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Religion Today
Some Christians embrace history of ignoring Christmas
By TOM BREEN, Associated Press Writer
Thursday, December 13, 2007
(12-13) 09:00 PST Charleston, W.Va. (AP) --
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Some
churches believe the holiday isn't religious.
As Christmas draws near, Pastor John Foster won't be decorating a tree,
shopping for last-minute gifts or working on a holiday sermon for his
flock. After all, it's been 50 years since Christmas was anything more
than a day of the week to him.
He's one of very few American Christians who follow what used to be the
norm in many Protestant denominations — rejecting the celebration of
Christmas on religious grounds.
"People don't think of it this way, but it's really a secular holiday,"
said Foster, a Princeton-based pastor in the United Church of God. He
last celebrated Christmas when he was 8.
His church's objection to Christmas is rare among U.S. Christians.
Gallup polls from 1994 to 2005 consistently show that more than 90
percent of adults say they celebrate Christmas, including 84 percent of
non-Christians.
That's a huge change from an earlier era, when many Protestants ignored
or actively opposed the holiday. But as it gradually became popular as a
family celebration, churches followed their members in making peace with
Christmas.
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Pastor John Foster of the Princeton,
W.Va.,-based United Church of God stands in front of one of
the only trees not decorated for Christmas on Dec. 7.
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The change didn't happen overnight. Through much of the 19th century,
schools and businesses remained open, Congress met in session and some
churches closed their doors, lest errant worshippers try to furtively
commemorate the day.
"The whole culture didn't stop for Christmas," said Bruce Forbes, a
religious studies professor at Morningside College in Sioux City, Iowa.
"Government went on as usual, business went on as usual, school went on
as usual."
In researching his book, "Christmas: A Candid History," Forbes
discovered that major American denominations — Presbyterians, Baptists,
Quakers, Methodists and Congregationalists — either ignored the holiday
or actively discouraged it until the late 19th century.
That rejection was rooted in the lack of biblical sanction for Dec. 25
as the date of Jesus' birth, as well as suspicion toward traditions that
developed after the earliest days of Christianity. In colonial New
England, this disapproval extended to actually making the holiday
illegal, with celebration punishable by a fine.
"Some somehow observe the day," wrote Boston Puritan Samuel Sewall on
Christmas Day 1685, "but are vexed, I believe, that the body of people
profane it, and blessed be God no authority yet compels them to keep
it."
Some 322 years later, Sewall might be surprised to see his congregation
— today known as Old South Church — proudly displaying a decorated
Christmas tree outside the church.
"We think it's cheerful and seasonal," said Nancy Taylor, senior
minister of Old South, one of America's most venerable congregations,
counting among its past worshippers not only Sewall but Benjamin
Franklin and Samuel Adams.
Now part of the United Church of Christ, Old South not only has a
Christmas tree, but encourages its 650 or so members to exchange
Christmas presents — although the focus is on charitable donations and
service, rather than shopping.
"We are the descendants of the Puritans and Pilgrims, but we have
loosened up a lot since then," Taylor said. "We have changed and adapted
and I think that's part of why we haven't died out."
Like Sewall's successors, the mainline Protestant churches have learned
to accommodate Christmas. But the change came from the pews rather than
the pulpit.
Christmas benefited from a 19th century "domestication of religion,"
said University of Texas history professor Penne Restad, in which faith
and family were intertwined in a complementary set of values and
beliefs.
Christmas became acceptable as a family-centered holiday, Restad said,
once it lost its overtly religious significance.
At the same time, aspects of the holiday like decorated trees and
gift-giving became status symbols for an aspirant middle class. When
Christmas began its march toward dominance among holidays, it was
because of a change in the culture, not theology.
"In America, the saying is that the minister follows the people, the
people don't follow the minister," Restad said. "This was more of a
sociological change than a religious one. The home and the marketplace
had more sway than the church."
That's partly why Christians like the United Church of God reject the
holiday: They say divine instruction, rather than culture and society,
should determine whether the holiday is appropriate.
"It's common knowledge that Christmas and its customs have nothing to do
with the Bible," said Clyde Kilough, president of the United Church of
God, which has branches all over the world. "The theological question is
quite simple: Is it acceptable to God for humans to choose to worship
him by adopting paganism's most popular celebrations and calling them
Christian?"
There is still lingering unease with the holiday in denominations that
once rejected it. This can be glimpsed in worries about
commercialization and in individual Christians like Phillip Ross.
Ross is an elder at Covenant Presbyterian Church in Vienna, near
Parkersburg. Well-versed in the history of Christianity, Christmas and
Presbyterianism, Ross knows his church historically objected to
Christmas.
On the other hand, Ross is also a father of two, and while he made up
his mind to reject Christmas as a teenager, his children's early years
included gifts, decorations and a tree.
"I have a love-hate relationship with Christmas," he said. "It seems
obvious to me that there's nothing scriptural about it, but that's a
hard sell with children."
Some Christians Shun Christmas and Its Trappings
By
Jacqueline L. Salmon Washington Post Staff Writer
Holidays or Holy Days: Does It
Matter Which Days We Keep?
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