The Real War on Christmas was waged by Christians

Ho! Ho! Ho! It's that jolly time of year again! That hilarious time in the USA when FOX News, Republicans, and rightwing Evangelicals profess outrage at the "War on Christmas." A fake outrage, of course, trotted out at years' end for political and cultural reasons, like keeping the poor in their place working for peanuts. Not to mention keeping up donations to TV evangelists with huge mansions. 

Today's War on Christmas is a Phony War. But a real war on Christmas once took place. It was several centuries ago in the UK, with spillovers into Puritan America. And guess what? It was waged by Christians. They were called Presbyterians in Scotland and Puritans in England and New England. 

In England, the Puritans were on the winning side of of the Civil War between Parliament and Charles I in the 1640s. They famously closed the London theaters as dens of immorality. They also abolished the celebration of Christmas as a "pagan celebration." They ordered that it be kept as a day of "fasting and humiliation." No singing, no dancing, no merriment at all. Try that today. 

In New England, transplanted Puritans did the same. They kept the ban in place until the 1850s. The war ended for good after President Ulysses S. Grant declared Christmas a federal holiday in the 1870s.

It may seem odd for Christians to ban Christmas, but the Puritans found no biblical justification for celebrating the birth of Christ. Nobody knew when he was born anyway (we still don't). The Puritans also associated Christmas revels with sinful, ungodly pagan rites and behavior, not to mention Papists (Catholics). 

A wit once defined a Puritan as a person who was angry because somewhere, somebody was having a good time. That is a bit simplistic and unfair to Puritans as a whole, but the accusation fit some of them.

The Scots had preceded the English in the War on Christmas, as in so many aspects of British life. After the Presbyterian Church of Scotland came to dominate Scottish religious life in the late 16th century, they abolished the celebration of Christmas. John Knox, the Calvinist preacher who led the Scottish Reformation, was a dour sort who darkened Scottish culture for centuries. 

Scotland's Christmas ceased to be a holiday of feasting, fun, and folly (if it ever was). It became just another dark, dank, and dreary winter day -- like a Scottish Sunday until recently. 

During the Civil War, Scots Presbyterians allied with like-minded English Puritans. They also made common cause in the war on Christmas. 

[Image: Parliamentary soldiers enforcing the ban on celebrating Christmas, c. 1640s, William Barns Wollen, 1900] 

In England, the Restoration of the Monarchy under Charles II ("The Merry Monarch") in 1660 also led to a restoration of traditional Christmas celebrations. They were still light years away from the materialistic orgies of today. That required the influence of grasping, greedy American capitalism.  

In Scotland, the restoration of Christmas took much longer than in England. Presbyterian leaders continued to stifle enthusiasm for Christmas enjoyment for a couple of centuries. The difference shows in the holiday hierarchy of Scotland, compared to England, and most other civilized countries.

In Scotland, Christmas comes in a distant second to Hogmanay (New Years' Eve) as a real blowout. Think about it. The canny Scots simply transferred their serious celebrating from a sacred day to a secular one. Touché, Puritans! Freud would have understood. 

If you want to witness Scots letting their hair down these days, go to Edinburgh during Hogmanay! Or, just visit any Scots pub on a Saturday night. 

Scotland's elevation of New Year spread to the rest of the globe by the 20th century. For what do we sing at midnight on 1 January? "Auld Lang Syne" by Scotland's national poet, Robert (Rabbie) Burns, of course!

PS. If you go to the USA these days, be careful not to say "Happy Holidays!" or "Seasons Greetings!" And do not write "Merry Xmas" on your cards or gifts either. You may be accused of making war on Christmas, or even of Satanism. Or, even worse, of being a liberal. 

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British Monarchs Who Ended Badly, Part 8: Oliver Cromwell and the Republic

Following the execution of Charles I in 1649, the British Isles had no monarch for 11 years. In the history of the monarchy this period is known as the Interregnum ("between reigns"). Officially, the government was a republic, "The Commonwealth of England, Scotland, and Ireland."

The revolutionaries who won the Civil War not only killed the king. They abolished the monarchy itself, along with the House of Lords and the bishops. Nominally, power lay initially in the hands of the "Rump" of the Long Parliament, a minority of those elected in 1640. 

It soon became clear, however, that real power had gravitated to the New Model Army. The top army commander, Oliver Cromwell (1599-1658), became de facto head of the Commonwealth. [Image: Cromwell by Samuel Cooper]

Cromwell was not a monarch, yet he ruled the British Isles as firmly as any king for several years. Prior to the Civil War, he had been a Cambridgeshire country gentleman living a generally unremarkable life. He became an MP in the late 1620s and served in the parliaments elected in 1640. During the war, he rose to high rank and eventually to overall commander. 

