The following originally appeared in a recent Religious Liberty e-newsletter. If you would like to receive our weekly e-newsletter, click here and select “Religious Liberty.”
Christmas 2008. The world is in great turmoil.
We face war, poverty, hunger, disease, the scourge of slavery and the horror of child soldiers, and the onslaught of Islamic jihad around the world. Most recently, we have mourned for the victims of the terrible attacks in Mumbai.
Here in the United States, we have been shaken to our core – by devastating financial upsets causing the collapse of businesses, unemployment, and the threat of the cure for all this being worse than the disease. Those of us who are believers are blessed because we know that in spite of what we see around us, God is in control. We can truly sing, “Joy to the world, the Lord is come,” and fervently pray “let earth receive her King.”
Wouldn’t you think that – just in case it might do some good – even those who don’t believe in a Supreme Being might approach this Christmas season with respect? Not so! Along comes the annual attack on Christmas, with atheists flexing their muscles.
Here in the Washington, DC area we have a campaign against Christmas by the American Humanist Association (I like to call them AHA!). Their seasonal siege, called “Why believe in a god? Just be good for goodness’ sake” features posters of a dread-locked Santa that have been plastered on city buses, and denounces the idea that it is God’s transformative love that enables us to be “good.” What a thing to have to face (literally) throughout the Christmas season! Then there’s the Freedom From Religion Foundation, who have placed a display next to the Nativity at the state Capitol in Olympia, Washington to counter the celebration of Christmas. Their display is a large placard reading, “At this season of the Winter Solstice may reason prevail. There are no gods, no devils, no angels, no heaven or hell. There is only our natural world. Religion is but myth and superstition that hardens hearts and enslaves minds.” Talk about shaking your puny fist at God!
You may not have these particular challenges to disturb your Advent, but you are surely faced by the political correctness that more every year secularizes the commemoration of the birth of our Savior.
A few years ago, the IRD designed Christmas buttons with “Merry Christmas” written in Chinese, Urdu, and Korean in solidarity with the Christians in China, Pakistan, and North Korea who are not able openly to celebrate the birth of Christ. We found them to be a simple yet effective tool for sharing our faith and making a smooth transition from “Happy Holidays,” to “Merry Christmas.”
We still have a limited number of these buttons, and would love to share them with you.
For any gift to the IRD’s Religious Liberty Program, we will send you a button.
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