According to this article from the Boston Globe [1], Christianity is fading in Western Europe:
Nearly 99 percent of Christmas cards sold in Great Britain contain no religious message or imagery.
Traditional pictures such as angels blowing trumpets over a stable, Jesus in his manger, the shepherds and three wise men following the star to Bethlehem are dying out,” the Daily Mail reports. A review of some 5,500 Christmas cards turns up fewer than 70 that make any reference to the birth of Jesus. “Hundreds . . . avoided any image linked to Christmas at all” — even those with no spiritual significance, such as Christmas trees or Santa Claus.
Presumably the greeting-card industry is only supplying what the market demands; if Christian belief and practice weren’t vanishing from the British scene, Christian-themed cards wouldn’t be, either.
This makes me wonder why Mr. Bush would have choosen such an atheistic, and therefore per se immoral, group of people to be our primary ally to his so-called “War on Terror.” Maybe that’s why things went so badly in Iraq. Next time, he should pick a primary ally that at least puts manger scenes on their Christmas cards.
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