After the execution of Charles I, which he had at first opposed and then supported, he served on the Council of State of the new republic and in the "Rump," the remnants of the Long Parliament. 

By 1651, Cromwell had become thoroughly disillusioned with the behavior of the Rump MPs. He used his power as army commander to dissolve it, accusing its members of having become a corrupt and self-perpetuating oligarchy. 

That left him with the problem of what should replace it. He wanted to establish a workable representative government for the Commonwealth. Despite several experiments, he never succeeded. 

In effect, he ruled as a military dictator, dividing the British Isles into districts, each governed by a major general. Some of his supporters wanted him to take the title of king. He refused. Instead, he accepted the title of Lord Protector of the Commonwealth in 1653. 

To many people in England during the following centuries, Cromwell was a hero who defended the liberty of the people. A statue of him was erected in 1899 outside the Parliament buildings in Westminster. [Image: Cromwell statue]

The statue was controversial. Sincere royalists detested it. Though hardly royalists, Irish Nationalist MPs protested vehemently against it. Most of the Irish reviled Cromwell. In 1649 he had suppressed a royalist revolt in Ireland with brutal ferocity. Rightly or wrongly, he was blamed for atrocities committed by his soldiers. 

Cromwell's Irish campaign and the penal laws against Catholics that followed did more to poison Anglo-Irish relations than anything besides the Famine of the 1840s. Cromwell's name remains a byword among the Irish for English cruelty and tyranny. Winston Churchill called it "the curse of Cromwell."

Cromwell also suppressed a royalist rebellion in Scotland in 1650-51. That produced its own atrocities, but he treated the Scots more leniently than the Irish. Religion explains the difference. 

The Scots were largely Protestant and had been allies against Charles I. Cromwell viewed them as a people "godly but deceived." The Catholic majority in Ireland was simply ungodly, enslaved to the mass and the Pope. 

Cromwell's exact religious views and policies remain something of an enigma. He was a strong believer in Providence, the idea that God was actively engaged in world affairs. Not surprisingly, he considered himself a servant that God had "provided" to make Britain a more moral and godlier place.

As for the organization of religion, Cromwell was an "Independent." He opposed any central church hierarchy, whether bishops in England or presbyters in Scotland. Each congregation, he believed, should be left independent to run its own affairs. 

Cromwell tolerated various interpretations of Protestantism. He also welcomed Jews back to England for the first time since Edward I had banished them in the 13th century. He continued to make life difficult for Catholics, and persecuted some radical Protestant fringe sects, especially the Quakers and Fifth Monarchists. 

The breakdown of traditional authorities and institutions encouraged the spread of surprisingly radical ideas. Historian Christopher Hill entitled a book on the 1650s The World Turned Upside Down. A movement within the army, the Levellers, pushed for a democratic political system. Small groups of people known as Diggers even attempted to establish a communistic society. 

In contrast to the film named after him, starring Richard Harris, Cromwell was not a democrat. He believed in a representative government, but one controlled by men of property. He presented his views at a series of meetings that took place at St. Mary's Church in Putney in 1647, pictured below.

The meetings became known as the Putney Debates. The Levellers demanded a political system of one man, one vote, and freedom of conscience. One of the most memorable statements came from the Leveller leader Colonel Thomas Rainsborough:

"For really I think that the poorest he that is in England hath a life to live, as the greatest he; and therefore truly, Sir, I think it clear, that every man that is to live under a government ought first by his own consent to put himself under that government; and I do think that the poorest man in England is not at all bound in a strict sense to that government that he hath not had a voice to put himself under."

Cromwell and his allies rejected the Levellers' demands. When the Levellers continued to agitate for democratic reforms, he crushed them. Democracy would have to wait two more centuries.

Religious innovations also flourished during the Civil War and Republic. Some sects advanced positions embraced by the hippies of the 1960s, including nudity and free love. The "Ranters" argued that the best cure for temptation was to give in to it. For example, an urge to swear should be cured by swearing.  

Several religious sects that "came out" in the 1650s did not last long, but a few are with us today, notably Congregationalists, "Quakers" (Society of Friends), and Baptists. 

Cromwell died in 1658, probably of kidney disease complicated by malaria. He had nominated his son Richard to succeed him as Lord Protector, but Richard lacked his father's political and military skill. The major generals pushed him aside after a few months. he became known as "Tumble Down Dick."

Without a clear leader, Britain seemed destined to descend into chaos and Civil War once again. George Monck, one of Cromwell's major generals, marched his army from Scotland to London and recalled the remnants of the Long Parliament. They voted to restore the monarchy. In 1660, the eldest son of Charles I took the throne, inaugurating the period known as the Restoration. 

