Article by Ellanora Lerner
This article was originally published on Jewish Women, Amplified, the blog of the Jewish Women’s Archive, and was written as part of the Rising Voices Fellowship.
Each
December, my former high school's music department puts on a winter concert which
inevitably features Christmas music. Shortly after the concert, the school
hosts a week-long “Secret Santa,” at the end of which presents are stacked
under a Christmas tree in the school’s lobby. Then there is a week-long
vacation that sometimes includes Hanukkah and always includes Christmas.
None
of these events are out of place in an American public school. Living in the
United States means living in a country where the government was created by
Christians and where every President has been a Christian. It means living in a
country where school vacations are structured around Christian holidays, where
school winter band concerts and retail outlets inevitably play Christmas music,
and where Christmas symbols are seen as secular; in December 1984, in the case
of Lynch v. Donelly,
the Supreme Court ruled that a nativity display put up by the city of
Pawtucket, Rhode Island was legal because it did not promote a specific
religion and instead served the secular purpose of marking a national holiday:
Christmas.
The
United States Constitution clearly establishes the separation of church and
state, but with the decision in Lynch v. Donelly, the nation’s highest court
decided that Christianity is so ingrained in American society that, to some
extent, this line can be blurred. As the holiday season approaches, this
conflict is in full view, especially for non-Christian Americans. As rage
persists over the so-called “War on Christmas,”
religious minorities are forced to ask themselves: what does it mean to exist
in a country that purports secularity but considers Christianity to be the
default?
This default status comes from
somewhere: over 70% of Americans identify as Christian. Only 5.9%, identify as any other religion, meaning about 23% are not affiliated
with any religion. In the United States, and any country with such a strong
single religious majority, to be unaffiliated religiously typically means to be
culturally aligned with the majority, in this case Christianity, and to
perceive it as the default and the basis for views of religion.
Those who are not members of a
minority religion must be aware of the power that they gain from this default
mentality. There is inherent power in being able to be yourself and still
conform. There is inherent power in sharing your traditions with the masses.
This is a privilege that many people don’t recognize because it’s seen as the
default experience. And it’s not only a privilege that religious minorities
don’t have; it can be very damaging to us.
For the most part, in the United
States today, Jews are free to practice our religion and traditions. We have
legal religious freedom, but we do not have true cultural freedom. While I am
able to practice within our society, the society is not made for me. There is a
constant pressure that makes it harder to exist as a minority religion. During high school, I participated in my school’s annual “Secret Santa” gift exchange because it was a part of being a member of my school community and my friend group. It was a holiday tradition I valued, and I didn't feel like I was betraying my religious
values by participating; but I was being forced to make that choice. If I did
feel uncomfortable enough to not participate, I would have had to separate myself
from my school community because of my religion.
This
divide also has implications on my learning. Up until my senior year, my school held
classes on Yom Kippur and Rosh Hashanah, the holiest days of the Jewish
calendar. Although I had the option to not attend school on those days, I was
still presented with a choice between my learning and my religion, a choice
that a Christian student would virtually never have to think about in the
United States.
This
pressure is not only an inequitable inconvenience for those who practice
minority religions, it’s a danger to our survival. As a whole, the American
Jewish community has assimilated in many ways. This is not inherently a
negative thing; but, when it reaches a certain degree, assimilation can be a
great danger to Jewish identity and the Jewish community. Outside pressure
makes it that much harder for many Jews to remain connected to their culture,
and that has long-lasting implications on our community.
The
cultural dominance of Christianity is also harmful because it allows
Christianity to exert influence on our political sphere and can lead to
cultural hostility towards minority religious beliefs and practices. For many
religious minorities, it does not feel like a given that there always is or
will be freedom of religion. We must constantly fight for our rights because
the alternative is the loss of culture and community, and a political sphere
that allows for the type of hatred that can lead to vandalism, violent attacks,
and even genocide.
In a country with such a strong
Christian majority, some degree of integration of Christianity into the general
society is inevitable. However, the religious majority and the government still
have a responsibility to be conscious in order to make our society as inclusive
as possible. Part of this essay is a call to do better, and part of it is
simply a call to pay more attention. A call to be aware of and push-back on the
ways in which a Christian perspective dominates our society and the ways in
which this could be changed. Americans who are not religious minorities must
acknowledge the power that they hold before participating in discussions about
the separation of church and state, and before they can form an understanding
of what it means to be Jewish, or any other religious minority, in America.