|
Dr. Walid Phares
Christmas is Not Negotiable
December 24, 2009
On the eve of this Christmas 2008, I shifted from my ongoing field of research
and commentary in Terrorism, international and ethnic conflict and global
strategies to address a subject dear to the heart of many among us, and dream
maker to most of us, i.e., the children: Christmas. On the eve of the
2009 celebration I will reiterate this assertion: Christmas as a celebration is
not negotiable.
As someone who lived on two continents and evolved in many cultures, I feel I
have couple points to make about this 2,000-year-old annual event, especially
since celebrating this overwhelming feast is under attack by Noelophobia
(I term I have coined). I must disclose, however, that my relationship with
Christmas is also personal: I was born on its eve and thus had to deal with the
reality that all Christmas babies know all too well: you only get one present,
you are forgotten that night, and you also forget about your own birthday. So,
had I been egocentric, I would joined the camp fighting Santa’s day. On top of
that, my parents called me "Walid,” Arabic for "the new born.” There was little
resistance I could offer. Christmas marginalized my own anniversary yet became
somewhat a higher birthday with which I was associated.
Until I was 12, I thought that no one would mess with Christmas. Why would
anyone do such a thing? Jesus was just a tiny baby who couldn’t threaten anyone
then. He had no home, he was a refugee, and at birth he was only surrounded by
his poor dad and mom, a donkey and an ox. Later came few shepherds and their
sheep. I couldn’t imagine why Christmas would be in trouble: by itself it’s an
enchanted story, generating immense feelings of happiness in the hearts of
celebrants around the world. Besides, this holiday has reached planetary
dimensions, exceeding at times its original simplicity. But back in the Eastern
Mediterranean I hadn’t experienced yet the commercialization of la fete de
Noel. Through books, newspapers and TVs we only knew that almost all
cultures enjoyed Christmas, even though not all societies shared its theological
meaning. In the old days of multiethnic Beirut, not only Christians but also
many Muslims and Druze erected Christmas Trees, and kids across the sectarian
divide were visited by Santa. So far, everything was good.
But then I learned that "Christmas” was persecuted in many countries of that
region, including in the land of its genesis. Indeed, the oldest Christian
communities of the World, stretching from Egypt to Iran, were among the most
suppressed. Christmas in Syria and Iraq was tightly regulated by the ruling
regimes: Santa had to be a Baathist. In Iran, the Khomeinists banned decorations
in the streets: Christians had to whisper carols inside their homes. In Saudi
Arabia Christmas was forbidden by law and in Sudan, African celebrations of the
event were decimated by the militias of Khartoum. Years later, a morphing Jihadi
regime brutally eliminated the "Kuffar” Christmassy traditions as the Taliban
blew up Buddha’s statues. The Holy Land got its share as Gaza’s Jihadists chased
out the enclave’s Christians. The War against this holiday in the Greater Middle
East was the other face of the greater Jihad against the Infidels.
But I also learned about the resilience of Christmas against all regimes and in
spite of Terror during my life in the Middle East. From Tehran to Baghdad, from
Khartoum to Damascus, trees were set up and decorations installed inside homes.
Santa would visit apartments discreetly, dodging the Iranian Pasdaran patrols
and the Baathist secret police. Even in Saudi Arabia and under the Taliban,
where the eid al milaad (Christmas) is illegal, underground Papa Noels
would slip presents under kids’ beds. In these lands of extreme intolerance to
infidel holidays, a Christmas resistance movement would enlist not only
Christians but also Muslims, agnostics and sometimes Atheists. Strange feast, I
always thought, it doesn’t matter which theology it serves for at the end of the
day in these southern regions – it has become a celebration of hope for
humanity, in the center of which was a baby.
But when I relocated to these shores of the Atlantic, I received a cultural
shock. My encounter with Christmas in America was two dimensional: elation with
how this country celebrates the event on the one hand, and surprise as to how
some relentlessly fight its symbols. Since the 1990s, when I emigrated to the
U.S., I enjoyed tremendously the fullness of the joy during the weeks and days
leading to Christmas Eve. As everywhere else in the world, there is indeed
something magic to this time of the year, something that academia cannot explain
thoroughly. But in this country the massiveness of expression only reflects the
size of everything else American: large and generous. Christmas is so big in
this nation that it gets out of hands and rapidly gets commercialized. Soon
enough, mall after mall, ad after ad one forgets the initial story of Christmas.
