Christian
conservatives were all in a tizzy this year about the supposed “War on
Christmas.” The object of their objection is the phrase “Happy
Holidays,” which they claim is nothing short of a slap in the face to
Christians and yet more proof of how the liberal secular minority is
trying to wipe out Christianity.
As long as those righteous Christian soldiers are decrying their
enemies, they should know something about the roots of their struggle.
Consider that it was none other than Bing Crosby who brought the song
“Happy Holiday” to the public in that rabidly secular movie Holiday Inn back in 1942.
Empires prefer a baby and the cross to the adult Jesus, this point is reinforced by the superior detail in this Guardianarticle: From Constantine to Bush, power has needed to stifle a revolutionary message
Christianity became the official religion of the Roman
empire with the conversion of the emperor Constantine in 312, after
which the church began to backpedal on the more radical demands of the
adult Christ. The Nicene Creed was composed in 325 under the
sponsorship of Constantine. It was Constantine who decided that
December 25 was to be the date on which Christians were to celebrate
the birth of Christ and it was Constantine who ordered the building of
the Church of the Nativity at Bethlehem.
Christmas — a festival completely unknown to the early church
— was invented by the Roman emperor. And from Constantine onwards, the
radical Christ worshipped by the early church would be pushed to the
margins of Christian history to be replaced with the infinitely more
accommodating religion of the baby and the cross.
The adult Jesus described his mission as being to “preach good
news to the poor, to proclaim release to the captives and to set at
liberty those who are oppressed”. He insisted that the social outcast
be loved and cared for, and that the rich have less chance of getting
into heaven than a camel has of getting through the eye of a needle.
Jesus set out to destroy the imprisoning obligations of debt, speaking
instead of forgiveness and the redistribution of wealth. He was accused
of blasphemy for attacking the religious authorities as self-serving
and hypocritical.
In contrast, the Nicene religion of the baby and the cross
gives us Christianity without the politics. The Posh and Becks nativity
scene is the perfect tableau into which to place this Nicene baby, for
like the much-lauded celebrity, this Christ is there to be gazed upon
and adored — but not to be heard or heeded. In a similar vein, modern
evangelical choruses offer wave upon wave of praise to the name of
Jesus, but offer little political or economic content to trouble his
adoring fans.
The story of Christmas, properly understood, asserts that
God is not best imagined as an all-powerful despot but as a vulnerable
and pathetic child. It’s a statement about the nature of divine power.
But in the hands of conservative theologians, the Nicene religion of
the baby and the cross is a way of distracting attention away from the
teachings of Christ. It’s a form of religion that concentrates on
things like belief in the virgin birth while ignoring the fact that the
gospels are much more concerned about the treatment of the poor and the
forgiveness of enemies.
I guess at this you won’t be surprised that the writer has a low
opinion of the impact Christianity has had on the life of George W.
Bush.
Bush may have claimed
that "Jesus Christ changed my life", but Jesus doesn't seem to have
changed his politics. As the carol reminds us: "And man at war with man
hears not the love song that they bring, O hush the noise ye men of
strife and hear the angels sing."
His bio says, “The Rev Dr Giles Fraser is vicar of Putney and lecturer in philosophy at Wadham College,.