PS. After Charles II became king, he moved to avenge his father's execution. The MPs who had signed Charles I's death warrant and remained alive were arrested and executed.  

Cromwell's body was dug up and hanged in chains. It was then tossed into a pit, except for his head. It was displayed on a pole outside Westminster Hall until 1685. It passed through various hands until 1960, when it was buried beneath the floor of a chapel at Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge. 

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British Monarchs Who Ended Badly, Part 7: James I, Charles I, and the Civil War.

The 17th century began with a new dynasty in England, the Stuarts. It was new in England but old in Scotland. Stuart monarchs had occupied the Scottish throne since the late 14th century. Most of them had been called James, five in all. 

In 1603, James VI of Scotland became James I of England. He had been king of Scotland since 1567. His 57-year reign was the longest in Scottish history. [Image: James VI and I.]

James inherited the Scottish throne as an infant after the forced abdication of his mother, Mary Queen of Scots. During his minority, the government was controlled by a regency. His personal rule in Scotland began in the early 1580s and he ruled effectively there. 

In 1603, James made history as the first monarch to rule the entire British Isles, including Ireland. He styled himself "King of Great Britain and Ireland," although officially no such kingdom existed. 

James promoted a union between England and Scotland, but the idea was unpopular in both countries. He designed a flag for "Great Britain" similar to the one that came into use after the Act of Union in 1707. It incorporated the crosses of St. Andrew and St. George

A more immediate issue for James was religious division in England. Not only division between Catholics and Protestants, but also among different kinds of Protestants. 

Because James was raised a Calvinist in Scotland, English "Puritans" hoped he would "purify" the Church of England of remaining Catholic doctrines, ritual, and structure.

James disappointed them. He insisted on keeping the Church of England as established under Elizabeth I, with its bishops, vestments, and Book of Common Prayer. 

He is perhaps most famous for promoting a new English translation of the Bible, immortalizing himself through the resulting "King James Bible." Few publications in history have ever attained such success.

In the long run, Puritans would prove a more serious threat to the monarchy than Catholics. In the short run, a Catholic conspiracy nearly ended James's reign soon after he became king of England.

The Gunpowder Plot, as it is known to history, was designed to blow up Parliament during its opening session on November 5, 1605, when the king and all the members were present. Fortunately for them, the barrels of gunpowder and one of the plotters were discovered in the cellars the evening before. 

Guy Fawkes was the plotter arrested red-handed. He was an explosives expert who had been fighting for Spain and his faith against England and Protestantism. He was executed for treason, along with several others involved in the plot. The rest were killed in a shootout. 

The foiling of the Gunpowder Plot became a cause for national celebration. Guy Fawkes Night, November 5, was henceforth marked by the burning of "The Guy" in effigy. It still is, although it has been stripped of its sectarian religious trappings and renamed "Bonfire Night."

King and Parliament were united in the response to the Gunpowder Plot, but they soon came into regular conflict, a pattern that would be repeated under his son and grandsons. Religion, taxation, war, and arbitrary actions all played a part in the conflict. James' proclivity to lavish honors, gifts, and power on his close male friends (lovers?) increased resentment. 

A contemporary critic once called James the "the wisest fool in Christendom." Historians used to place the emphasis on fool. More recently, they have been inclined to view him more seriously, particularly his foreign policy. 

He was strongly in favor of peace in Europe. He resisted demands of parliamentary hawks to renew war with Spain or enter the devastating Thirty Years' War in Central Europe (1618-1648). In the first, he failed, but in the second, he succeeded. 

He was moderate for his time in religious matters. Like Elizabeth, he preferred to turn a blind eye to people's private religious practices as long as they conformed outwardly. Yet in hindsight he laid the seeds of the current division of Ireland by encouraging Scots and English Protestants to settle in Ulster (Northern Ireland). 

James suffered from various ailments in his last years, especially arthritis and gout. He died in 1625, probably of dysentery. He was sincerely mourned by many of his subjects. Despite some conflicts, they had enjoyed peace and low taxation for much of his reign, and in 17th century Europe that was rare.

His son and successor Charles I was not so fortunate. During his reign, simmering conflicts between the Crown and the English Parliament came to a head. Charles initially pursued an anti-Spanish policy, which grew out of personal humiliation when he tried unsuccessfully to woo a Spanish princess. He also went to war briefly with France. [Image: Charles I by Van Dyck]

Charles' anti-Spanish foreign policy was broadly popular in England, but he became angry when he could not get Parliament to vote the taxes to support it. His attempts to raise revenue without parliamentary consent and arrest non-payers aroused powerful opposition. In 1628, Parliament presented the king with The Petition of Right, which condemned his arbitrary actions. 

