Tema destacado del Viernes, 21. Diciembre 2007

Lamentablemente, todavía no se encuentra disponible la traducción en española de este texto, por lo tanto, solamente podemos poner a su disposición la versión inglesa.

Christmas, a lasting tradition

Does the fervour surrounding Christmas have any meaning beyond frantic gift shopping and imposed ritual? The European press analyses the modern interpretation of this Christian celebration.

24 heures - Suiza

"Should we get rid of Christmas?” asks the Swiss professor François Berger, who dreads such a prospect. "We cannot overlook the fact that the last days of December ignite feelings of anxiety and a tendency towards depression. Some psychologists note that adolescents are particularly sensitive to the absence of ritual - of Christmas in this case - that they compensate for with circumstantial rituals such as 'special cannabis' events or 'special ecstasy' ones. It suffices to efface any given ritual to see it surface in another form, more dangerous as it is essential. The day we rid our society - and thus our schools - of Christmas, for a thousand 'good' reasons, we will unfortunately have condemned a human, relational and identity-forging factor of our lives, as well as our culture and traditions." (17/12/2007)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Cultura cotidiana, » Religión, » Ideología, » Global
Todos los textos disponible de » François Berger

The Guardian - Gran Bretaña

Polly Toynbee, columnist and honorary associate of the National Secular Society, responds to claims that secularists are trying to eliminate Christmas. "No one is out to ban Christmas or Christianity - not atheists nor other faiths. Yet every year the same urban myths are repeated about the banning of Christmas by some pantomime villain local authority suffering from 'political correctness gone mad'.... we are innocent. It is the Christians who are stirring this dangerous pot, inventing non-stories, yearning for martyrdom - and worse, fermenting an outraged sense among the mainly secular population that they had better call themselves Christian because, as the BNP [The far-right British Nationalist Party] says, British 'Heritage, Tradition and Culture' ... are under threat from Muslims. While pretending to attack us, covertly these Christians stir resentment against immigrants." (21/12/2007)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Cultura cotidiana, » Religión, » Gran Bretaña
Todos los textos disponible de » Polly Toynbee

La Vie - Francia

The Christian weekly has carried out a survey to measure how well the French know Jesus Christ. Jean-Pierre Denis analyses the results. "Only one out of three people can precisely date the birth of Jesus. In this pervasive cultural fog, it is not surprising that, for many, Christmas has become a pagan celebration where consummation is supposed to relieve all of our existential anxiety. Is this despairing? It isn't as simple as that. We can see quite clearly in this survey how much French people' relation to Christianity is changing. It is weakening in some respects, but it also becoming less negative than is commonly thought. The desire to know more is more pronounced too, very much so. Two thirds of the French would like their children to know about the life of Jesus. Even among those who say they have no religion, this desire for culture is also very present." (19/12/2007)

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Más de la revista de prensa sobre el tema » Religión, » Ideología, » Francia
Todos los textos disponible de » Jean-Pierre Denis

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