Thursday 27 December 2012

Yasmin Alibhai-Brown loses the plot.

There was a most bizarre piece in last weekend's Independent. Yasmin Alibhai-Brown meets a compassionless right-wing woman at a party and concludes
The only lesson learnt from the Nativity story (and Dickens’ A Christmas Carol too) is that presents must be given and received, stuff none of us needs or even wants. Three wise men gave to Jesus gold, frankincense and myrrh. So now we all must buy, buy, buy. Bearded Brad Pitt selling us Chanel perfume is our own wise man; and the Tiffany boxes that will be opened tomorrow are Christian offerings.

What a stain all this is upon that great faith and its beginnings. Christianity is dying not only because people would rather shop than go to church on Sundays, but because it is not longer true to itself and has sold its soul to capitalism.

So, let's get this right .... people shopping rather than going to church on Sundays -- presumably these would not be Christian people, then -- means that "Christianity" has sold out? She then compares her imagined compassionless consumer-fest of the modern secular Christmas unfavourably with the original Christmas story in the New Testament, as I would guess the great majority of Christian preachers were tempted to do and many probably did in one form or another (in fact, as I did -- see previous post 'A Tale of Two Stories') and concludes that 'Christianity' has rejected its own story in favour of a narrative that despises the poor and blames them for their own misfortune. And all of this with no evidence whatsoever.

The only way I can make any sense out of it at all is if she is equating the prevailing culture of this country with 'Christianity' (in other words, this is a 'Christian nation'). Are there any Brits still around that believe that Great Britain is the model of a Christian nation? I think she's confusing us with the United States of America.

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