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December 28, 2004
EQUAL TIME
So after I raved about how much I liked Anna Quindlen's winter holiday diversity column last week, I have seen another column taking the opposite position... and while I don't agree with it, it's a respectful and well-written articulation of the other side of the argument.
So in the interest of equal time and fair debate, here is a piece by former Newsweek editor Kenneth Woodward that argues there's nothing wrong with formally and publicly acknowledging Christmas. Again, I'm not agreeing with him, but I thought he articulated his argument very well and presented a good counter to Quindlen's piece. Here is what I found to be his most persuasive argument:
A quarter century ago there was an uproar in New Jersey after a local school board forbade a Jewish student from wearing a yarmulke to class. His display of religious identity, it was argued, was socially divisive. Clearly there is something wrong when the cult of inclusiveness demands -- as it did in Afghanistan under the Taliban -- exclusion of religious expression. This isn't secularist France, either: we don't forbid female Muslim students to wear religious head coverings.
I'm as guilty of this as anyone; I make a concerted effort to respect diversity of beliefs and religions, but for some reason, for me and many of my secular left counterparts, this tolerance for religious beliefs never seems to extend to Christianity. I'm not sure why this is.
I could blame the right wing evangelical nut jobs who want to turn the United States into a Christian theocracy; the American Taliban are certainly enough to convince anyone to reject them. But every major religion has its zealots, those who believe that not only is their religion the only true religion, but that part of their responsibility as practicioners of said religion is to force the rest of the world to conform to their beliefs. We're all certainly familiar with the Taliban, the Wa'habi in Saudi Arabia, and the religious justifications that al Qaida uses for murder. And there is an element within Judiasm that is so devout and so fanatical that merely suggesting that the government of Israel has engaged in bad policy will earn you charges of "anti-Semitism." The eastern religions have their share of zealots too; ask anyone who's been a victim of Hindu-Sikh violence in India, for example.
But the existence of a power-mad cabal who uses a religion to rationalize bigotry or murder should not and does not result in the shucking of the entire faith. I try to be respectful of average, every-day Muslims, and have tried to know as much as I can about the basics of Islam. I considered it a great privilege when a former girlfriend's family allowed me -- a guy named Christopher -- to not just be part of their Seder, but to actively participate. So given my predisposal to respect expressions of other faiths' practices and holidays, why do I instantly get my hackles up and become guarded when someone wants to put a Santa or a nativity scene in a public place? Why am I so quick to hold the extreme elements of Christianity against it, while I am equally quick to dismiss similar elements within the Muslim or Jewish communities as unrepresentative of their faiths?
I've always said this site exists in part to expose hypocrisy wherever it exists. Guess it's time to expose myself here. (Quit pointing and laughing!) Anyone else out there -- especially among my secular left friends -- find themselves expressing a lack of tolerance for Christianity that they don't extend to other religions? Why do you think we do this?
