My first Engage the Culture Christmas wish. I often think that even though Christianity is on the retreat in American culture, it is amazing that during this season the name of Christ is everywhere, whether he is believed to be Lord and Savior or not. The wish of many secularists to turn this into a holiday devoid of Christ is simply not possible. For those of us who believe, we can take comfort that Jesus will always be the reason for the season, and we can proclaim that Christ the Savior is born!
The demise of Christianity as a cultural force is overstated even if the Christian faith is no longer ascendant. A wonderful piece in First Things argues that that American people for the most part still get it:
A recent Pew study has found that instead of being at war with Christmas, Americans love it. Three-quarters of Americans believe that Jesus was born to the Virgin Mary, and that angels appeared to shepherds to tell them that the Savior would be born in Bethlehem. Over 80 percent of Americans believe Luke’s account that Jesus was laid in a manger. The study found that about 65 percent believed in all the historical aspects of the Nativity—about the same percentage who will attend church this Christmas.
Of course, these statistics can be misleading. They don’t tell us whether people really believe in the Incarnation. They don’t tell whether all this Christmas cheer is manufactured by moral therapeutic deism, or simply the gods of commerce. But the statistics do tell us something. Namely that, when pressed, Americans don’t think that Christmas is about Santa, snowmen, talking reindeer, or even shopping. Americans aren’t terribly reflective about what they believe about Christmas, but they are certain that it celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ to a virgin in Bethlehem roughly 2,014 years ago.
The angel of the Lord appeared to stunned Joseph, Mary’s betrothed, in a dream to tell us what this season is really all about:
“Joseph son of David, do not be afraid to take Mary home as your wife, because what is conceived in her is from the Holy Spirit. 21 She will give birth to a son, and you are to give him the name Jesus, because he will save his people from their sins.”
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