Gabriel Ross, left, prepares to portray the drummer boy in the Live Nativity of the Faith and Action ministry in Washington, D.C., on Dec. 11, 2014. His grandmother, Gwen Ross, assisted members of Midway Assembly of God in Lewes, Del., who played characters in the presentation. Religion News Service photo by Adelle M. Banks
Another Christmas is nigh, and once again our Jewish friends will get all the fun. Not only do they write the kitschy carols that Christians have to sing, but they get to eat Chinese food (history of that tradition here) on Christmas Day AND watch a new movie in an actual theater. (Remember those?)
And THIS YEAR they get to watch “The Interview”!
Yes, Sony has reversed itself and decided that, apparently against the wishes of the Great Reviewer, Kim Jong Un of North Korea, it will release the Worst Movie of the Year tomorrow.
Among the great religious questions this raises: Do Chinese food sales really spike on Christmas? Slate has an answer.
There are many other questions, but first:
Mark Driscoll is on the road to reinvention
The Seattle megachurch pastor has a spiffy new website and apparently no mention of the scandals that doomed his Mars Hill Church ministry. He is asking for money, and selling some Christmas messages, as the Post-Intelligencer reports. Warren Throckmorton has more here.
In a week the church Driscoll founded will formally dissolve.
Now, back to your regularly-scheduled Christmas news:
How many Americans are Christian?
About three-quarters of them, says the Gallup Poll. When asked for their religious preference in 2014, about 50 percent identified as Protestants or another non-Catholic Christian religion, 24 percent said they are Catholic and 2 percent Mormon.
About 6 percent identify with a non-Christian religion — 2 percent as Jewish — but they all apparently punch above their weight when it comes to Chinese food.
Can you question the Virgin Birth and still be a Christian?
Colleague Kimberly Winston asks the question, and gets some intriguing responses.
BONUS: Adelle Banks has a video report (one photo above) of the live Nativity that Christian activists brought to the Supreme Court. Of course they had to bring their own Wise Men.
ALSO: The Satanic Temple mocking holiday display at the Florida State Capitol got knocked over and damaged by a self-described “Catholic warrior.” She doesn’t look too fearsome, does she? But the display has been fixed. So all good. Right?
Was Mary the victim of sexual assault?
Yes, that’s a question often raised these days about the mother of Jesus. At the Atlantic, Karen Swallow Prior does a lovely job (IMHO) deconstructing this “modern myth”. The gist:
As it turns out, the Annunciation offers an invitation to Mary to give a very modern turn to a very pre-modern event: verbal consent.
Valerie Talerico begs to differ, arguing (yes) that rape is “intrinsic to religion” in this piece at Salon and at this column on her own website in which she relies on the work of Dr. Tony Nugent, a “Presbyterian ordained symbologist.” No, you can’t make this up.
Do Christians over-emphasize the birth of Jesus?
Now for my money, if you want an edifying but challenging take on Christmas here’s a must-read by N.T. Wright, the superb (IMHO) Anglican theologian:
“Christmas looms large in our culture, outshining even Easter in the popular mind. Yet without Matthew 1-2 and Luke 1-2 we would know nothing about it. Paul’s gospel includes Jesus’s Davidic descent (Romans 1:3), but apart from that could exist without mention of his birth. One can be justified by faith with no knowledge of it. Likewise, John’s wonderful theological edifice has no need of it: God’s glory is revealed not in the manger; but on the cross.”
Wright goes on to make some fascinating arguments about Christ’s, humanity, divinity, and the role of sex in the Nativity story.
Why is Christmas on December 25?
Biblical Archaeology Review answers that question and others in several interesting articles:
- How December 25 Became Christmas
- How the apocryphal (non-canonical) gospels helped create the Christmas story
- Where was Jesus really born?
Where was Jesus born (Part II)?
Wait for it …
https://twitter.com/slevelt/status/547510418982567938
PS: If you aren’t following Medieval Manuscripts, a Twitter feed from the British Library’s collection, you are really missing out.
Evangelicalism’s “evolutionary creationist”
He is Jeff Hardin, chairman of the University of Wisconsin’s zoology department, and an evangelical who is trying — as the indispensable Will Saletan writes at Slate — to persuade his fellow believers that evolution and Christianity are compatible.
Read it all here.
What are people giving as gifts in each state this year?
The NYT’s Upshot has what folks are searching for, state by state. Here is New York, the Top Three are 1) Bape clothing, 2) Lebron 12 shoes and 3) Roku streaming stick. I don’t even know what any of those are so this won’t really spoil the surprise for me tomorrow morning.
Can Santa really make it to every house in one night?
In this Slate video, Larry Silverberg of North Carolina State University asked himself and his students this question and provide an answer that involves relativity, a toy-making machine, and a jet-propelled sleigh.
And of course …
Do tidings of comfort and joy extend to Martians? http://t.co/C4rKDDM2tA via @tennessean
— Bob Smietana (@bobsmietana) December 24, 2014
Indiana man makes Nativity on wheels
Since 1999, Jack Ruckel has loaded a manger scene into the back of his pickup truck and parked near the Tippecanoe County Courthouse. Originally it was, as the AP reported, to make a statement against the county commissioners’ decision to ban all privately sponsored displays at the courthouse.
“It’s not a statement anymore. Now, it’s just more tradition. People won’t let you quit,” Ruckel, 77, of Lafayette, told the Journal & Courier.
Speaking of mobile Nativity scenes
This is equal parts heartbreaking and inspiring:
https://twitter.com/Rebecca_Cusey/status/547752553560412160
Let’s hope they, and Baby Jesus, have more permanent lodgings well before next Christmas.
We learn this in Religion Reporting 101
Should pause when source says he's "Jesus Christo.": HuffPo gets it very wrong in St. Louis police shooting story http://t.co/MW6bVfGEYU
— Karen Tumulty (@ktumulty) December 24, 2014
Pope Francis sends Christmas greetings to Korea
His message is found here. Let’s hope Kim Jong Un doesn’t shut down the video feed to Midnight Mass in St. Peter’s Basilica. (Which starts at 9:30pm in Rome, and 3:30pm Eastern Time.)
ALSO: The pope is calling on Muslim religious leaders to “unanimously” condemn the violent persecution of Christians in the Middle East, as well as killing in the name of God.
U.S. Jews take on Orthodox monopoly in Israel
From our own Lauren Markoe:
A broad coalition of American Jews last month formed the Jewish Religious Equality Coalition — or J-REC — to pressure Israel to diminish the role of Orthodox rabbis who control so much of Jewish life in Israel.
Read it all here.
Finally, ICYMI:
Tomorrow: Christmas Day
— Onclusive Forward Planner (@OnclusivePlan) December 24, 2014
Take care all, be safe, and find a clean, well-lighted place this holiday, whatever you are celebrating and with whomever.
We will be taking Thursday and Friday off, in case you need a palate cleanser after the feast.
As Tiny Tim said, “God bless us, every one.”
