Tuesday, November 10, 2015

Why the Uproar Over Christmas?


 
This morning a local television station reported that several malls were considering changing their Santa holiday displays by removing the Christmas trees and going for a more Winter Solstice look. The local consumers loudly complained and the malls are now scrambling to go back to the familiar North Pole with a Christmas tree landscape. Next, on the business channel, Bill Nye took to the news to discuss the numbers and science behind climate change. These two examples along with the red Starbucks cup debacle had me consider the number of Christians who are being pushed out of their Christian celebration of Christmas. Like Bill Nye, I looked at the numbers.

According to the results of a 2014 survey by the Pew Research Center called America’s Changing Religious Landscape, and reported in May, 2015 the number of people claiming affiliation with Christianity in the United States has declined by approximately 7% to 70.6% (from a similar poll done in 2007). This drop is mostly seen in the Catholic and Protestant religions.The report shares much more data concerning diversity, ethnicity, interracial marriage, Millennial’s and the aging population however the report confirms that the United State continues to be home to more Christians than any other country in the world. 

The Pew Report details most all religions and lack of organized faith. Some of the poll numbers show that in 2014 the religious make up for non-Christian religions (Jewish, Muslim, Buddhist, Hindu and other world religions) was 5.9% and for those unaffiliated with any organized religion (atheist, agnostic or nothing in particular) the number was 22.8%.
 

Keeping these number in mind, again, Christians at 70.6%, and by combining non-Christians and unaffiliated at 28.7%, why is there an annual uproar over the display of Christmas celebrations? Why, if the majority of our country’s population is Christian, must the acknowledgment of Jesus Christ’s birth be silenced? One would think that for this holiday, the majority rule at 70.6%. Maybe I am just focusing on numbers but they tell a story that in this instance outweighs being politically correct. What do you think?

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