Ironically, Christmas becomes so opulent in our American culture that we forget
that the baby in the manger was very poor, poorer than the poorest in Africa.
But at least one is free to celebrate the Christmas they want: bourgeois, at the
mall, on TV, at home, on the streets, at church, with the dispossessed, or
anywhere else the way one wishes to spend these magical moments: in
spirituality, in deep theology or listening to rock ‘n roll. Christmas is free
for all – not only for faithful Christians, but less practicing ones,
non-practicing ones, Jews, Buddhists, Muslims, and even believers in no
religion. Unlike in Wahhabi and Khomeinist lands, No one will argue with you if
you celebrate Christmas in America – or so I thought.
What I discovered was that, outside the lands of intolerance in the East,
anti-Christmas forces exist –even here in America. That was my second encounter
with the American Christmas: I met Noelophobia. For about five years I
was just amused that freedoms in this great country ensure that even those who
criticize the general happiness triggered by Christmas have their voice uttered
and heard. In America, you can hate Christmas or call for its banning – while
under Jihadi regimes you can’t even mention that it exists. But as years passed
I noted the rise of” Christmasophobia.” Not in the sense of being
unnerved by it – which is legitimate – but in the sense of persecuting it. Case
after case, over the past half a dozen years, attacks against displaying
Christmas trees, mangers and other decorations in public or on public property,
the (what we call now) war against Christmas is widening. The anti-Christmas
forces claim since it is a "religious event,” and since the United States is a
secular country, traces of Christmas celebrations must be eradicated from the
public sphere. I take contention with this.
First, let those in charge of the religious and theological dimensions of
Christmas defend their rights where they feel they can. To me, Christmas is not
just a religious holiday but a tradition: read, a civil right. Indeed, the
Christmas celebration – even the stories it tells us – have become part of a
cultural context defining our very identity. And there is no concession we want
to make on the essence of our sociological identity. If the academic elite in
this country cannot grasp the meaning of an historic identity – even if it has
been built around an initial religious narrative – they can take all the time
they need to understand it. Let the die-hard primitive anticlerical elite fight
their senseless battles with the religious zealots on all things philosophical
and theological. That is their business – not ours, the overwhelming majority of
people who enjoy and celebrate these moments of peace. And no, we’re not
interested in changing its name or its date. This battle against Christmas is
now aimed –and will be fought – against the people in the land of reality, not
in the realm of textbooks.
Bad news for the anti-Christmas hordes: Christmas has become integral part of
our culture and will be defended as such. Yes, it is part of the Republic of the
People by the People and is as secular as all other values and rights. Taking
away any of Christmas’ components, including Santa, the tree, the baby, the
star, the three kings and even the donkey and ox is the equivalent of ending the
rights of people to vote, own, have a fair trial, or expressing dissent.
Christmas is not about politics and exclusion but defending it will be fierce.
It is simple: crushing Christmas is crushing a cultural identity and that will
generate a national resistance.
The anti-Christmas forces do not realize that the society they sprung is time
centered on this benchmark. Without Christmas, how will they begin a new year
and where will they start it? They haven’t realized that the end and beginning
of our calendar year is calculated initially based on this celebration? And how
will they count the years? How can they explain 2009 and the 21st century? Will
they create a new calendar as did the French Revolution? And how can they get a
consensus on the new time? Unless they wish to replace this calendar with
another, even more religiously explicit one such as the Sharia Hijra calendar,
they have no answer.
"Winter holidays?” It doesn’t work, because the southern hemisphere begins its
summer over Christmas. You can’t force the Australians, the Zulus and the
Brazilians to celebrate winter holidays during their hot season. Feats of when
some planets line up with other planets? Nah. For Planets line up with other
cosmic objects every fraction of a second of human time. We can’t be celebrating
all year long. There is nothing that replaces Christmas, nada. It is embedded in
our genome and was imposed on us by who we are and what we are. The story of a
baby who owns nothing between his poor parents is our beginning as humanity. The
animals in the manger symbolizes Peace as it should be, the multi racial Kings
represents pluralism, the star reminds us of the Universe waiting for us, and
the angel means hope that something better is out there. So what can the
Noelophobes give us as better symbols: Lawyers rushing to sue happiness in
courts?
Hence, until they do create another Planet and get us better answers, we’re
staying with Christmas, we will defend it as a cultural right and we’re not
making a concession on our Identity, even if we’re open to new ideas all the
time.
Merry Christmas to all! |
”
and "
