§ A school in Lüneburg postponed a Christmas party after a Muslim student complained that the singing of Christmas carols during school was incompatible with Islam. Alexander Gauland, the leader of the anti-immigration Alternative for Germany (AfD), said the school's action was "an unbearable, involuntary submission to Islam" and amounted to a "cowardly injustice" toward non-Muslim children.§ The re-theologizing of Christmas is based on the false premise that the Jesus of the Bible is the Jesus (Isa) of the Koran. This religious fusion, sometimes referred to as "Chrislam," is gaining ground in a West that has become biblically illiterate.
§ "The word 'Christmas,' a symbol of our
faith and our culture, does not discriminate against anyone. Striking the
emblems of Christmas does not guarantee anyone's respect, does not produce a
welcoming and inclusive school and society, but fosters intolerance towards our
culture, our customs, our laws and our traditions. We firmly believe that our
traditions must be respected." — Milan politician Samuele Piscina.
This year's Christmas season has been marked by Islam-related
controversies in nearly every European country. Most of the conflicts have been
generated by Europe's multicultural political and religious elites, who are
bending over backwards to secularize Christmas, ostensibly to ensure that
Muslims will not be offended by the Christian festival.
Many traditional Christmas markets have been renamed — Amsterdam
Winter Parade, Brussels Winter Pleasures, Kreuzberger Wintermarkt, London
Winterville, Munich Winter Festival —
to project a multicultural veneer of secular tolerance.
More troubling are the growing efforts to Islamize Christmas. The
re-theologizing of Christmas is based on the false premise that the Jesus of
the Bible is the Jesus (Isa) of the Koran. This religious fusion, sometimes
referred to as "Chrislam," is gaining ground in a West that has
become biblically illiterate.
In Britain, for instance, the All Saints Church in
Kingston upon Thames recently held a joint
birthday celebration for Jesus and Mohammed. The "Milad, Advent and
Christmas Celebration" on December 3 was aimed at "marking the
birthday of Prophet Mohammed and looking forward to the birthday of
Jesus." The hour-long service included time for Islamic prayer and was
followed by the cutting of a birthday cake.
The prominent Christian blog "Archbishop Cranmer" rebuked the church
for its lack of discernment:
"Note how this event is 'Marking the birthday of Prophet
Mohammed,' but not looking forward to the birthday of the Lord Jesus Christ,
the Son of God. Mohammed gets his prophethood, while Jesus gets neither his
prophethood nor his priesthood; neither his kingship nor his messiahship. It's
the exalted Prophet Mohammed along with plain old Jesus, because to have added
any of his claims to divinity would, of course, have alienated many Muslims (if
they hadn't already been alienated by the haram [forbidden by Islam]
celebration), which wouldn't have been very interfaith or sensitively missional,
would it?"
The blog added that exalting
Mohammed in churches effectively proclaims that Mohammed is greater than Jesus:
"Every time a church accords Mohammed the epithet 'Prophet,'
they are rejecting the crucifixion, denying the resurrection of Christ, and
refuting that the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, for Mohammed denied
all of these foundational tenets of the Christian faith."
Previously, a passage from the Koran denying that Jesus is the Son
of God was read during a service at a Scottish Episcopal Church in Glasgow on
Epiphany, a festival commemorating the incarnation of God in the person of
Jesus Christ. One of the Queen's chaplains, Gavin Ashenden, referred to the
Koran reading as "blasphemy." He added that "there are other and
considerably better ways to build 'bridges of understanding'" with
Muslims.
In London, the All-Party Parliamentary Group on British Muslims, a
parliamentary group composed of members of both the House of Commons and the
House of Lords, issued a report, "A Very Merry Muslim
Christmas," aimed at drawing attention to the "humanity" of
Muslims during Christmas. The report states:
"Too often, Muslim charities come to our attention because of
negative media coverage... What we hear even less about is the 'Muslim Merry
Christmas.' The soup kitchens, the food banks, the Christmas dinners, the New
Year clean-up — work Muslim charities will be busy doing during the Christmas
period."
In Scotland, the regional government was accused of
"undermining" Britain's Christian heritage by promoting "winter
festivals" for ethnic minorities while ignoring Christmas. Scotland's
International Development Minister, Alasdair Allan, pledged nearly £400,000
($535,000) to fund 23 events during the winter months. He described them as
"key dates in our national calendar" and said the "exciting and
diverse" program would help Scots "celebrate everything great about
our wonderful country during the winter months." None of the events,
however, has any connection to Christmas. A spokesman for the Catholic Church in
Scotland said:
"It is deeply disappointing that the Scottish Government has
chosen not to recognize the religious reality of Christmas in its Winter
Festival events. Over half of the population stated their religion as Christian
in the last census. Catholics, and other Christians, may quite rightly wonder
why this publicly-funded Festival does not include any events designed to help
Scots celebrate the birth of Christ which is undoubtedly the most significant
celebration in the winter months."
Gordon Macdonald, of Christian charity CARE, added:
"It is part of the general secularization that has been
taking place within the Scottish Government for a number of years where our
Christian heritage and value system has been undermined as a direct result of
government policy."
In Denmark, a primary school in Graested cancelled a
traditional church service marking the beginning of Christmas in order not to
offend Muslim pupils. Some parents accused the school of having
double-standards: it recently held an event called "Syria Week" in
which children immersed themselves in Middle Eastern culture. Ignoring parents,
the school board sided with the
school:
"The board backs the school's decision to create new
traditions[emphasis added] that involve children and young people."
