Christmas Controversies

As sure as the calendar approaches Dec. 25, the news outlets of America are filled with stories about Christmas controversies. People argue over the way they are greeted in stores. Should merchants wish their patrons Merry Christmas or Happy Holidays?

In courthouses in Alabama and across the nation debates re-emerge about whether manger scenes can be displayed on courthouse lawns. Public school music teachers are harassed if they include traditional Christian carols in their Christmas concerts or if they do not.

Sadly, support for customary religious practices around the public recognition of Christmas seems to be falling away. A Pew Research study found that 32 percent of respondents wanted to be greeted by Merry Christmas, compared to only 15 percent who preferred Happy Holidays or Season’s Greetings.

But 52 percent of respondents did not care how they were greeted. It was not an issue for them.

Pew reported the preference for Merry Christmas has fallen 11 percent since 2005 when the greeting was preferred by 43 percent of respondents. Happy Holidays has gained only 3 percent (up from 12 percent in 2005). But the “doesn’t matter” category has risen from 45 percent to 52 percent.

Sobering findings

For most Americans, how they are greeted in a store is not something worth fighting about.

Support for display of manger scenes on public property shows similar trends. Support for Christian symbols being displayed, even if unaccompanied by other seasonal symbols, fell from 44 percent in 2014 to 37 percent.

Those favoring prohibiting the display of Christian symbols on government property under any circumstances rose from 20 percent to 26 percent in the same time frame.

Here, as with public school choirs performing traditional Christmas music, the law is clear. Manger scenes can be displayed if coupled with other seasonal symbols. And in musical concerts, Christian music can be performed as long as other appropriate music is also included.

But court rulings have not lessened the intensity of these annual Christmas controversies.

Religious holiday

Christians would do well to pay attention to a larger issue related to this important Christian holiday. According to the Pew study, fewer people celebrate Christmas as a Christian observance, and fewer and fewer of those who self-identify as Christians believe the biblical teachings about the incarnation of God in Jesus, which Christians celebrate on this special day.

Pew’s latest study found that while 90 percent of Americans will celebrate Christmas in some way, less than half of Americans (46 percent) will celebrate Christmas primarily as a religious holiday. That number has fallen from 51 percent in 2013.

In addition 56 percent of respondents believe the religious aspect of Christmas is declining.

A closer look at the Pew study’s findings indicate that half or more of Gen Xers and above still believe Christmas is primarily a religious holiday while only 32 percent of Millennials express this view.

But even more important than how Christmas is celebrated is commitment to the message that God “became flesh and dwelt among us.” Again, the Pew study’s findings are sobering for Christian believers.

More than two-thirds of Americans believe the teachings of the Bible that Jesus was born of a virgin (66 percent), that He was placed in a manger (75 percent), that wise men were guided by a star to find Jesus (68 percent) and that angels announced the birth of Jesus to shepherds (67 percent).

However, only 57 percent of responders believe all four of those teachings. In 2014 the positive response to the questions was about three-fourths or higher.

When the response of those self-identifying as Christians was examined, 85 percent believed in the virgin birth, 89 percent that Jesus was placed in a manger, 84 percent that a star guided the wise men and 86 percent that an angel appeared to shepherds.

Only 76 percent of Christian responders affirmed a belief in all four of the Christmas story facts. And as with the general population, that percentage is falling — down from 81 percent in 2014.

When the findings were filtered for age, race, religious identity and church attendance, white evangelicals who attended church on a weekly basis showed a higher belief level than other groups, but even there, declines in belief could be noted.

Evidently while Christian believers have been arguing with storeowners about how we are greeted in stores, we have not been as diligent in communicating that “God was in Christ reconciling the world to Himself” (2 Cor. 5:19).
As a result fewer of those who call themselves Christians believe the traditional Christian message, to say nothing of a non-believing world. Should we be surprised that the world is becoming more and more pagan when there are fewer and fewer people who believe the Bible? I think not.

When the Bible declares that “God so loved the world that He sent His One and only Son” (John 3:16), that is the beginning of the greatest Christmas controversy of all times. It challenges every other worldview. There is a God, it says. That God is love. That God has acted in Jesus Christ. That God acted to make Himself known. That God acted to establish relationship with you and with all who will believe in Jesus.

Message of Christmas

No other religion, no other worldview offers such a God, such a hope as the Christian gospel, and that gospel begins with the message of Christmas — God became flesh and dwelt among us (John 1:14).

If we as Christians want to be involved in Christmas controversies, then perhaps we should join in the greatest of these. Perhaps we should give ourselves to preaching, teaching and practicing that God has come into our world through His Son, Jesus, who is Savior and Lord to all who will call upon His name.

As long as the light of that gospel message is held high, the darkness of the world cannot overcome it.