Christmas Has Strayed From Its True Spirit
Commentary
Traditionally, Christmas Day commemorates the birth of Jesus Christ. The celebrations originated in pagan and Roman times when the Romans celebrated the birth of Mithra, their sun god, on Dec. 25.
As no one knew the birth date of Jesus Christ, Mithra’s birthday was adopted as the day on which Christ’s birth would be commemorated.
Christmas is still one of the most important religious days in the calendar of Christianity. However, lately, it has increasingly become a secular holiday and its religious connotation is fast disappearing.
Of course, the Christmas tree still adorns shopping centres, with Santa Claus assuming the role of a benevolent father to all children.
But the religious origins have almost entirely disappeared.
There was a time when all Christmas cards received would wish the recipients and their families a Merry Christmas. Now, “Christmas” is treated as a disagreeable word, and most “Christmas” cards merely offer “Season’s Greetings.”
One would expect the churches of Christian denominations to be overrun by worshippers on Christmas day, but this is no longer the case.
Declining Faith
The Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) notes that “Over the past 50 years, there has been a steady decline in the proportion of Australians who reported an affiliation with Christianity.”
Not surprisingly, the older generation is likely to be more affiliated with Christianity than the younger generation.
The 2021 census reveal that an increasing number of people profess not to have a religion at all—a staggering 39 percent. Millennials had the highest proportion at 46 percent.
Overall, affiliation with Christianity decreased from 52 percent in 2016 to 44 percent in 2021. That means that the difference between the number of people who claim to have an affiliation with a religious denomination and those who claim not to belong to a religion is minimal.
This is reflected in the decreasing popularity of Christmas as a religious celebration, especially among young people. An increasing number simply treats it as a “secular” holiday; a considerable proportion of young people even believe that attributing religious meaning to Christmas is to pander to “superstition.”
And so, Dec. 25 has effectively become a day of “secular” festivity, the beginning of the summer holidays in Australia, the Sydney to Hobart Boat Race, cricket matches, and the beginning of the Summer of Tennis, which culminates in the Australian Open.
Some commentators have argued that the trend represents a broadening of religious beliefs. According to this argument, religious experiences can be expressed in many ways.
For example, the head of the religious studies department at Kent University UK, Christopher Deacy, argues that the “larger picture of the ways people’s beliefs and values take shape in modern society” are no less “fecund when it comes to exploring matters of faith, identity, beliefs, and values.”
He adds that we need “to move away from the secularization thesis” because it is “Christmas’s very secularity that makes it such a compelling, and transcendent, religious holiday.”
This view, while interesting and intriguing, overlooks that Christmas is the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ.
Why Christmas’s Religious Roots Are Disappearing
It is convenient, within the constraints of this opinion piece, to mention just three reasons for the demonstratable decline of Christmas as a religious celebration.
First, the ambivalent response of different Christian denominations to the woke culture that is enveloping and destroying Western culture has adversely affected the role of religion in society.
Opponents of religion have increasingly attacked traditional values while promoting same sex marriage and gender and sexual diversity.
Second, and related to the first reason, is the relentless adoption of social engineering legislation that challenges the work and beliefs of Christians.
Surely, this must have sapped the confidence of the faithful in the ability of their church to oppose the legislative agenda.
For example, laws have been adopted that compel priests to disclose incriminating information received in a confession. There is also an unrelenting demand to remove exemptions for religiously affiliated schools that want to hire and accept people who adhere to its values, further weakening Australia’s Christian heritage.
Third, the religious experience may well have been fatally affected during the pandemic years.
The directives adopted by health bureaucracies and compliant politicians shamelessly prohibited communal worship, thereby discouraging, or even preventing people from attending church services, with police monitoring the responses of Christian denominations to these directives.
There are too many bad laws on the statute books, and most of these are aimed at changing the fabric of society. It could be argued that society would benefit if less such legislation were adopted.
Indeed, less social engineering legislation is better for the maintenance of a harmonious society that is committed to protecting religious freedom.
According to a saying attributed to Henry David Thoreau, the author of “On the Duty of Civil Disobedience” published in 1849, “The best government is that which governs least.”
In the same vein, Winston Churchill said that “If you have 10,000 regulations, you destroy all respect for the law.”
Views expressed in this article are the opinions of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of The Epoch Times.
Gabriël A. Moens AM is an emeritus professor of law at the University of Queensland, and served as pro vice-chancellor and dean at Murdoch University. In 2003, Moens was awarded the Australian Centenary Medal by the prime minister for services to education. He has taught extensively across Australia, Asia, Europe, and the United States. Moens has recently published two novels “A Twisted Choice” (2020) and “The Coincidence” (2021).
