It may have become traditional for angels, three wise men and the baby Jesus to play a starring role in the festive season.
But now Hindu snowmen, a Chinese dragon and a Jewish temple are also to be included in an attempt to make the celebrations more inclusive of Britain’s diverse communities.
Westminster Abbey will unveil life-size snowmen that Anglican clergy hope will help to improve relations and dialogue between other faiths.
Dressed in turbans, with bindi dots on their foreheads, they are intended to demonstrate that Christmas should not be exclusively for Christians.
Oh, please. Please. See the Pope’s comments about allowing the different religions’ characteristics to run together like poor print in the rain. Why is it so fair, so easy, so commonplace, so utterly acceptable to ridicule and parody Christianity? Isn’t anyone tired of being a doormat? The Brits wouldn’t DARE do that to Islam, or Judaism.
Larry
I’m giving the Archbishop of York the benefit of the doubt (earlier post), and hoping that this would not be how he intends Christianity to be a beacon of hope to society. Presumably the Dean of the Abbey isn’t singing from the same songbook.
Rev. (which I dispute) Jane Hedges defending this grossly disturbing watering down of the faith says this:
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Shame on you Jane. Shame on you. Christ IS the message of peace and goodwill. There is no broader message available. If Christ really was Son of God, born of Mary, (a doctrine which this feast celebrates) then HE is the eternal truth. And by definition it means that Islam, Hinudism et al are false religions.
That may make you uncomfortable. Fine- resign and take up a pluralist religion like wicca. But true Christianity is an exclusive claim – that God intervened in human history in human form. I for one beleive it to be true. I can still respect and befriend people of all faiths, I can even find things to commend in their worship- but at no point can I seek to denounce the faith of Christ crucified.
Shame on you and all those like you, Jane. You have just demonstrated your shame in the exclusive claims of Christ Jesus.
I rather seem to remember that the Rev. Jane Hedges might be one of those in line to be one of our proposed new breed of women bishops. A departure from the old in more ways than one apparently. She might fit in well in Perth, Australia.
I wonder who will feed the sacred monkeys?
Westminster Abbey is of course a Royal Peculiar
Obviously the clergy who are offering a theological defense of this are simply more Anglican apostates (Pike, Spong, Borg, etc.). Long tradition of that, and it is of course a tradition that is only getting worse. Nothing more really needs to be said about such people.
But it is worth pointing out that the British are partly in this quandry because the C of E is part of the British State. It is essentially a government entity. If you think of it that way, then you can see this Westminster Abbey thing is not much different than what any US president (rightly) does, which is to make White House Christmas celebrations generic events of winter solstice good will. George Bush for example is himself a born again Christian, but he also respects the fact that he represents all Americans, many of whom aren’t Christians, and so doesn’t use his office to promote his religion. The church of which he is an individual member, of course, would be a different story — no doubt he would vigorously encourage a presentation of the Christmas story there that was absolutely Christocentric. In the US we are fortunate to have the doctrine of the Wall of Separation — which permits CHURCHES to be absolute churches with no need to consider any interests outside their own theological ones.
Thus that is partly why there’s a genuine conflict of interest. As an arm of the state, British bishops and church officials have an obligation to consider state interests: e.g. how to properly represent all citizens, most of whom in the UK are not Christians. As a church, they have an obligation to tell the Old Old Story. Conflict.
It is also obvious that the apostates in the church actually disbelieve in the Old Old Story and wish it watered down — but even if they didn’t exist, the C of E would have a legitimate problem.
Um – no one in the government is telling the CofE to install snowmen with turbans and puja marks or sacred monkeys, mandalas, prayer wheels or asherah poles.
No this is homegrown battiness which you get in these big echoing cathedrals where the staff are largely left to their own devices without control. Then occasionally someone shines a light in and we see what these mad women and men are up to. It comes as a shock to them and to us.
“Homegrown battiness” does sound like a believable explanation. I highly approve of the phrase, PM.
I still state the same question to any religious group or atheist too!
WHOSE BIRTHDAY ARE WE CELEBRATING?? ( I THOUGHT IT WAS OR LORD JESUS CHRIST’s BIRTHDAY ) .
As Alan Bloom so aptly put it, this is like keeping a toothless old circus lion around the house so you can feel the thrill of the jungle.