Enter
“Google’s War on Christianity”
thing, even though as far as I can
tell, everyone who visited the
Google home page was mere seconds from being able to visit, you
know ... the Bible.
The whole kerfuffle was like an
early version of the annual “War
On Christmas,” in which we are led
to believe that faithful Christians
are somehow being attac ked or maligned during the Yuletide season.
It really does a disservice to people
around the world — including many
Christians — who suffer at the
hands of actual persecutors. In reality, those who are privileged enough
to live in America get a month of
celebration in which every piece of
media — from television shows, to
the music at the coffee shop, to the
lights on the street — inevitably
leads back to the Gospels and their
telling of the birth of Jesus Christ.
This includes an enormously popular children’s cartoon called A
Charlie Brown Christmas, in which
the Gospel of Luke is recited aloud
on network television.
If there’s one thing that the
Christmas season demonstrates,
it’s that American Christians enjoy
top cultural standing among their
peers in other faith traditions. And
yet, the central notion that gov-
LOOKING FORWARD
IN ANGST
HUFFINGTON
04.07.13
erns the so-called “War On Christmas” is that this seemingly unshakeable firmament of religious
privilege can be destroyed utterly
the moment a single clerk working
the Target checkout line utters the
words “Happy Holidays,” instead
of “Merry Christmas.” Given that
Christmas is the most successful
branding campaign in the history
All of those angry at
Google seem to be implying
that Google is specifically
obligated to provide
Christians with a helping
of validation that they
shouldn’t actually need.”
of the universe, I find all of this
deeply puzzling.
But I’m doubly puzzled about
this whole Easter Sunday Googledoodle contretemps, because all
of those angry at Google seem to
be implying that Google is specifically obligated to provide Christians
with a helping of validation that
they shouldn’t actually need. Don’t
get me wrong! It’s a really interesting irony — Google is, first and
foremost, an instant-gratification
engine. We are literally trained to