what conventional protestants, who don’t use the Schofield Bible as a textbook, or my own Catholic faith, feature at Sunday service during the Yuletide season. I haven’t been to mass in a long time. Why has the film The Ten Commandments been traditionally aired on television at Christmas, and Easter? Why such a Jewish-centric exploration of the Old Testament, with Moses instead of Jesus as the star? Remember, all the television networks are headed by the non-Irish. A 2024 Gallup poll found that some 69 percent of Americans still identify as Christians.
