
*
While many holidays, both religious and secular, come around this time, "Happy Holidays" is in all actuality coded language for "Merry Christmas" and "Happy (Christian) New Year." In fact, most non-Christian major holidays do not fall in December.
*
In fact, what we are experiencing is a form of Christian cultural imperialism (hegemony): a promotion of the larger Christian culture, celebrations, values, beliefs.
*
Examples of Christian cultural imperialism during the so-called "Holiday Season" are many: the constant and prolonged promotion of music, especially Christmas, by radio stations, and Christmas specials on TV throughout November and December each year; Christmas decorations (often hung at taxpayer expense) in the public square in cities and towns throughout the United States; the highly visible and widespread availability of Christian holiday decorations, greeting cards, food, and other items during Christian holiday seasons, the President and First Lady lighting the "National Christmas Tree" on the Ellipse behind the White House, and many other examples too numerous to list.
*
Robert Jeffress, senior pastor of the First Baptist Church of Dallas, Texas has organized a movement to call the season what it really is, the "Christmas Season," and he asserts that businesses who display "Happy Holidays" greetings are simply stooping to "political correctness." Jeffress has created his "Grinch List" through his website to expose businesses, who he contends are taking Christ out of Christmas.
*
Simply stated, the pastor is positioning Christians as the real "victims" in the current "Happy Holidays" epoch. In his effort to purge "Happy Holidays" from modern parlance, Jeffress is attempting not only to maintain, but also to fortify Christian cultural imperialism,
*
My argument, however, focuses upon a critique of the systemic (and not necessarily individualistic) structures that promote Christian privilege and hegemony within the United States (and I would argue, many other Western countries) in the expression of "Happy Holidays" in the context of the month of December, when most cultures' major holidays do not fall in the month of December on the Gregorian calendar. I argue that the systemic structures themselves promote Christian imperialism (hegemony), in which individuals are often unwilling and even unknowing conspirators.
*
While the intent may certainly be well meaning and heartfelt, the impact may have the opposite effect.
1 comment:
What they need to called out for is their commercialization of Christmas. This demand that businesses must recognize and call it Christmas otherwise they Christians won't shop there, just seem to me to be another step in the commercialization of the Holiday.
And aren't the Christians supposed to be against that. As a Christian, I look for the deeper meaning in the holiday. I'm not going around trying to find it at Walmart.
Post a Comment