 "Photo: Tiffany Tran")
Christmas is the season to be jolly, a time for everyone to visit their friends and family, give and receive gifts, and leave out milk and cookies for the world's fastest fat man in red. Like most holidays, Christmas is teeming with traditions anyone can share. But overexcited Christians are seizing the fun and tradition from the rest of the world, and their Nativity Movement is one of close-minded exclusiveness.
The argument to keep Christmas about Christ shuts out the world that doesn't share their beliefs. Certainly the holiday was created to celebrate the birth of Jesus, but Christmas has evolved into an all-encompassing time of joy, sharing and love. Christians who demand that nativity should crush any commercial aspect take away from the spirit of the day, excluding other faiths from the season.
This holiday seems divided into two factions - commercialism and nativity. Commercialism is all of the things a person typically thinks of when Christmas is mentioned. Nativity focuses on the more religious meanings of the holiday, such as increased attendance for special sermons or scenes of the baby Jesus in a manger.
Commercialism is often criticized for making a religious day a time of greed and excess spending, clashing against the religious ideals. But through the magic of Christmas, this view spreads basic Christian virtues, such as generosity and love.
Neither can the economic aspect of Christmas be undervalued. The rapid spending during the season stimulates the economy. In these difficult times, people buying the gifts they can afford help businesses that are struggling.
Unfortunately overzealous Christians can close off Christmas to those of different religions. Christ was a man of love and would want us to share the joy of the season with all people. Each religion celebrating their own holiday, without sharing their culture with others, only serves to separate mankind.
On The O'Reilly Factor a few years ago, Fox News host Bill O'Reilly reported the steady decline in nativity and focus on more generic, commercialist ideas, such as the term happy holidays as opposed to merry Christmas, was "all part of the secular progressive agenda to get Christianity and spirituality and Judaism out of the public square…then you can pass secular progressive programs, like legalization of narcotics, euthanasia, abortion at will, gay marriage, because the objection to those things is religious-based, usually."
His claim is absolutely ridiculous and not at all in keeping with the Christmas spirit. Corporations are using generic phrases to avoid shutting out non-Christians, people who could be potential customers. Companies are simply advertising broadly, as December holds many holidays. Wishing someone a "happy holidays" was not a creation of the corporations attempting to destroy a Christian Christmas.
There isn't anything wrong with putting up nativity scenes or attending church. But when religion is taken to such an extreme that people of other faiths are excluded or alienated, it becomes a problem. There are crazies on the other side, and the right to religious freedom applies to everyone and every religion equally.
People of every faith and creed deserve to have a period of peace together. Christmas is that period, if people will relax their tensions and let it. So please, enjoy the season in the way that seems best to you and let others do the same. Choking the nonChristian world out of a period of joy to serve a feeling of righteousness is anything but right.
Steven Laxton is a freshman general studies major.
