In the run-up to Christmas the Evangelical Alliance has released a powerful response to members of the public that seek to dismiss the Christmas story as a myth, and to those that wish to “sideline Christian words and symbols in a misguided attempt not to cause offence”.
Controversial decisions by a number of councils this year to tone-down the relation between Christmas and Christianity has led to a huge outcry among Christians and religious leaders.Even in the borough that houses the Evangelical Alliance’s own headquarters, Lambeth Council, had been at the centre of a row erupting across many regions in the UK, as more and more authorities feel pressured not to expose any religious elements of Christmas, due to fears that it will offend other ethnic minorities.
Lambeth Council members last month even stated that the Christmas lights would no longer be called Christmas lights, but “winter lights” and “celebrity lights”. However, this was quickly reversed after Christian councillors and press caught on to the story.
To win back extreme critics, the council chose one of its most prominent Christian celebrities to turn on the “Christmas lights” – actor Kevin Spacey.
Backing a call by some of the world’s leading figures to uphold the traditions of Christmas, R. David Muir, the Public Policy Director at the Evangelical Alliance said, “I thoroughly concur with the recent call by the Archbishop of Canterbury, Dr Rowan Williams, and his predecessor, Dr George Carey, for Christians to uphold the traditions of Christmas and the nativity story. Christians who trust the Gospel writers’ account of the birth of Christ are not indulging in mere wish-fulfilment. There is evidence for what they write and it deserves to be taken seriously.”
In response to the attack on Christmas, Rev Dr David Hilborn, the Head of Theology at the Evangelical Alliance has offered a summary of recent historical, archaeological and scientific research and urges sceptics to bear the following facts in mind:
1. Isn’t the whole Jesus story pure fiction?Christians who trust the Gospel writers’ account of the birth of Christ are not indulging in mere wish-fulfilment.
David Muir, Public Policy Director Evangelical Alliance
Jesus is referred to as a real historical person by several first and second century writers who have no interest in promoting his cause. The Roman historians Tacitus, Pliny the Younger and Suetonius, the Jewish chronicler Josephus, the Samaritan-born Thallus, the Syrian prisoner Mara Bar Serapion and the satirist Greek Lucian all discuss his life and deeds. Indeed, the fact of Jesus’ existence is exceptionally well attested as compared with other key figures of the ancient world.
