Christmas without Christ? Unthinkable!

St Paul warned centuries ago that to many people the Gospel of Jesus Christ was an offence, and these days in particular we see just how much of an offence it can be to the plethora of non-believers who pepper our nation's leadership in various government positions and local council chambers as they do their utmost to airbrush Christianity from the face of the nation.


How I applaud Lord Carey, the former Archbishop of Canterbury, for his courage to reaffirm the importance of recognising that without Christ there is no Christmas. Pointing out the various forms of petty censorship that Christians have to endure today he lists the various nonsensical attitudes and decisions of those in authority, things such as:

• Secular Christmas cards which have no mention of Christ.
• 'Nativity' plays which, by their very lack of any Christian content, falsely declare themselves in their descriptive title. Probably the term 'School Panto' would be more accurate.
• Christmas decorations banned for fear of offending those of other faiths or those who are atheist in persuasion.
• Employers who refuse to allow employees anything which expresses their Christianity in the workplace.
• Councils who flick the switch on 'Winter Lights' displays, and the idiots who try to insist that the name of Christmas be changed to 'Winter festival'.

Recently Lord Justice Laws stated that it would be 'deeply unprincipled' to protect Christian beliefs. Is he ignorant of the fact that this nation was built on the foundation of Christian beliefs and principles? From his misguided statement it would certainly appear that this area of his education is sadly lacking. Perhaps he was day-dreaming, looking out of the classroom window when this piece of information was disseminated when he was a little lad at school. Or perhaps he is young enough to have been at school when such information was already banned from the curriculum.


It's high time that Christians started to fight back against the unacceptable rubbish that is being aimed at belittling Christian beliefs, principles and values. It's time for everyone who truly believes themselves to be a Christian to raise their voice above the baying of the secularistic crowds and reaffirm what Christianity stands for and, at the same time, reaffirm their beliefs loudly and very publicly.


Perhaps one way forward would be to support a winter holiday period that allows people to 'eat, drink and be merry' as much as they want, which is completely separate from the Christian celebration of Christ-mas. Christians could then celebrate the Christian Festival in a truly Christian, rather than Pagan, manner.


Yes, the Gospel truly is an offence to those who refuse to believe and accept it, for it calls on them to change the manner in which they conduct their lives.