by: DENNY J.A.
The fourth Civilization Revolution not only changed the world of business, technology, politics and journalism, but it also changed religious experience.
The PEW Research Center reports that in addition to being celebrated by Christians, now Christmas is also celebrated by 81 percent of non-Christians in the United States (1)
What is meant by non-Christians here are not only Buddhists, Hindus, Bahai, as well as Muslims, but also includes those who no longer believe in religion. In fact, those who no longer believe in the concept of God brought by many major religions.
With joy, non-Christians join in in singing the Christmas carol. They decorated the living room with pine tree tops.
Their family celebrates Christmas, even though they don’t believe that Jesus was born December 25. They enjoy together Christmas Day even though they don’t believe that a human can be born from a virgin Mother.
However, they do merge with a large population. Be happy. Sing Christmas carols. Sometimes exchanging gifts.
For them, Christmas is a cultural event and experience. It is fun to be immersed in this massive, solemn and very unique spiritual experience.
The PEW Research Center describes the data in more detail. About 76 percent of Asian-Americans who are Buddhist celebrate Christmas. About 73 percent of Hindu-Americans also celebrate Christmas.
The research also reported that as many as 32 percent of Jews and many Muslim families in America also celebrate Christmas.
A paper was also written: Why Southeast Asian Muslims also celebrate Christmas: An Acculturation Trade-Off (2).
Ani Zonneveld, a Muslim leader of Progresive Values, even hosted inviting guests to celebrate Christmas. They sing Christmas carols together. They enjoyed their meals intimately and shared their affection.
Hussein Allouch, a Muslim leader in Denmark, also invited friends of various faiths to his house to celebrate Christmas.
How to explain this phenomenon?
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These two things are happening that cause disruption of religious understanding.
First, some segments of post-modern society have now gone beyond the critical, skeptical and anti-religious stage. They take the positive side of religious holidays as mere cultural experiences.
Some still don’t believe in Christianity. In fact, they don’t believe in any religion. However, they no longer approach religion with a right or wrong approach. They have already passed that stage.
They approach religion only as cultural wealth and that cultural wealth belongs to all human beings.
This awareness has transcended the era of religious skepticism that has grown since the 1960s with the dominance of findings in Biblical Archeology.
At that time, in the early days of Biblical Archeology’s dominance, the world’s eyes were widely opened due to the findings of various archaeological researches.
In that era, the separation of Jesus of Faith and Jesus of History became known. How Jesus who lived in the real world was very different from those developed in the world of faith (3).
Archaeologists have also concluded that the Prophet Musa and the exodus were not historical figures and events. It is just a mythological story that the Jewish rabbi composed. (4)
The story of the birth of Prophet Musa, who when he was a child was thrown into the river and then found by a palace worker. Then, he was adopted as the son of the King and finally returned to his homeland to become a Prophet.
The story of the Prophet Musa, according to archaeologists, imitates an older story, which is stored in an older document. That’s the story of Sargon of Akad, king of Summariah’s oldest civilization, around 2300-2500 BC.
The story of King Sargon of Akad is also similar. When he was a child, he was dumped in a river, then found by other palace officials. He was adopted as a child. Then, when he grew up he returned to his homeland to become King.
There are too many similarities between the story of the Prophet Musa and the Sargon of Akad. The problem is, the Sargon of Akad document comes before the Bible.
Including the story of the Prophet Noah. Science proves that there has never been a worldwide flood that can drown everything. To submerge the Himalayas, the amount of water in the universe is not enough.
The Prophet Noah’s story also resembles that of an older document: the story of a character named Utnapishtim. It is listed in a document older than the Bible: Epic of Gilgamesh which dates back 5,000 years. (5)
These various findings raised skepticism among some experts. That many of the stories of the Prophet in the Torah and the Gospels were actually rewritten by Jewish Rabbis based on folk tales from older documents.
The community recently added a spice of “revelation” to the Prophet’s story.
In fact, the Who Wrote the Bible (6) has also been traced.
However, for some, the era of skepticism over religion has passed. Moreover, at this time there were as many as 4300 religions. Each religion develops a different concept of God, rituals and stories of his past.
The arrival of the Human Rights era turned religious skeptics into tolerance. Even further, being sympathetic and enjoying the experience of religion is a mere cultural wealth.
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Second, the awakening of the perception of the importance of community, togetherness, friendship and celebration.
Many of the findings from the Happiness study emphasize that. Personal relationship between individuals, warm, mutual respect, that is the first point of happiness.
Not a treasure. Not power. Not a title. What makes you happy is interpersonal relationships.
Resurrect appreciation for community. But unfortunately, this is a pluralistic era. Each individual lives in his own cultural and religious circle.
Cultural acculturation, even religious acculturation occurs. All mixed together influence each other.
There was disruption in religious experience in some communities. They are religious or they are not just religiously relaxed.
Together they celebrate New Year, Thanks Giving Day, Gong Xi Pachai and Christmas. In time, together they also celebrate Eid al-Fitr and the month of Ramadan.
For communities at this level of consciousness, all religions are civilizations belonging to all. Enjoy it. Be friendly. Even: Celebrate.
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Of course, a relaxed religious and irreligious community does not exist alone.
In this era there are also fanatics of 4300 religions. Each religion also gives birth to its militants, with a completely different mindset.
Some of them believe that only their religion is true. His religious teachings must be pure, and must not be mixed with Kafir traditions (whatever the definition of Kafir). In fact, they are willing to bomb suicide for religious beliefs.
Fanatics are also legitimate to exist. The principles of the modern state have also outlined, as long as they do not commit violence, they do not force their will, all are free to believe whatever the hereafter is.
Times have changed. The color of public awareness is getting wider.
There are non-Christian groups who are still passionate about whether it is halal or haram to say Christmas.
But, there are other unique things too. When the Christmas carol was heard, some of the community that was not Christian, even did not believe in religion, joined in the fun, sang together with their hearts full.
Merry Christmas
December 24th, 2020
