We may get kneecapped by our dear friends at Park Slope Parents for this one, but one of their members forwards this simple email to us that does raise a fascinating Slopian conundrum:
I found this one on Park Slope Parents this morning: “I’d love to find a book (appropriate to read to a 4 year old) that talks about Jesus’ birth and why we celebrate Christmas — but isn’t too religious. Does anyone have any recommendations?” Because you don’t want to get TOO religious when talking about Jesus…
Just passing on an email we got friends. Don’t kill the messenger.
7 responses so far ↓
1 Brenda from Flatbush // Dec 8, 2008 at 10:22 am
That is very touching, actually. I teach Jesus stuff to kids with no religious background, and this mom had better be careful; the dude has a way of slipping into the imagination rather powerfully. Cat-out-of-the-old-“spiritual”-bag thing!
2 Kevin Walsh // Dec 8, 2008 at 11:49 am
God, er, The Entity Worshiped (If Any), forbid Christmas being about religion.
http://www.forgotten-ny.com
3 Ben // Dec 8, 2008 at 6:46 pm
Actually, I think this is a *perfect* time to kill the messenger. This is the kind of message that is *so easy* to pile on. I’m sure that the GL person who posted it thought — “oh, those goofy Slopers, this will be a riot.”
But I’m a Jew who is more culturally than religiously Jewish. What would be wrong with my searching for ways to celebrate holidays with my kids informing them of the traditions, without asking them to pray to Adonai?
Or what would be wrong with my trying to explain Christmas to my kids without my actually believing that the baby Jesus was the son of God, but still wanting my kids to appreciate someone else’s tradition?
This seems a cheap shot to me — the message is easy to parody but a very reasonable question for a parent to ask.
So please, GL — shoot the messenger. Right in the head!
Thanks.
4 Wha--? // Dec 8, 2008 at 9:12 pm
Eh. As someone who is Christian, I find it darn near impossible to take religion out of Christmas.
A book that explains “why we celebrate Christmas” isn’t the same as a book that explains “why others celebrate Christmas.” That’s an entirely different question, and not the one raised.
If you want to explain Christmas to your kids so that they appreciate someone else’s tradition, you might have to explain that Christmas is the celebration of the birth of Christ, and then you might have to explain that traditionally, Christians tend to believe that Jesus is the son of God. You could easily present this as information that you do not personally believe, but others do.
“So please, GL–shoot the messenger. Right in the head!” Nice. Happy holidays, whatever you end up celebrating.
5 jerry // Dec 9, 2008 at 1:18 am
it’s posts like these and the user of the word “slopers” that makes me wish I didn’t read gowanuslounge. I keep coming back though, but much less. this has nothing to do with news about the neighborhood (which i look for) and isn’t even interesting. just frustrating.
6 Miss Kathy // Dec 10, 2008 at 3:37 am
If this lady doesn’t know why SHE celebrates Christmas then perhaps she should either not celebrate it at all orlook into the RELIGOUS aspect for herself! Then she wouldn’t have a problem explaining a Christian holiday!
7 Anne // Apr 14, 2009 at 1:22 am
I just had a conversation today with a 4-year-old boy about Easter. All he knows is about the Easter bunny. He’s heard of Jesus, of “baby Jesus”, but doesn’t really know how it fits together.
I’m an athiest, but I think it is important that he not be ignorant about one of the most influential figures ever to walk, etc. I barely knew where to start — “is God bigger than fire?” Umm… yeah… and he had a son, you see, who died a horrible death so that everyone could be forgiven for being bad, and then on the third day he rose from the dead and went to heaven… Well, this kid had no idea about God, no idea about heaven. And it’s a pretty wild story, the whole thing, objectively speaking.
He just said, “Can I see the movie?”
…
Then he asked several times more during the day for more stories about Jesus (I think he was particularly fascinated with the horrible means by which Jesus died, and also the supernatural/miraculous stuff). So, I will try to find a way to tell him the stories, not because I’m a believer, but because I dislike ignorance.