Only 33% in Poll Cite Jesus’ Birth as Most Important Element of Christmas

In “Jingle All the Way,” the would-be Christmas blockbuster movie starring Arnold Schwarzenegger, the spirit of the season is tethered to a father getting his son a favorite toy.

The moral is that you can buy your way to a merry Christmas, and it plays well in a secular culture that depends on holiday gift-giving to keep the retail fires burning.

Now a poll has been released that confirms the fears of Christian clergy who long have found fertile sermon material in the difficulties of paying attention to the “reason for the season.”

Asked what makes Christmas important to them, only one-third of adults in the national survey said the birth of Jesus. Fourty-four percent said family time is the most important part of one of the three most sacred days--along with Good Friday and Easter--on the Christian calendar.

“I guess it demonstrates what preachers have been wringing their hands over for some time: Christ has been evacuated from Christmas,” said the Rev. William Willimon, a theologian and Duke University chaplain. “It’s good to know where we are. Christmas has been a co-opted holiday.”

Nevertheless, the results surprised pollster George Barna, whose Barna Research Group Ltd. of Oxnard conducted the survey for Lutheran Hour Ministries.

“Even all that I know about how secularized our culture has become, I would have thought that more people would say Christmas, the birth of Jesus,” Barna said.

The random telephone survey of 1,006 adults was conducted in July, with a margin of error of plus or minus 3%

Almost nine in 10 Americans identify themselves as Christians. But even among that group, only 37% said the birth of Jesus was the most important aspect of Christmas Day for them.

“Americans are more likely to correctly recall the significance of April 15 than they are to connect Christmas with the birth of Jesus. As America becomes increasingly anesthetized to Christian principles and practices, it seems only fitting that we have contracted acute amnesia regarding the spiritual significance of Dec. 25,” Barna said.

But Dale Meyer, spokesman for Lutheran Hour Ministries, said the results also can be interpreted in a hopeful manner, noting that the combined results how “the majority of Americans view Christmas as a time to be with their families and celebrate the birth of Christ.”