Starhawk on Faith: Respect Diversity
Tuesday December 18, 2007
Starhawk has added a commentary to her On Faith blog over at Newsweek, about respecting diversity during the holiday season. As always, well said.
She makes the valid point that if you're celebrating Christmas, no one's trying to stop you from having Christ involved in it... but you're not supposed to be excluding the folks that celebrate something OTHER than Christmas, if they want equal time for their own holiday. That's why each year when these "war on Christmas" stories come out, they get crazier and crazier... everyone wants to be the star of attention, and really, all the rest of the world is asking for is just some plain ol' tolerance.
Most of my friends are Christian, and I wouldn't dream of telling them they shouldn't say "Merry Christmas", or that the baby Jesus on their own front lawn offends me. They are more than welcome to celebrate as their belief system dictates. Likewise, I have no intention of telling them they need to replace their stuff with a giant light-up pentacle or a big erection-wielding statue of Saturn. I respect my non-Pagan friends, they respect me, and we don't let religion get in the way. That's why we're able to remain friends.
I think Starhawk summed it up nicely in saying, "Let’s keep our celebrations respectful of the multiplicity of approaches to religion and faith that make us a rich, diverse, and free society."
After all, if we can't embrace the diversity around us, then how truly free is our society in the first place?
She makes the valid point that if you're celebrating Christmas, no one's trying to stop you from having Christ involved in it... but you're not supposed to be excluding the folks that celebrate something OTHER than Christmas, if they want equal time for their own holiday. That's why each year when these "war on Christmas" stories come out, they get crazier and crazier... everyone wants to be the star of attention, and really, all the rest of the world is asking for is just some plain ol' tolerance.
Most of my friends are Christian, and I wouldn't dream of telling them they shouldn't say "Merry Christmas", or that the baby Jesus on their own front lawn offends me. They are more than welcome to celebrate as their belief system dictates. Likewise, I have no intention of telling them they need to replace their stuff with a giant light-up pentacle or a big erection-wielding statue of Saturn. I respect my non-Pagan friends, they respect me, and we don't let religion get in the way. That's why we're able to remain friends.
I think Starhawk summed it up nicely in saying, "Let’s keep our celebrations respectful of the multiplicity of approaches to religion and faith that make us a rich, diverse, and free society."
After all, if we can't embrace the diversity around us, then how truly free is our society in the first place?
Well said.I am sort of dismayed though……although I am a practicing Pagan/Wiccan,I was brought up as a Christian and still receive Christmas cards from family and friends. I received only ONE Christmas card out of many that had the name “Jesus” on it.I began to think…Has it become politically incorrect to send cards with the Christian Saviour’s name on them?…is it that no one wants to offend the people who celebrate Christmas by bringing religion into it!!!?? A sad commentary…so many of us are minimizing our religious and spriritual beliefs so we don’t offend someone..or outrageously demanding we be recognized by insisting “our symbols” (be they pentacles,poles,mennorahs, etc be diplayed to “balance” the other religious symbol of Christmas…a Cross or manger scene….. just some food for thought.
I, too, have observed that our society has become gun-shy about expressing our own beliefs. It seems that in our efforts to “manage” diversity, we’ve created a culture where individuals either fly their faith like a battle flag or try to pretend it doesn’t exist. I hear people all the time say, “Religion has no place in the workplace!”. If our faith is part and parcel of our lives, how can we spend the largest percentage of our waking days pretending it doesn’t exist? How can I bring my whole self to the task if I have to leave part of me at home? We’re missing a great opportunity as a culture to encourage and develop true respect for each other, substituting “don’t ask/don’t tell” for true tolerance.