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Christianity Has Sold Its Soul to Capitalism

Ironically, the story of the Nativity, the historically unreliable story that is so central to Christianity, is responsible for the now secular Christmas holiday. In that story, a decade after Jesus birth, supposedly three wise men brought to Jesus gifts of gold, frankincense and myrrh. Capitalists usurped and exploited that story, and an industry was born. Christmas is supposed to be the celebration of Jesus birth. The Nativity story embodies a fundamental revelation of the religions deepest meaning. God is with the poor. The purpose of life is not acquisition of wealth, fame, or power, but selfless love. But Christians see Jesus in a different light. Christians instead fully embrace materialism and the greed that goes hand in hand with it. They evaluate Christmas as good or bad based on how large the pile of gifts are under the Christmas tree. They ignore the fact that Christmas trees, bedecked homes, Santa Claus, extravagant gift giving, merrymaking, and feasting have nothing to do with the essence of Christmas. They in fact do not understand that if Jesus were alive today, He would unquestionably abhor their licentious conduct. Incomprehensibly, Christians go to church on Christmas Eve, praying for peace on earth, goodwill toward men, idolizing Jesus as the Son of God, born explicitly for their salvation. In doing so, Christians misrepresent themselves as peacemakers, and people of goodwill, when guns, the favored weapon of those who commit violence, show-up under their Christmas tree. Its even more incomprehensible, and disturbing, when the gift under the Christmas tree is a Bushmaster AR 15, the same weapon used to kill 20 elementary school children and 6 educators in Newtown, Connecticut, just a few days before Christmas, and the same weapon used to kill 2 firefighters in Webster, N.Y., the day before Christmas. Its not a trivial matter. The Christian population is significant. According to Gallop, almost 8 out of 10 Americans identify themselves as Christian. A recent Christianity Today survey reports that 92% of Americas evangelicals favor gun ownership. The dollars handed over to retailers are not a trivial matter either. The retail sales forecast for the past Christmas season is $586 billion, a 4.1 percent increase over the year before. The online sales prediction for 2012 is $96 billion. If predictions come true, the capitalist will have had a very, very good year. I only wish I could say the same for the rest of us. British journalist and author Yasmin Alibhai Brown succinctly expresses this very real decadency: Christianity has sold its soul to capitalism.

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