The number of words mainstream media outlets spend on Christianity is sometimes confounding. They remain fixated on it at the same time that they seek to level it, and they keep it central to public thought.
It is a relationship that brings out the exceptional status of Christianity: No other religion reasonably endures the amount of critique that Christianity does. Still, scrutiny is welcome and expected, given the combination of a secular world with the claims of the faith.
One such claim is that of Christmas, namely the virgin birth of Jesus, savior of the world. During the week preceding the holiday, commentary sees a rise. Everything from musings on consideration of the faith to a profile of Irish abuse cases to “A Conversation About the Virgin Birth that Maybe Wasn’t, and there is always a David French piece to stand as signpost.
There is nothing so horrible about any of the pieces listed there. The most provocative title, the one questioning the virgin birth, is mostly harmless — noncommittal but ultimately nonsubmersive of the idea of a miracle. But all so close to Christmas Day? The problem is the lack of the obvious Christmas piece, something celebratory or specific to the holiday.
However, it reveals that Christianity still directs the interests of writers ostensibly opposed or indifferent to it, while the religion itself charts a severe decline. Their curiosity and measure of irony and ethics — all have recourse to the Christian model which, statistically speaking, poses less and less of a threat.
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Forgetting any indignation as to a standard of respect for Christianity, the preoccupation by the media is just a bit funny. Something such as “all press is good press” rings along with it, and some modification of the phrase does not seem too far off from an apt outlook.
This Christian centrality in modernity looks entirely different from any sort of centuries-past Christendom that one might imagine. Yet, the religion remains at the center of things — attack, inquiry, or curiosity. That is the way it is supposed to be.
This article was originally published at www.washingtonexaminer.com
