The Nazis wanted Christ out of Christmas

The Nazi Documentation Centre in Cologne, Germany is mounting an exhibition featuring the attempts by the Nazis to take Christ out of Christmas.

The problem for the Nazis was that Christmas was a festival with a Jewish child at its heart. They certainly had little time for the great Christian themes of peace, love and hope.

This should act as a reminder that Nazis were not Christians. In fact they were anti-Christians. Even today, once you get ever so slightly to the right of parties like the BNP you will find an adoration for such pagan gods as Thor and Odin.

Contrary to what the outside world believes Christmas is not the greatest of Christian festivals. There is even considerable doubt as to whether Christ was actually born in what is now December. There is a great deal of evidence to suggest that Christmas is actually a Christianisation of the winter pagan festivals applauded by the Nazis.

This exhibition brings to mind the various attempts to take Christ out of Christmas in our contemporary society. Zealous council officials are often blamed, for example by renaming Christmas "Winterval". However a visit to the shops in the weeks before Christmas is a sharp reminder that the commercial world got there long before anyone else! Lets face it, churches are hardly bulging these days on Christmas Eve or Christmas Day. I wonder what our Muslim and Sikh neighbours make of drunken office workers on the bus bawling "Hark the Herald Angels Sing"?

Clearly much of what we call "Christmas" is sub-pagan. I always felt uncomfortable about telling my children the great lie of Father Christmas. Decorated trees look nice and jolly but have not one jot of Biblical relevance. Nor am I happy with the Maryology that creeps in during Christmas. The veneration of Christmas detracts from the far more important Christian calender which includes Easter and Pentecost, the real focus of the Incarnation.

Obviously I object to any attempt to usurp Christmas by the far right. I see it more as a time when family and friends can get together rather than a great religious festival. The history and practice of Christmas is far too flawed. In fact I don't think I have ever heard a single testimony that has the celebration of Christmas at its heart, except my own that has just a passing reference to Christmas.

But when family and friends do get together, even to eat a great meal and enjoy one another's company, we should want Jesus to be at the heart of such a gathering. But I wonder how many "Christian" families in 21st Century Britain will even say grace on Christmas day?