The Christians Are Angry

The Christmas season is upon us, which means the Christians are gettin' mad.

Oh, yeah, I'm a Christian. An Orthodox, in fact. Should I be mad right now?

Evidently I should. I should be very angry about these Atheist holiday ads, which promote a secular approach to Christmas the holidays:

Evidently I should also be mad at the Gap ad that features manic dancers chanting "Go Christmas, go Hanukkah, go Kwanzaa, go solstice." First I should do like The American Family Association and ignore the "Christmas" part of it, then demand that everyone ban Gap Co. for ignoring Christmas. Second I should be mad that Gap is putting Christmas on equal footing with Hanukkah and Kwanzaa and even, gasp!, the winter solstice. Third I should be mad that Gap is obviously being so wussy about sticking to a holiday. I mean, we all obviously know which one we should be celebrating, right? (Kudos to Emily for linking this story. It's fairly fantastic.)

I should be a very, very angry, very righteous, very soapbox-standing Christian.

But I just can't get mad. I can't. Obviously I don't personally agree with the atheists, but I can't get mad that they're exercising their rights to free speech. I'm sure they blanch at the huge, Christ-centric newspaper ads Hobby Lobby puts out every Christmas, but no one would deny the Hobby Lobby executives their rights to free speech. And I can't get mad at atheists for celebrating the holidays, to whatever extent they may with whatever purpose. I just can't get mad at that. I certainly can't get mad at them calling attention to the fact that there are good, non-Christian people out there. Too often Christians equate nonbelievers with a total lack of morality, which is a pretentious and dangerous thing to believe. Maybe some glimmer of The Ultimate Truth will leak into their lives as they allow themselves to celebrate Christmas. Maybe I will be the lucky Christian who gets to share that glimmer.

(Or maybe I'll just be a surly, angry Christian, unable to appreciate my chance to share Christ because I'm too busy focusing on the non-belief of the non-believer.)

And I can't get mad at the Gap ads. The Gap exists to sell a product, and they will do whatever it takes, including appealing to everyone of every belief, in order to sell that product. They would be stupid not to. And really, this is a funny ad. They are obviously poking fun at the fact that NOTHING holiday-related is politically correct, so what else can they do but be as generic and ridiculous as possible? It's brilliant.

I do get mad at The American Family Association, though, for making Christians look like out-of-touch, looking-down-their-noses incompetents. Come on, Christians. You can do better than that. You can get mad about better, more meaningful things. Like the author of the LA Times AFA article says:

"It would be easy to get sidetracked into debating the merits of the War on Christmas. Why, for example, is the phrase "Happy holidays" so insufferable to Christian fundamentalists, but not the vulgar, surfeiting exploitation of Christ's name to sell smokeless ashtrays, dessert toppings, Droid phones and trampolines? I'm not a theologian but I think the Gospels are pretty clear that Jesus was no fan of merchants.

"And since China is in the news this week: Why not go after Gap and other retailers for trading in Chinese-made goods, since the Chinese government actively oppresses the Christian faith? Seems like building a case on religious tolerance would have more resonance. Oh, wait. Never mind."

Oh, wow, he makes a fantastic point. Several fantastic points, in fact. I should get mad at the commercialism of Christmas. I should get mad at the injustices of the world. I should get mad at the fact that millions of children will go hungry this month while my own go to bed stuffed on Christmas cookies.

I should get mad. Just at different things.

In closing, I found this video today. It's funny on the surface, but it should make Christians really very sad and slightly uncomfortable. This, folks, is how so many people view Christianity and the people who adhere to it. What can I do to change that perception?

(Note: He does say the word "shit" at one point, but in a very British sense. You have been warned.)

Ergh. I know, right?

This Christmas, I choose to get mad that not everyone really understands Christ. This Christmas, I choose to get mad at the ugly noise of commercialism. This Christmas, I choose to get mad that others are not so fortunate as I.

Let me know what else I should add to that list. The Lord only knows how much I'm itching to be justifiably angry.