Christmas without Jesus

A couple of days ago I was in Cornmarket Street, the heart of Oxford City Centre. Although many students had already left for Christmas, the place was full of people, like on any other off day.

My attention was drawn to an open air mission conducted in the middle of the street (the place is out of bounds for vehicles). A young tall man was making a loud speech. Part of what he was saying was, “I can see most of you carrying loads of goods and gifts bought for Christmas. However, as I stand here and watch, I see that hardly any of you has a happy face. It is often the case that those with the heaviest bag of shopping look least happy. Why has happiness disappeared from our lives, despite all the riches?”

He added, “Our situation is like that of a child who has been offered many gifts. He is so engrossed with what he got that he would not listen to his parents telling him to dispose of the wrappings properly. Whatever we have today is given to us by God, but we turn our backs on Him”.

I thought these were quite thought-provoking and well-articulated words. I had longed to listen to more of it but I couldn’t do so. It wasn’t because I was rushed, or anything like that. I simply didn’t want to look like a fool by not doing what the rest were doing. People of all ages and sex and class were moving to and fro, but unfortunately not a single soul paused to even look at the speaker, let alone listen to his God-talk. The poor man was apparently trying to brainwash his reluctant audience, but his mission itself was being washed away by total apathy.

He would have a much better day if he had selected some other hot topics, such as sex or pornography or the latest luxury products in town. Despite being treated like an alien from another planet, he had the extraordinary spirit to continue to deliver his messages. Perhaps he thought at least God must be listening to him.

If Karl Marx was observing this scene, he would have been extremely happy and extremely sad at the same time. He would be delighted to see that his polemics against religion had a real impact upon the masses. He would be terrified, though, to see his theory on the utopia of communism crushed by full-fledged capitalism. He would be angry to see that communism had been “put into the cold storage” (in the words of a British anthropologist) even in China.

One can clearly see that Christmas (like other major festivals in capitalist societies) has been hijacked by consumerism. It has been increasingly delinked from religion. Capitalism has attempted to change almost everything, including people’s beliefs, values and moralities into commodities. People themselves have been reduced to ‘machines’ to drive capitalist systems. The governments in the western world encourage people to work hard and make money and spend it too. For instance, British government has officially encouraged people in Britain to do more shopping (although they increasingly fear losing money and income sources) as a way of defeating financial meltdown.

As if everybody in Britain was religious, some Brits are set to launch atheist campaigns. One of them planned to start shortly in London will have the following message painted on public buses - “There is probably no God. Now stop worrying and enjoy your life”. There have been several media debates for and against the planned campaign.

The missionary man in Oxford and the atheist campaigners in London are both wrong in the sense that they are using faith as materials for public display or advertisements. They want to promote or demote God, as if the notion of God is a product of a multi-national company. We should not be surprised if a small child from a totally atheist family in London or Oxford asked, “Mummy, can I have a bar of fresh and juicy God please!”

Capitalism’s influence on people is so great that they fail to see what faith actually means. When somebody has a faith in God, he does so without seeking any clarification. Faith can be explained in terms of our everyday mundane activities as well. For instance, if I have to travel by bus or train or plane, I simply buy the ticket and get into it. In doing so, I am expressing my unquestioned faith on the driver or pilot. He might be the worst one and may ultimately cause an accident that could cost my life. Despite all these possibilities, I do not approach the driver or pilot beforehand and ask for his licence, experience and career history. What is this, if not faith?

In the similar manner, if somebody believes in God, he does not question the existence of God. He does not care if God really exists or not. But people often fail to see this simple logic.

The world is poised to celebrate this year’s Christmas. Many will do so without remembering Jesus. Nobody knows if this really hurts or benefits God. But one thing is certain; the fat cats in the capitalist societies of Europe, America, Asia, Africa and elsewhere will once again reap the benefits of Christmas.

Merry Christmas!