The following year, 1629, Charles dissolved Parliament and vowed to rule without it. He managed to do it for eleven years, the "Personal "Rule" or "Eleven Years Tyranny." During that time, opposition to Charles' rule festered without an outlet. 

The anger was not limited to Charles' arbitrary methods and taxes. Various strands of Radical Protestantism rooted in Calvinist and Anabaptist traditions gained strength during these years. 

The "Puritans" represented an existential threat to the Church of England established by Elizabeth I and supported by James I. They opposed his efforts to enforce conformity to Anglicanism. His marriage to a French Catholic princess, Henrietta Maria, increased suspicions that he was a crypto Catholic.

That was not true, but Charles was a staunch defender of the Anglican Church and promoted "popish" ritualism the Puritans opposed. During the 1630s, he tried to weaken Puritanism through prosecutions, sometimes in arbitrary courts. 

His biggest mistake was his attempt to force the Church of Scotland to adopt the Anglican model. In 1637, without consulting the Scottish parliament or kirk (church), he authorized the use of a version of the Anglican Book of Common Prayer in Scottish churches. 

By this time, most Scots had embraced a strict Calvinist form of worship. They rejected Anglican religious ritual as "popish," and wanted to eliminate bishops. Their views united them to some extent with English Puritans.

When the Book of Common Prayer was introduced in Scotland, it provoked riots. Legend has it that an Edinburgh woman, Jenny Geddes, started it all by denouncing the new book and throwing her stool at a preacher in St. Giles Cathedral. 

The reality was more complex, but the riots expanded into a full-blown rebellion, the "Bishops Wars." Charles raised an army to enforce his will, but he was unable to pay for it. 

Reluctantly, he called Parliament in the spring of 1640. The members refused to fund his army unless he recognized their power to approve all new taxes. Furious, he dissolved the body after a few weeks.  It became known as the "Short Parliament." 

Meanwhile, the Scots' army had invaded northern England and occupied Newcastle and Durham. Faced with opposition within and without, Charles made concessions to the Scots and agreed to elections to a new English parliament. 

The elections went badly for Charles. A huge majority of the new MPs opposed his policies. The "Long Parliament," as it later became known, convened in November 1640. 

Its members immediately began the impeachment of the king's leading councillors for high treason. During the next year, they passed a series of acts restricting royal power and increasing that of Parliament. 

A rebellion in Ireland in 1641 sparked anti-Catholic hysteria in England. Pamphlets were published charging that Queen Henrietta Maria was behind the rising and demanding her impeachment.  

The extreme measures of the most radical MPs gradually increased support for the king in Parliament. Charles alienated much of this sympathy when he tried to arrest five leading members of the opposition as they sat in Parliament. He faced humiliation when he burst into the chamber with soldiers to find that the five had been alerted and fled. No king had ever entered Parliament uninvited.

Soon after, Charles fled London. He began to assemble an army often referred to as the "Cavaliers" for their fancy clothes and long-flowing hair. Parliament also began to raise an army, eventually dubbed "Roundheads" for their closely cropped hair and plain clothes. (These distinctions were not as clear cut as the terms imply.) 

Civil War in England began in the middle of 1642. Historians today see the English Civil War as part of a wider conflict they call the "Wars of the Three Kingdoms." Scotland and Ireland were also involved. It was the bloodiest war ever fought on British soil. 

The war started badly for the parliamentary side at first. It seemed the king would prevail. But by 1644 men like Lord Fairfax and Oliver Cromwell rose to command and reorganized the army. A key reform was selecting officers based on ability rather than birth. The "New Model Army" defeated and captured the king in 1646. 

For more than two years the victors tried to negotiate a settlement with Charles, without success. In 1648, royalists began a second civil war designed to free the king. They were quickly defeated, but Cromwell and his allies decided the monarchy must be abolished. 

In January 1649, a parliamentary tribunal tried Charles for treason against his people. This was an astonishing reversal of the meaning of the act. In law, treason meant an act against the king. 

Charles mounted a vigorous defense, but the outcome was inevitable. On January 30, 1649, he was led out to scaffold in front of Inigo Jones' Banqueting Hall on Whitehall and beheaded. The assembled crowd let forth a loud moan. Many of them dipped handkerchiefs in Charles' blood as a memento. Charles was soon celebrated as a martyr. 

[Image: Execution of Charles I]

For the next eleven years, the British Isles was governed as a republic. For much of that time Oliver Cromwell ruled the three kingdoms , essentially as a military dictator. 

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