Danish Prime Minister Lars Lokke Rasmussen, who attended the
school as a child, said the decision should be reversed. Health Minister Ellen
Trane Norby added:
"Danish primary schools have a duty to spread education — and
teaching the cultural values and knowledge connected to Christmas is an
essential part of that."
In France, the annual Christmas market in the
Croix-Rousse district of Lyon was cancelled because
of exorbitant security costs associated with protecting the event from Islamic
terror. The city's annual festival of lights did go ahead this year. The
military governor of Lyon, General Pierre Chavancy, said that, because
of the "sensitivity" of the event, 1,500 soldiers and police, backed
up by dogs, river brigades and mine-clearers, would be deployed to provide
security.
In neighboring Belgium, the head of the Red Cross in
Liège, André Rouffart, ordered all 28
offices in the city to remove crucifixes to affirm the organization's secular
identity. Critics said the decision was part of a broader effort to
"modify certain terminologies" and to "break with our traditions
and our roots" in order to appease Muslims. "We once said Christmas
holidays, now we say winter holidays," said a local Red Cross volunteer.
"The Christmas market in Brussels has been renamed 'Winter Pleasures.' Let
things remain as they are."
In Germany, a school in Lüneburg postponed a
Christmas party after a Muslim student complained that the singing of Christmas
carols during school was incompatible with Islam. The school's decision to
reschedule the event as a non-compulsory after-school activity generated
"a flood of hate mail and even threats against school management and
school board," according to Focus. In an effort to appease
angry parents, Headmaster Friedrich Suhr said that "non-Christian"
Christmas songs such as "Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer" would not be
banned. Alexander Gauland, the leader of the anti-immigration Alternative for
Germany (AfD), said the school's
action was "an unbearable, involuntary submission to Islam" and
amounted to a "cowardly injustice" toward non-Muslim children.
In Munich, ads for a multicultural "winter market" depicted a snowman
covered in a burqa. The chairman of the AfD in Bavaria, Petr Bystron, noted the irony:
"A burqa snowman as a tolerance symbol?" In Halle, the Christmas
market was renamed "Wintermarket."
In Berlin, the traditional Christmas market was protected by walls
of concrete barriers to prevent a repeat of last year's jihadist attack in
which 12 people were killed and more than 50 injured. In Stuttgart, a
53-year-old man was arrested at the
Christmas market after he claimed to carrying a bomb in his backpack. In
Potsdam, the Christmas market was closed after a nearby
pharmacy received a letter bomb. In Bonn, the Christmas market was evacuated due to a
bomb threat.
In Italy, a school in Milan removed references
to Christmas at a party and renamed the holiday as "The Great Festival of
Happy Holidays." Writing on Facebook, local politician Samuele
Piscina accused the school
of implementing "a politically correct leftist policy" that deprives
Italian children the joy of Christmas:
"After the nativity scenes and the crucifixes, now even
Christmas parties are hindered in schools. The word 'Christmas,' a symbol of
our faith and our culture, does not discriminate against anyone. Striking the
emblems of Christmas does not guarantee anyone's respect, does not produce a
welcoming and inclusive school and society, but fosters intolerance towards our
culture, our customs, our laws and our traditions. We firmly believe that our
traditions must be respected."
In Bolzano, a cardboard Christmas tree was ordered to be removed from the
town hall because "it could have offended the sensibilities" of
Muslims. A local politician, Alessandro Urzì, expressed outrage at the
decision: "The bureaucratic rigor with which the tree was removed to avoid
the risk of annoying someone reflects the barbarization of the cultural
climate."
In Norway, a primary school in Skien announced that its
Christmas festivities this year would include not only the usual reading by
pupils of verses from the Bible but also two verses from the Koran which refer
to Jesus. The inimitable Bruce Bawer explained the
implications:
"Stigeråsen School's Christmas plans provide yet another
example of dhimmitude: craven European submission to Islam. This
year, there might be a couple of Koran verses in a Christmas show; next year, a
yuletide event at which both religions are celebrated on an even footing; and
not too many years after that, perhaps, a children's celebration at which there
is no cross and no Christmas tree, only prayer rugs, benedictions in Arabic,
and hijabs for the girls."
In Spain, the Madrid City Council replaced Christmas
festivities in the capital with a neo-Pagan "International Fair of the
Cultures." According to Madrid Mayor Manuela Carmena, a former member of
Spain's Communist Party, the express purpose of the month-long event is to
de-Christianize Christmas to make it more inclusive:
"We all know that Christmas is a festival of religious
origin, but it is also a celebration of humanity, solidarity. Therefore, the
Madrid City Council wants to do everything possible so that everyone who is in
this city, from wherever they may be, can enjoy Christmas."
Breaking with tradition, the Madrid city hall also refused to place a
nativity scene at the Puerta de Alcalá, one of the city's most iconic
monuments. Local politician José Luis Martínez-Almeida accused Carmena of
"enthusiastically collaborating in the celebration of Ramadan" but
"trying to hide all the Christian symbols of Christmas." He added:
"We want to reclaim our cultural and religious roots."
Soeren Kern is a Senior Fellow at
the New York-based Gatestone Institute.
