Taking the Christ out of Christmas?!

I can't believe this one

Published on December 7, 2004 By alison watkins In Religion

Today on the news I heard that one northeast Ohio high school got raked over the coals for playing secular Christmas Music at their holiday concert. Isn't Christmas supposed to be about the celebration of Christ's birth? What's the deal here? I realize that not everyone celebrates Christmas because of religious beliefs and whatnot, but December 25 is the day that Jesus was born. That is the primary reason it's a holiday. I believe that unlike many holidays fabricated by hallmark, Christmas is truly a religious holiday and about celebrating the birth of jesus through gifts, thoughtfulness, and being with family and friends.

Wow. That might be the most conservative thought I've had in my whole life.

Comments (Page 1)

LeapingLizard

on Dec 07, 2004

Oh! I thought you were going to talk about Mas, my favorite holiday...hehe.

alison watkins

on Dec 07, 2004

hahaha! maybe to be PC we should change it to that!

Larry Kuperman

on Dec 07, 2004

"for playing secular Christmas Music at their holiday concert"

Did you mean religious music? Secular means "worldly" as opposed to religious. Unless you mean that they were criticized for playing music that wasn't religious enough.

It has already been posted in several places that, following the text of the Bible, December 25th was NOT the day that Jesus was born. Mary and Joseph were, according to the Bible, in route to a census, which fixes the date of Jesus' birth around the Jewish holiday of Sukkot or in early October (maybe late September.) See http://www.btinternet.com/~prgreetham/Wisemen/chron3.html for a detailed explanation.

The December 25th date was adopted, at least in part, because it was an important date to some of the pagan tribes that were converting to early Christianity. Just like the symbols of the evergreen and misteltoe, both of which have pagan origins.

Regardless of that, the Christmas holiday has taken on a meaning of it's own. It means the spirit of fellowship and goodwill to all, both values that Jesus espoused and would embrace today.

ParaTed2k

on Dec 07, 2004

Well, in reality there are really two Christmases (or is it Chirstmi?).

There is the Christian celebration of Christ's birth and the secular celebration of shopping, exchanging gifts, getting drunk on egg nog and singing "Grandma Got Run Over By A Reindeer".

Apparently some school systems have launched efforts to keep the students from getting drunk. Of course they are also concerned about students blaming antlered mammals for grandma's demise (not to mention the total lack of respect for elders the song celebrates). With all this at hear, they have apparently opted to try to erase the whole secular side of Christmas completely.

Oh yeah, and we can't have the other side of Christmas mentioned now can we.

alison watkins

on Dec 07, 2004

actually they played both sacred and secular...but i thought the secular part was more shocking...like holly jolly christmas..there's no religious ties with that song...

alison watkins

on Dec 07, 2004

for as many hits as my blog is getting, i'm suprised i'm not getting more comments

Champas Socialist

on Dec 07, 2004

Absolute rubbish. No one has any idea what day Christ was born. They chose the day of a Pagan festival. You may have heard the term "yuletide"!!!! The holiday many of us celebrate come December 25 is much more like Yuletide than anything to do with the man who started a religion 2009ish years ago. So why shouldn't people be allowed to sing songs that don't mention JC? If we celebrate Xmas for other reasons, we should darn well be allowed to do that. Go celebrate your man-God in your little church!

preacherman

on Dec 07, 2004

Larry iI give you an insightful- I think most people agree that the 25th of December was not the actual birth date of Christ.
I have no problem with when it is celebrated... but I do think that this biirth of God's Son is worthy of celebration . Emmanuel "God with us".

None of this is not offensive IF you believe the scriptures are true. I do!

Merry Christmas
preacherman

ParaTed2k

on Dec 07, 2004

Thanks Champas, and you enjoy celebrating your Godless Man how you see fit.

Champas Socialist

on Dec 07, 2004

Thanks, Para. Come join me for a drink down at the pub after the service ay!

latour999

on Dec 07, 2004

25th of December was not the actual birth date of Christ.

Well, you still got a 1 in 365.25 chance

Sugar High Elf

on Dec 08, 2004

Public schools still sing religious music year round. They just sing it in Latin. How do they get away with this? Because it is classic repetoir and is dismissed like reading Job for a literature class-- it's not religion anymore-- it's just historical, literary, and a classic to be studied.

Oops98672

on Dec 08, 2004

Christmas is not Christ's birthday. Jesus was not born in december. Besides, the bible doesn't tell us anywhere to celebrate his birthday. But it does tell us to celebrate his death.

citahellion

on Dec 08, 2004

Where have you been hiding? Schools and other governmental institutions all over the country are being forced to eliminate any religious reference whatsoever, especially at Christmas time. Check out Tongue-Tied (Holiday Cheer archive) for a few recent occurrances.

foreverserenity

on Dec 08, 2004

I say let's just celebrate and stop the rhetoric that's going on. So, Jesus' birthday is not on December 25, at least we're still celebrating Him and we get the time to be with our families. All this is making Christmas not so nice.

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