Posted by
C-Hayes on Saturday, March 22, 2008 11:08:01 AM
In case you missed the memo - it's Easter.
Charlotte Allen explains why the holiday has been forgotten in an increasingly secular world - replaced by typical Friday stress-relieving activities:
"A line of blue-jeaned college students snaked outside the door of my neighborhood pickup bar, the Cactus Cantina, as it did every other Friday night. Cars cruised and horns honked, and clusters of young people on the prowl for weekend adventure crammed the sidewalks...the working-class Latino neighborhood through which I drove...was unseasonably merry: roaring crowds on the sidewalks, glittering lights from the bars, beer bottles smashing periodically against the asphalt."
The significance Allen points out is clear: these people call themselves Christian.
And I am one of them.
The strength of Christians is disappearing:
"Still, it is sad and disconcerting that the oldest and holiest of Christian festivals is simply ignored by the media (and almost everyone else), and that Christians have acquiesced to the near-disappearance of their highest feast day from public consciousness."
We've already seen celebrations of
Christian Ramadan abroad to try to bring young people back to the faith. Is it getting to this point in the United States?
Has secularism taken over?
Well...sort of. But not fully. USA Today points out that 87% of U.S. adults believe in the notion of sin.
But there's
more. While "adultery" and "racism" still rank high on the sin-o-meter, other previously sinful behavior is, apparently, less commonly thought of as "sinful":
"Premarital sex? Only 45% call it sin. Gambling? Just 30% say it's sinful.
"'A lot of this is relative. We tend to view sin not as God views it, but how we view it,' says Ellison president Ron Sellers.
"David Kinnaman, president of Barna Research, a company in Ventura, Calif., that tracks Christian trends, draws a similar conclusion: 'People are quick to toe the line on traditional thinking' that there is sin 'but interpret that reality in a very personal and self-congratulatory manner' — I have to do what's best for me; I am not as sinful as most."
So, it's secularism combined with the "self-esteem" movement. That's not a good combination.
This Easter, I recommend, for one day, trying to reflect on what Allen calls "the awesome themes of suffering, death, atonement, and resurrection" that Easter represents.
Is one day too much to ask?