Mixed Messages

We have a Christmas economy. We have a military economy. No wonderit's hard for people around the world to figure America out. Christmasin the best of times has a split personality. There is a religiousChristmas and a secular Xmas. The material side tends to drown out thespiritual. This year the political is upstaging, and incorporating,both of them.

The national psyche is shell-shocked. Even with the highest murderrate among fellow nations and being the largest arms dealer in theworld, Americans are stunned by the blowback of September 11, actualattacks on their home ground, on the scale of special effects inmovies. Decorative lights are red, white, and blue, in memoriam to thedead, in support of America's war on terrorists.

Osama bin Laden and his band of men, mass murderers for their cause,have thrown the season out of whack. A few dozen men in one branch ofone religion killed thousands of people of many religions andnationalities. They want Americans, men and women of many faiths livingand working together--and therefore infidels in their scheme ofthings--out of Saudi Arabia. They want the world to follow theirscript, their reading of scripture. They will go to any lengths, to theends of the earth and back, to achieve their purpose. We are remindedthat history is geography is destiny.

Compare the two main figures of the season. Father Christmas or St.Nicholas or Sinter Klaas or Santa Claus is an older man from the ArcticCircle, part pagan, part Christian, who rides a horse or a sleigh pulledby reindeer and carries big bags of presents. Jesus is a Jew fromBethlehem, a younger man who has few possessions.

Both of them are legendary philanthropists; they emanate love forpeople, each in his own way. In the case of Santa, love is shown bybestowing gifts. In the case of Jesus, love is its own reward, aspiritual gift. This creates a certain tension about life on theworldly plane, between the claims of the Kingdom of God and humannature.

This year it's a schism, a crisis. There is a revival ofexistentialism and of religious expression. Not all Americans celebrateChristmas. There are more Americans who are not Christians than thereare African-Americans or Hispanics. You could call them the country'slargest minority. Those who are not adherents of Christianity arecaught up in the seasonal momentum, which continues from Thanksgivinguntil trees shed their needles and are discarded. The Christmasexperience, centered around Christmas Eve, may last for two months.Many stores do almost half their year's business geared to Christmas andother businesses function exclusively for Christmas.

This year we are more aware than usual of the tens of millions ofAmerican Hindus, Sikhs, Muslims, Jews, Buddhists, Baha'is, secularhumanists, and those who follow or don't follow other beliefs. We aremore aware than usual that America is a pluralist society where morethan one-seventh of the population do not observe the birthday ofJesus. There is added reason to give different perspectives some roomto breathe amid the crowd of Christmas activities and symbols. We wantto see a government for Afghanistan that reflects its multiethnicpopulation, women as much as men. We want them to be as free as we are.Christmas assimilated Saturnalia and winter solstice observances tohonor the figure revered as the prince of peace. Christians give gifts,primarily to children, as a proxy for giving birthday gifts to babyJesus.

"The Christmas season" generally refers to marketing and salescampaigns for people to buy more than they need as much as to a time ofprayer. But the two become merged. It is a religious and politicalactto be a consumer. Christmas carols play in stores and restaurants.Thepolitical prayer is an American ritual, in Congress, in the pledge ofallegiance to the flag, at public events. This challenges bothdemocracy and spiritual practice, the Constitution and the ChristianBible.

Most American children do not need any extra things. They haveenough. They have been indoctrinated to want more things but they don'tneed them. For the most part, they have more things than anyone else,more than they know what to do with. What children need is love,support, guidance, nurturing, play, kindness, a good education, and,when in doubt, more of the same. They need physical security, food,health, shelter, clothing, air and water and sunlight.

A patriotic Christmas becomes a fusion of church and state. It toyswith the First Amendment. It Christianizes America and politicizesChristian religiosity. It confuses the issues. Jesus is usuallyperformed in movies by northern European Christians who will look morelike Santa Claus when they get old, not by what we think of as young"Middle Eastern" or "Mediterranean" men. As with theprotean SantaClaus, combined from many cultural traditions, Jesus takes on the localtrappings of believers. This year, more than ever, the baby Jesus seemsto be swaddled in the American flag while Santa seems to be choking onhis laugh.

(Harris Sussman is aconsultant on social affairs in Boston, USA)