CELEBRATING OUR PLURALISM
BY JULIANNE MALVEAUX
We are bustling and bubbling over with holiday cheer, chilling with our
families and enjoying a religious holiday that more than 80 percent of all
Americans enjoy. It’s the Christmas season, a period in which we celebrate
the birth of the Christ child, who many describe as our Lord and Savior. In
a nation that was 55 percent Protestant and 28 percent Catholic it’s a
ubiquitous holiday. We celebrate religiously and commercially, as we display
both trees and mangers. As a nation, we are caught up in the Christmas
cheer, and that is probably a good thing given the somberness of September
11. Indeed, if we can be cheered by the lighting of a tree, the sighting of
a crèche, no one begrudges us our comfort.
Still, we shouldn’t be so caught up that we forget that one in five
Americans is not Christian. This month Ramadan had millions involved in
sunrise to sunset fasts, and many Muslims prided themselves in undertaking
physical and spiritual sacrifice. Many Jewish people – more than 2 percent
of our population – celebrated Hanukah. Others embraced the Buddhist Rohatsu
holiday, and the winter solstice. Millions of others, regardless of
religion, celebrate Kwanzaa. Still, there are groups of people who describe
our nation as a Christian one. We have a President who is not shy in
praising God, apparently without realizing that one fifth of those he leads
does not worship a Christian God, but instead Allah, or another deity. While
no one would limit any individual’s right to worship, many would hope that
one God is not being elevated over another.
Our culture is so commercially malleable that our Christian nation can
find profit-making potential in non-Christian holidays. I’ve yet to see a
Rohatsu greeting card, but so many companies now make Kwanzaa cards that the
holiday’s homey nature is in danger of being eclipsed by commercial concerns.
Similarly, when supermarkets tout Hanukah celebrations in full-page
newspaper advertisements, one wonders whether cultural sensitivity or
commercial opportunities shaped their actions. We live in a commercial
nation; commercial approval is often a sign of broader cultural approval.
Still, I’m not convinced that individuals are as responsive to diversity as
markets are. In other words, while a card rack may display a Hanukah or
Kwanzaa card, that doesn’t mean that there is broad acceptance of religious
pluralism.
There should be! Our nation was not founded on religion; it was founded
on various free speech and freedom of religion rights. We are a pluralist
nation, not a religious one. Maya Angelou says it best when she reminds us
that we are more similar than we are different. Even as you watch your
chestnuts roasting on an open fire, now is the time to reach out to someone
who worships to the beat of a different drummer. When we get to know each
other, we learn how connected we are, similar because of our hopes, dreams,
quest for justice, and passion for civil rights and liberties. This
connectedness is strength if we choose to see it as one. Our connections
speak to our unity, and to our nation’s pluralism. But we have to tear down
our walls to experience the connections, and we’ve been building walls
because of the fears that have come on us after September 11.
Thus, some of us have decided to seek an unhealthy hegemony in times of
world unrest. We Americans have set ourselves up as “us” against “them,” and
have resisted (or attacked) those who speak up for peace. Congresswoman
Barbara lee (D-Ca.) still experiences death threats. Others who speak up for
peace are often vilified. Those who would fight for a comprehensive (not
corporate) stimulus package labeled “obstructionist” even in these times of
“bipartisanship.” Attacks on those with minority views seem out of touch
with the warm and fuzzy sentiments of the season. But they are encouraged by
a national leadership that sends a signal of intolerance, of “my way or the
highway.”
Christmas is not a universal celebration, but the tradition of year-end
reflection is universal regardless of religion. More of us should take this
month to reflect on our nation’s foundations and heritage. Those of us who
describe ourselves as Christian are irresponsible if we interpret
Christianity as intolerance.