From the desk of Roland Rocchiccioli – 22 December

Once again it is Christmas, one of the two great Christian festivals – the other being Easter, which celebrates the death and the resurrection of Jesus, the Nazarene.

WHETHER you believe or not, it matters little, this is ‘Christmas’. It’s not the pagan Yuletide, or the festive season, or the summer holidays, or any other of the erroneous names which have, in more recent times, been affixed to the season. It is Christmas; a holy and celebratory period when, around the world, Christians gather together in small parish churches, and towering cathedrals, to rejoice at the birth, 2000 years ago, of the boy child in the manager in Bethlehem. In his great oratorio, The Messiah, Handel set to music: Isaiah, chapter 9, verse 6:

“For unto us a Child is born, unto us a Son is given: and the government shall be upon His shoulder: and His name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, the Mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.”

Out of religious respect we should not refer to Ramadan, Passover, Yom Kippur, or Al-Hajira, by any other name except the one expressly given by those who believe, and follow. It is a puzzlement that Christmas would be known by any other name than the one chosen by Christians.

Christianity accepts, with alacrity, other faiths and their idiosyncratic beliefs. We are lucky. We live in a stable democracy which grants freedom of religious worship. What is sometimes forgotten is that Sacred Text is religious plutonium. Misinterpreted by fundamentalists it can be dangerous and volatile; it can, and has, led to wars, and appalling genocide. The bible is a translation, from the Aramaic, the Greek, and the Latin, into English, and is by definition, inaccurate. We need to be cautious when viewing it through the prism of the 21st century. Cherry picking is dangerous – especially when it is being preached by those with no real intellectual comprehension, and more troublingly, with no theological training.

Over the years, there has been covert pattern of determination to remove Christianity and the teachings of the Nazarene from schools and other public places, often by those who follow a more strident and less accommodating faith. This is a Christian country and – for better or worse – Australia’s Patron Saint is Our Lady, Help Of Christians. For some it is purely symbolic, but symbols are important and potent forces within our lives. They provide a continuity and serve as indices of the society we have created; sometimes they are gauges of our hopes and aspirations; they mark our achievements, and bring us together in times of trial and tribulation.

White colonisation in this country was Christian, and the God to whom the Commonwealth of Australia Constitution Act refers is the Christian God, however unpalatable that might seem to those Australians, new and old, who do not believe in the Christian deity. It does not mean exclusion. It simply serves as indicator of our origins as a people, and a nation.

I have – despite Catholic threats of being turned into a pillar of salt – worshipped in synagogues and temples around the world. Ignoring the variance in belief, it is the overwhelming spirit of fellowship. Some of my most profound experiences have occurred in places of worship. I remember, exactly, the first time I saw the Torah being processed in the synagogue. It made my soul sing in gladness. Christianity, like democracy, must be defended, assiduously. Both are so embracing, and so tolerant, it needs little to destabilise them.

Happy Christmas to you all.

Roland can be heard Monday morning – 10.30 – on radio 3BA. Christmas wishes can be sent to [email protected].