Took Jesus Out of Christmas

This is the time of year for a secular society to celebrate the holidays by putting gifts beneath the Christmas tree and spreading Christmas cheer. All the holiday movies are about Santa and snow and presents and celebrating. But who took Jesus out of Christmas? Was it our present godless generation that will tell you happy holidays, but who refused to tell you Merry Christmas? Was it the liberal left who legislated God out of America in the 1960s? Do you know, friend, who took Jesus out of Christmas? Even the most popular Christmas movie for the last 60 years, White Christmas, starring Bing Crosby, took Jesus out of Christmas.

And that movie was made way back in 1954. So who took Jesus out of Christmas? It was corporate America of the 1930s. America had just emerged from the Great Depression and corporations were looking for ways to cash in on the growing commerce from Americans who now had more disposable income.

The Saturday Evening Post published an ad for Coca-Cola that had an artist's drawing of Coca-Cola Santa, which helped create our modern image of Santa. And Hollywood began to produce Christmas-themed movies that focused on Santa Claus. And corporate America began ad campaigns introducing new characters like Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer.

This all happened in the late 1930s. But you have to go back to June 26, 1870, which established Christmas as a federal holiday, recognizing it in America as a celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ. Christmas in the 19th century was a religious holiday to celebrate one thing, the birth of Christ Jesus.

The day did not focus on children and gifts, but on adults and church service, and giving thanks to God for His Son, Jesus Christ. 19th century America was still a Christian nation back then, and was in the throes of the Great Awakening, where God was moving the land in borrowful revival, and thousands were being saved. But that all changed at the turn of the century, as America moved from a rural, agricultural economy to a more industrialized economy.

And this shift in society brought financial freedom to many Americans, and created a self-reliant church. Christmas became a self-indulgent holiday to make one happy, and to spoil one's children with too many toys they would never even play with, and satisfy the greed of corporate America, who took Santa and replaced Jesus by taking Christ out at Christmas. Today, even many Christian households place more emphasis on Santa and presents than on the baby in the manger, Jesus, who came to save His people from their sins.