0
0
Culture Wars
A Short Series On Muslims And Christmas
Clash Of The Titans
Like many, our family will celebrate Christmas this year in the company of other family members. And, like many, we will not have our whole family together. In what has become an age — mostly brought about by the boomer generation — that places less and less value on roots and togetherness, we have become families with shallow roots when it comes to location. I don’t know how typical our family is, but having grown up in my elementary and high school years in the Atlanta (Sandy Springs) area, my only real tie there now is my brother, who now lives in Gainesville, north of Atlanta. My wife and I retired to Colorado, after living overseas for fifteen years; our son also lives in Colorado; one daughter lives in California with her family and her husband’s family near-by; our other daughter lives in Oklahoma with her family and her husband’s family also near-by.
America has always prided itself as being a melting pot for the world. I thought this used to mean that as immigrants came to our country, they melted into our culture, making our country and us richer for the experience. While that has surely happened, as of late, even that seems to be changing. We are having a clash of cultures. Instead of mixing and blending, we are lashing out, becoming more confrontational, and on the verge of waging wars, if not already embroiled in them.
There is less acceptance of one another now. Instead of enjoying what used to be “a Texan plus a Mexican equaling a Texican,” we have reached a boiling point. This is not just true of immigrants coming to America . . . Latinos, Syrians, and others . . . but it’s democrats and republicans, pro-choice and pro-life, liberals and conservatives, Christians and non-Christians . . . it seems like we are on the verge of erupting, like a massive volcano. The lava has reached a point that it can hold back no more, and all that’s left is for it to explode.
So, where is this going, you are probably wondering? For me, today was a day of reflection. Our family is pretty diverse; our country is becoming more diverse by the second. Traditions and cultures are clashing.
Right now, our country is involved in what is likely to become one of the most contentious and divisive elections our country has faced in over 150 years. It’s all those things I listed above, and they are getting ready to collide. I could talk about our becoming more isolationist; our national debt has reached and surpassed unthinkable numbers; we can no longer go to the mall or take in a movie, without wondering whether we will face a mentally-troubled individual or a jihadist . . . both of whom may want to kill us.
Well, I looked at all of this and it made me wonder . . . do Muslims celebrate Christmas? Don’t ask how I got to this question after just laying out all of the above. If I could answer that, I could answer why I decided to study Islam; I could answer how I managed to work, live, and/or visit over 68 countries; I could come up with a good . . . believable . . . answer for my parents as to why I failed the ninth grade (now that, I could really use an answer for). Anyway, this was the question I was seeking an answer for, so I did what everybody does now-a-days: I reached for my iPad and Googled Al Gore’s Internet.
What follows in the next several sections, is what I was able to gather, starting on the afternoon, December 6th, 2019:
Culture Wars
701 – 015
Last Updated: 10/2021
Copyright © 2017-2021 Institute for the Study of Islam (ISI) | Institute-for-the-study-of-Islam-org | Discerning Islam | Discerning-Islam.org | Commentaries on Islam | © 2020 Tips Of The Iceberg | © 1978 marketplace-values.org | Values In The Marketplace | are considered “Trade Marks and Trade Names” ®️ by the Colorado Secretary of State and the Oklahoma Secretary of State. All Rights Reserved.
