Culture

一个非常宽容的圣诞节

Dec 21, 2015 Chris Patten

伦敦—圣诞节临近——似乎从中秋就开始了。也许是衰落的标志，我们现在也有了黑色星期五，这是美国的舶来品，我们被鼓动本着现代圣诞精神大肆欢饮，“买买买”直到手软。

按照我的老派作风，我对庆祝“上帝祝你商诞快乐”的日子十分失望。我们从什么时候开始从11月初就开始庆祝圣诞了？节日应该在它到达的那一天才发生。我小时候，圣诞节在它的前夜也就是12月24日才来临。我们去做午夜弥撒。然后，父亲带我回家。

第二天早上，我们醒来打开礼物，准备火鸡午餐。圣诞节后的一天是公共假期，我们吃冷火鸡和火腿。然后，12月27日，大家回到工作岗位。这样，圣诞节就过完了，然后等待明年的12月24日。

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0 Comments on this paragraph, 4 Comments on this article

prashanth kamath Dec 26, 2015

Sorry, I do not agree. Christianity has a lot answer for a violence committed in its name. Whole of Pagan Europe vanished with Christianity. Let us see how it happened. We do not have to look much further than territory held by ISIS at the present. Has Christianity answered for that madness. Has Christianity answered for complete destruction of native culture and belief in the new world?
Let me get to my own loss. Our ancestral temple on the Diwar river island of Goa was destroyed by raving Portuguese Catholics, specifically in the name of religion.
Do not compare Pagan and organic belief systems such as Hinduism, Buddhism, Jainism, Tao etc with religions of revelations such as Christianity, Islam or Communism.
This is what Buddha said defending independence of thought and belief:
On the path to enlightenment, if you see your father, kill him.
If you see Buddha, kill him.
Similarly, Hinduism or any Pagan belief systems constantly evolve. There is freedom for evolution in them. There is that freedom because, the very belief system remains, thankfully, poorly defined.
So, putting pagan and heathen belief systems on the one hand and revelations based in the same basket does not add up.
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Nick Jones Dec 24, 2015

Merry Christmas to you and your family Chris, thanks for the observant article.
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Allen Hertz Dec 21, 2015

Chris Patten writes: "It is all a long way from the stable in Bethlehem that we read about in the New Testament –- a location now ringed by Israel Defense Forces barbed wire." Does Chris Patten want us to forget that Israel is the only Mideast country where in recent decades the number of Christians has steadily increased? It is true to say that Israel is the only Mideast country where right now Christians are fully free to practice their Christian faith, in complete safety and security. Would it have been possible for Chris Patten to have written about Christmas without casting aspersions on "the Jewish State"? The Jewish People's rights in its aboriginal homeland reach back at least some 26 centuries. Across all that time, the Jewish People has consistently reaffirmed its moral and legal rights in its aboriginal homeland, where some then self-identified "Jews" have always lived. During and after WW1, a series of declarations, resolutions and treaties recognized the Jewish People's historic connection to its native land and literally created "a national home for the Jewish People," from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea. No country was more prominent in that post WW1 effort than Chris Patten's UK. For example, in 1924 the UK ratified the Anglo-American Treaty, the body of which is a repetition of every word of the 1922 League of Nations Mandate for Palestine. Thus, the Anglo-American Treaty specifically calls for, inter alia, "close settlement by Jews on the land," from the Jordan River to the Mediterranean Sea. For sure, there is currently a bitter dispute there. However, 21st-century British statesmen are in no moral or legal position to point fingers at Israel -- including by reason of equitable and legal estoppel, flowing from what the UK Government itself has already specifically affirmed in declarations, resolutions and treaties from 1917 to 1924. Chris Patten's 2015 Christmas thoughts would have done well to have omitted any reference to the Israel Defense Forces.
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Michael Public Dec 21, 2015

Merry Christmas, Chris, and thanks for the thoughtful article.
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