As Christmas is nearing, many people, Christians, Muslims, and others, are busy attending parties and planning for a few days of holiday. It is also Jinnah’s birthday on Christmas Day, 25 December. In the time up to Independence in 1947 and the following years, Muhammad Ali Jinnah led Pakistan, that time West Pakistan and East Pakistan, a country where Muslims could live peacefully and respectfully together, but not necessarily a Muslim state. Yet, in 1956, Pakistan became a Muslim republic. That was logical, however, since the cause for the establishment of the country was based on religion. The vast majority of Pakistanis are Muslims. There are also some religious majorities; the Christians being a few million, followed by Hindus, and some smaller groups, in a populous country of some two hundred and fifty million people.
And then, since Christmas is nearing, we should all, indeed Christians and Muslims, observe the event, and remember, too, that Jesus/Isa is also a prophet in Islam. In my country of origin, Norway, which is predominantly a Christian country, or culturally Christian, as we now often say. The head of state, King Harald V, must as per the Constitution belong to the Protestant-Lutheran branch of the Christian religion; similarly in the UK, where the head of state, King Charles III, must belong to the Anglican Church. He has said he would have preferred to be the ‘Head of Faith’ rather than ‘Head of the Faith’, notably the Anglican Church.
Christmas is the major winter feast in Norway. Before Christianity came to Norway, a thousand years ago, there was also a winter feast, celebrating that the shortest days of winter were over and the longer days and warmer seasons could begin. Today, Norway has a large group of Muslims, and smaller groups belonging to other religions. Although many Norwegians are culturally Christian rather than active in the church, we should recall that until 2012, Christianity was the country’s state religion, similarly in the other Nordic countries about the same time, except for Island, which still has a state church. Yet, when asked in surveys, the majority of the Norwegians say they have a faith, and many parents baptise there young children and thus they become members of what is now called the People’s church. Muslims are also many and visible; in the capital Oslo, about fifteen percent of the people are Muslims. Still, in a country with an old and strong Christian culture, most people take part in the festive preparations before Christmas and the actual celebrations, too, with cultural events more than religious ones – although religion is behind it all. Like with the Eid celebrations in Pakistan and other majority Muslim countries, Christmas is indeed a feast with important family gatherings and food traditions. The concept ‘going home for Christmas’, and ‘going home for Eid’, is still alive in us all.
This year, it was interesting to hear the Speaker of the Norwegian Parliament, called the President of Parliament (‘Stortingspresident’), Masud Gharakhani (42), a Muslim himself, who came to Norway as a young child, when he spoke about the importance of keeping up old Christmas traditions related to all children attending a church service before Christmas. But it is controversial as for government schools. Over ninety percent of the children attend government schools (and they are often better than private schools), but it is not allowed to proselytize, yet, religion, philosophy, life outlook, and moral values, are school subjects in a neutral school. In practice, neutrality may not quite be the case since Christianity does play an important role in history and also in everyday culture, directly or indirectly.
Every year before Christmas, there is a debate about whether the old tradition of having a church service for all schools at the end of the calendar year, leading up to the two-week long Christmas and New Year holidays. The Humanist-Ethical Society, with several tens of thousands of members, is quite active in the debate about religion and faith, or rather, non-faith, complaining about and objecting to the tradition of the schools’ church service before Christmas. It has been taken for granted that all children participate, but parents can in writing inform the school if their children should be exempted.
This year, though, Gharakhani said that he thought all students, irrespective of religion, ought to attend the service since it is a festive occasion for all and an event binding everyone together in a common event. Similarly, in a country where the main religion is Islam or another religion, I believe everyone should be included in a common gathering. I don’t believe that children and teachers are influenced to change religion, not at all, but I rather believe it can strengthen one t in own faith, and also in creating respect and understanding for faith in general. Sometimes, I have written in my articles about that we should all try to help our fellow human beings to be as strong in their own faith as they can be, not try to make them change, but indeed live in harmony with others and respect different views.
Religious events, cultural feasts, even sports competitions, and other things that are observed by large groups, or everyone in a country, are indeed important and valuable. In Pakistan, the Eid celebrations are important, certainly for Muslims, but they could also be marked be Christians, Hindus, and others. It would be polite that everyone congratulates their friends and neighbours on events, also when they belong to other religions, and if possible, invite members of other religions to attend gatherings. I know that many Pakistanis, regardless of what religion they belong to find many Christmas traditions pleasant and interesting.
True, most of the traditions that we see in the big cities in Pakistan, are Western traditions. Come to think of it, the Western traditions with Christmas tree and decorations are not more than some one hundred and fifty years old, and many Christmas carols are even younger, well, some older, too. The popular Christmas song, “I am dreaming of a white Christmas”, makes us all feel that the holiday season is with us, yes, even if we live in a temperate or warm climate. It is part of our general knowledge to know that the story about the birth of Jesus/Isa is two thousand years old, and further historical aspects about Christianity, and indeed about Islam.
Last Sunday, I had the opportunity to attend a religious service in the Fatima Catholic Church in Islamabad. The East African priest and the Pakistani choir with half a dozen altar boys and girls were that Sunday assisted by members of the quite large Philippine community in town. The Sunday before, it was the African community’s turn to help out. At the service, I came to think of the event being an inclusive event for locals and foreigners. I believe religion can play a unifying role; everyone becomes equal and the same at the time of prayer and attending a religious service, although with varying ways of worship and prayer.
Dear Reader, may I wish you a Merry Christmas.
Atle Hetland
The writer is a senior Norwegian social scientist with experience from university, diplomacy and development aid. He can be reached at atlehetland@yahoo.com
