As Christmas draws near, Pastor John Foster won’t be decorating a tree, shopping for last-minute gifts or working on a holiday sermon for his flock. After all, it’s been 50 years since Christmas was anything more than a day of the week to him.
He’s one of very few American Christians who follow what used to be the norm in many Protestant denominations — rejecting the celebration of Christmas on religious grounds.
“People don’t think of it this way, but it’s really a secular holiday,” said Foster, a Princeton-based pastor in the United Church of God. He last celebrated Christmas when he was 8.
His church’s objection to Christmas is rare among U.S. Christians. Gallup polls from 1994 to 2005 consistently show that more than 90 percent of adults say they celebrate Christmas, including 84 percent of non-Christians.
That’s a huge change from an earlier era, when many Protestants ignored or actively opposed the holiday. But as it gradually became popular as a family celebration, churches followed their members in making peace with Christmas.
The change didn’t happen overnight. Through much of the 19th century, schools and businesses remained open, Congress met in session and some churches closed their doors, lest errant worshippers try to furtively commemorate the day.
Being from the UK – England has always (?) celebrated Christmas BUT not Scotland. It wasn’t until the late 1970’s that Christmas Day became a public holiday in Scotland (and New Year’s Day in England). The firm I worked for had offices in both London and Glasgow and London had 3 days off at Christmas while Glasgow had 3 days at New Year. For 10 years I worked Christmas Day !!
I always thought that Dickens made out Scrooge to be rather Scottish (rather scotch too). So why did they change over to a Sassanach holiday schedule?
They didn’t – the government of the day decided that ‘we’ should have another public holiday and England took it as January 1 while Scotland took it as December 25. In practise this is what most of the people did anyway