Glimmers
December 18, 2008
“Through some moment of beauty or pain, some sudden turning of our lives, we catch glimmers of at least what the saints are blinded by…” (Frederick Buechner, Listening To Your Life, p. 169)
It raises its head at Christmas time every year. I’m talking about the PC (politically correct) impulse to ignore Christmas at Christmas. It is manifested in the signage at malls, grocery stores, store clerks who can't seem to remember how to say the word "Christmas," and greeting cards. It is the “happy holidays” syndrome.
I understand the impulse for inclusion and sympathize with it to a degree. We are a society that purports to celebrate religious freedom. Persons are free to celebrate whatever religion they wish, or celebrate none. Under our Constitution, you are no less a citizen either way. Our culture has adherents to a wide variety of religious traditions. Some, mistakenly I think, uphold pluralism as a way for all who believe various and differing religions to get along. Religious pluralism is “the view that all religions are equally valid. According to religious pluralists, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Sikhism, Hinduism, Buddhism, et. al., are all equally worthy, even equally true religions. Each of these is a legitimate expression of a unique cultural heritage, and to reject it as false is to reject that cultural heritage, to marginalise a people.” (ExistenceofGod.com, Dec. 18, 08)
“It doesn’t matter what you believe, as long as you believe,” the pluralist will say. It doesn’t matter, unless of course you really believe it. And that is the problem. Most adherents of a religion believe it. That is why they are adherents! And while there are some universal truths that many religions share, there are some contradictory truth claims too. To tell a believer of any faith that it doesn’t matter what they believe because all religions are equally valid belittles both the person and the religion they practice. Pluralism undermines tolerance precisely because it demeans the importance of religious belief. Tolerance is not required if what you believe doesn’t matter. Tolerance is required when persons believe differently about God and the faiths to which they belong and it matters to them.
The writer at the above website goes on to say, “We are in danger of losing the ability to disagree respectfully. Religious pluralism, which claims to uphold the virtue of tolerance, actually threatens to erode it still further. The solution to religious intolerance is not to pretend that we are all in agreement really, but to learn to disagree respectfully.” I couldn’t agree more.
So, with all due respect, no “Happy Holidays” from me. To my Muslim co-workers and friends, I hope your Eid al Adha was wonderful and that your Hijra-Muharram is blessed. To my Jewish co-workers and friends may your Hanukkah be the happiest yet. And to my Christian friends and co-workers, may all the blessings of Christmas be yours,
Merry Christmas,
Glimmer Man
