Between Jesus and Santa Claus

In the U.S., the past holidays have animated a discussion about which of their meanings is more important: the religious or the secular one?

Washington — Is it more appropriate to write “Merry Christmas” or “Happy Holidays” on greeting cards sent out — in tune with the spirit of the times — at a click of your mouse?

Christmas, as well as the holidays (including the Jewish Hanukkah and the African-American Kwanzaa), has passed, but the above question is still relevant. The answer to it is a piece of a mosaic that represents American culture, its uniqueness in terms of politics and religion, and last but not least, tolerance.

Almost everyone celebrated Christmas, but what was striking was that some seemed to celebrate the day that Jesus was born, while others simply celebrated the holidays.

According to a survey conducted by the Christian survey research firm LifeWay Research, 62 percent of people who follow non-Christian religions and 89 percent of agnostics or people who claim to have no religious identity celebrated Christmas.

“A lot of Americans celebrate Christmas like they participate in yoga: unaware and unconcerned about its religious roots,” says Ed Stetzer, a Southern Baptist pastor and president of LifeWay.

“More people encourage belief in Santa Claus (38 percent) than tell the Gospel story (28 percents) that undergirds the whole of Christianity,” Stetzer said, commenting on Christmas spirit in an interview with USA Today.

In the U.S., in everyday life and popular culture, Santa Claus is much more often used or perceived as a symbol of Christmas than Jesus, as was indicated by the survey. Of the participants, 74 percent stated that many things they enjoy during the Christmas season “have nothing to do with the birth of Jesus.”

“Christmas is no longer about baby Jesus and the sheep. At Christmas, you take a break, and you go on vacation,” said Barry Kosmin, director of the Institute for the Study of Secularism in Society and Culture at Trinity College, CA.

This year, nine out of 10 Americans have celebrated Christmas. Half of them solved the problem with the greeting card by opting to wish people “Happy Holidays.” Comparing that to what was common half a century ago, there has been a big shift, which is interpreted as a growing respect for other peoples’ sensibility when it comes to their faith.

Consequently, the same old question arises again: Is the United States — a nation of many different religions and ethnicities — a Christian nation?

From a demographic point of view, the answer is yes. In 2008, when the latest survey of this kind was conducted, 76 percent of all Americans stated that they are Christian. What is interesting is that in 1990, the rate was at 87 percent.

How about the other 11 percent? It is believed that most of them have converted to one of the new religious movements or that they have aligned themselves with other “laymen.” Experts point out that a similar process can be observed in other parts of the world, such as Europe, Canada and Australia.

Another questions remains: Is the U.S. a Christian nation in a political sense? There is no precise answer to that question, either. The Declaration of Independence, on which the formation of the U.S. as a nation is based, mentions God and the Creator as the source of some inalienable human rights and freedoms, but does not go into detail. Although the Founding Fathers and the writers of the Constitution were all Christian, it does not mention God whatsoever.

The wall separating the church from the state is extraordinarily high and visible: to the state what belongs to the state, and to God what belongs to God. Churches, temples, mosques — any religious object — can only be built on private land. Religious symbols are usually not allowed in governmental institutions that are open to people of all religious orientations. Naturally, there are a few exceptions that are constantly the subject of political controversies and legal disputes.

There is the Bible Belt, however, which covers a big part of the South and the Midwest. This is where most conservative Protestants live and where regular church attendance is a social obligation. What is striking though is that new movements originated by agnostics and secularists are increasing some sort of new self-confidence.

One of the organizations behind these movements, the Washington-based American Humanist Association, has been renting advertising space over Christmas to promote their slogan, “You Can Be Good Without God.” According to their manifesto, being a humanist means endeavoring to behave decently without expecting to be rewarded or punished after death. An additional message says that if we don’t save ourselves, a deity won’t do so either.

However, at a rate of 1.5 percent, atheists are still a negligible minority. After all, avowing believers, too, are more likely to indulge in earthly joys rather than in heavenly ones.