Christmas and 'cultural suicide'

The idea of taking Christ out of Christmas is barmy - but the reaction against it suggests a deeper malaise.

Commentators have written about nativity plays and Christmas celebrations being replaced by more secular celebrations that avoid references to Christianity lest they offend other faiths. Anthony Browne, writing in The Times (London), refers to this as 'cultural suicide': 'Even as a lifelong atheist who finds all God stuff embarrassing, I appreciate Christmas's religious message. But you are as likely to find a reference to Christ in civic Christmas decorations as you are to find a sixpence in a Christmas pudding.' It is hard to disagree with Browne's analysis that, 'the real Christophobes are the self-loathing, guilt-ridden, politically-correct liberal elite, driven by anti-Christian bigotry and a ruthless determination to destroy their own heritage and replace it with "the other"'.

However, given that taking the Christ out of Christmas has become a cause célèbre for tabloids and broadsheets alike, even getting a passing reference in the BBC soap EastEnders, perhaps there is something else going on here too. Desperate to find something to hold the line against the corrosive effects of cultural relativism, many are defending Christmas and other traditions as 'our culture' - even when, like Browne, they have little interest in defending one bunch of religious myths against another. But by engaging in the debate about culture in these terms, they already concede the central argument that everyone's got their own culture, which must be protected. Before you know it, you're back in the whole relativist mess again. Far better to recognise the stupidity of the current official treatment of Christmas - but acknowledge that getting rid of religion altogether and upholding our universal human culture would be the best result of all.

First published on spiked