Georgia Straight
for December 1994, Article 4

In my business I get to meet some very interesting people and I am often asked who is my favourite person of all that I have interviewed. Difficult question - certainly in the top three would be John Mortimer, whom I have interviewed three times, the last but two weeks ago in London. Amongst other triumphs, Mr Mortimer created Rumpole of the Old Bailey.

What made me think of John Mortimer?

Well, strangely, it was the ongoing fuss about Christmas and whether we must excise all mention of Jesus or God so as to keep from offending non Christians. This lunacy is like poison ivy - it recurs every year and usually manifests itself in some goofy municipal ruling or an outraged outpouring from the politically correct that somehow we are brutalizing little non Christian children by filling their heads with stories of love and hope.

Now John Mortimer is a man firmly of the left. He is a lifelong supporter of the Labour Party and as much as he can loathe anything, it is the Tory Party, especially when it was led by Margaret Thatcher.

He is also an atheist. A confirmed, no nonsense atheist. He cannot believe that a kind God would permit all the sorrow which pervades our society and he says that if he were to meet God, he wouldn't like Him very much. But John Mortimer is, what he calls, an atheist for Christ. He says that he cannot imagine his country without manifestations of Christianity throughout.

John Mortimer is one of the most tolerant people I know. His circle of close friends include all races, colours and creeds. He is a charter member, I suppose, of the chattering classes who always want to do the politically correct thing. One would think that John Mortimer, atheist and socialist would be for "cleansing" Christmas of Christianity, yet he strongly believes that his country should not abandon it's Christian heritage. He despairs for the "loony left" which would excise Christianity from the Christmas story.
I am a lapsed Anglican - though I am bound to say that since my recent marriage, the rector of St Christopher's in West Vancouver has seen quite a lot of me. My lapsing may, to some degree, be lapsing. I tell you this because while I make my argument from the same perch as does John Mortimer, his credentials as a non Christian may be far better than mine.

Opponents to the traditional Christmas say flatly that Canada is not a Christian country and that therefore we should not cram Christianity down anyone's throat. They are half right. We have never have been a Christian country officially and, judging by church attendance, we are not a Christian country in practice. That is not to say, however, that Canada is not a country based upon Christian traditions for it is. We have never been a theocracy but we have a culture into which is woven a Christian culture.

It is easy for schools to excise Christ from Christmas by singing nothing except songs about Frosty and Rudolph - much more challenging to explain to non Christian children just what Christians celebrate, not to convert them but to educate them about their country and its ways.

One of the sad things about the half witted tripe we hear from the oh so politically correct is that it results in a backlash against ethnic communities who have no trouble at all with Christmas as a festival which everyone, Christian or not, can celebrate as they wish.

One municipality in the Greater Vancouver area last year decided not to have a Christmas tree in order not to offend the Chinese-Canadian community. Great rage against that community was vented and it turned out that not only had the Chinese community not complained, they were just as concerned with the absence of the Christmas tree as were Christians.

Christmas is a festival where there is something for everyone. The Christmas tree is an old pagan tradition as is the mistletoe under which sweethearts of Christian dedication ranging all the way from devout to none at all, have been smooching under for years. Santa Claus is based on a lesser Asia Minor saint. Good King Wencelaus may not have been all that good either. Chriatmas then has as its central theme the birth of Jesus but as a festival owes a large part of its traditions to dubious or non Christian origins.

The message, however, is one which is common to all major religions. It talks of peace and love - peace on earth to men of goodwill.

The Christ Child, his birth and the things surrounding it have special meaning for Christians, even though they can't all agree on precisely what it all means. But there is so much more to Christmas than that.

Because of non Christian peoples in all Christian societies, the feast has expanded its horizons considerably. In the stores this time of year one sees a many coloured horde all trying to buy presents. Does one suppose that the Sikhs or Chinese, the Jews or simply those who don't believe in anything don't find some joy from this Christian festival?. And is it they who are crying out against singing Adeste Fideles or Silent Night?

No. The vast majority of non Christians have found a way to use as much of the feast as is convenient and to leave the rest to believers. The problem is caused by the "higher purpose" persons amongst us - the people who think that they know what is good for us.

. We should pay no attention to these infernal public pests - in older times they would have been in the stocks or on the ducking stool which shows that all reform is not progress. Christmas is for all of us - each entitled to take as much or as little from the feast and it's message as we wish

John Mortimer is right. We should go on celebrating Christmas secure in the knowledge that no harm to non Christian children will come of it - indeed it probably will help them put their own beliefs into sharper focus.