Not long before Christmas, there was some discussion in the media about the fact that Auckland Regional Migrant Services (ARMS) was being careful to avoid using the word “Christmas”, and would instead be wishing people “happy holidays” and “season’s greetings”. To be sensitive to the multiplicity of cultures among the migrants they were seeking to help, they called their end-of-year get-together a “festive lunch”, rather than a “Christmas lunch”.
And there were some who felt that that was an appropriate thing to do. ARMS’ patron, Dame Susan Devoy, clearly did, arguing that it was appropriate to use inclusive language which would not offend any of the migrants.
With respect to Dame Susan, I strongly disagree.
People seek to migrate to New Zealand for a whole variety of reasons. Some, especially from relatively poorer countries, come for economic opportunity. Some come for the sake of better education for their children. Some come for the prospect of clean air, and access to safe water. Others come for more space, or because other members of their family have already moved here.
But I strongly suspect that one of the factors motivating people to move to New Zealand is that we have a reputation for having an almost uniquely welcoming attitude to those who were not born in New Zealand, for having a way of life which is relaxed, which is almost completely free of corruption, which provides equal access to education and advancement to women, and which tries to ensure that nobody starves or dies from lack of medical care. This is all part of what we call the New Zealand way of life.
Christmas is an essential and long-established part of that New Zealand way of life and we try too hard by removing references to it when we communicate with recent migrants.
I no longer call myself a Christian in the conventional sense of that word in that I no longer believe in a supernatural Being with whom I can communicate and who intervenes in the world in response to my entreaties or my behaviour. I certainly no longer believe that there is life after death in the conventional sense of that expression. And I have little doubt that many other New Zealanders who mark Christmas with their families do not claim more than nominal commitment to Christianity either.
But as New Zealand’s most internationally-renowned theologian, Sir Lloyd Geering, remarked on the 70th anniversary of his ordination as a minister,
“Even though Christianity is not the only path of faith, it is the one that, with all its failings, has done most to bring the modern global world into existence. The secular and scientifically based culture of modernity came out of the Christian West. That is indisputable. It was because of its Christian base that the West has nurtured the values that now challenge all humans to work for human equality, social justice, and global harmony and peace.”
Despite the fact that for a great many New Zealanders Christmas has lost any meaningful connection to Christianity, it is still a very important part of our culture and our history. It’s a time when we forget at least some of our hostility and when we recall at least a small part of the message which Christmas exemplified – as shown by the giving of presents not just to our immediate families but also, often, to those from whom we expect nothing in return, the homeless and those who are hungry.
According to the recent census, four Aucklanders out of every ten were born outside New Zealand. That is apparently a higher proportion of non-native-born citizens in any major city in the entire world with the single exception of Toronto. Not surprisingly therefore, we all know lots of people who were born outside New Zealand. Among my close friends, I count a number of people born in India, in Fiji, and in China. They are already New Zealanders, and are enriching our culture and our country. They regularly wish me a Happy Christmas, and I routinely wish them Happy Diwali or Happy Chinese New Year. We can embrace what is good in other cultures without abandoning the good which is in our own.
Copyright © 2024 Don Brash.