I see that the silly season is upon us with stories of people fearing causing offence to other faiths. This time it is the nativity play:
Shepherds dressed in old sheets, Christmas carols and the competition to see who will play Mary and Joseph… nativity plays have been a feature of British primary-school life for generations.
But a survey has revealed that headteachers are watering down or ditching the centuries-old Christmas story in favour of secular tales to avoid upsetting pupils of other faiths.
Only one in five schools are planning to perform a traditional nativity play this year. They are now outnumbered by schools that say they will be either putting on a non-religious play, such as Scrooge or Snow White, or giving no performance at all.
Oh, for crying out loud! Every year we get people complaining that other faiths will be offended and nonsense about atheists waging a war on Christmas. There is no evidence to support these assertions. There is no evidence because it is a fabrication. No one is offended by children staging a nativity play. Have we seen mullahs raging against it? Have we seen street demonstrations demanding that children and their teachers be executed for offending someone or other? No, of course not.
I am not alone in making this observation:
Terence Copley, Professor of Educational Studies at Oxford University, said the idea that the nativity could offend other faiths was “crazy”.
“I have never met a single Jew, Muslim, Sikh or Buddhist who has objected to the commemoration and celebration of the birth of Jesus,” he said. “In Islam, he is a prophet and his birth is described in the Koran. It is not other religions that are pushing for this at all.”
Quite right. Then, however, he gets all silly himself:
If we avoid Christmas we are pandering to a secular minority and allowing the event to become all about commercialism, presents and self-indulgence.
Bollocks. Atheists – or the “secular minority” are no more calling for a cessation of religious celebration than all those other “offended” faiths. No one is calling for nativity plays to be stopped. This is an artificial story created by Christians and it surfaces every year with depressing regularity. I’m sorry, but the poor little persecuted Christian act doesn’t wash. It didn’t wash the first time and it isn’t washing now.
Frankly, I don’t care one way or the other whether schools stage nativity plays – I was mildly unimpressed as a child and nothing has changed in the intervening years; but please, can we stop with the “other faiths might be offended” bollocks. They aren’t. And Christianity is not being persecuted by atheists for celebrating Christmas. Grow up and get over yourselves, folks, please.
And, on another note about Christmas:
Rounding the bend in Rose Crescent, I met a small boy and his father, coming towards me in the twilight, the child clutching his father’s hand, his eyes bright with excitement, craning his neck to see the lights and decorations, and skipping with delight.
“But don’t you think they are lovely?” he was saying, breathlessly. His father’s answer was cautious – he clearly did not want to disappoint: “Yes, I do think so. I just think it’s a bit early.”
Father is quite right. Anything earlier than a couple of weeks beforehand – and I’m stretching it, here – is far too early. Christmas is a two-day celebration. Frankly, it should start on Christmas Eve and finish on Boxing day. Bombarding us with tacky adverts, shelves full of Christmas wares and equally tacky street lighting from early October onwards is obscene.
So, despite being an evil atheist, I find the overt commercialism and self-indulgence off putting, too. That’s why I don’t celebrate it.
But people have been complaining about “commercialisation” for decades, I don’t think that it gets worse every year, it reached a plateau ages ago. And as to self-indulgence, what’s the harm in cheering yourself up with some booze and coloured lights in the dark month of December?
Nothing whatsoever. I just object to having it rammed down my throat from the end of September – not to mention the arrant tackiness of the whole thing.