BOSTON (RNS)—On the first day of her introductory religion class at Merrimack College, professor Rebecca Sachs Norris put her students to work at having some fun.

She assigned teams of three or four students to play some of the many religious board games that fill her office shelves. Weeks later, they had to present their classmates with what they gleaned from each game.

As one team discussed BuddhaWheel, a game that teaches about Buddhism, Norris, chair of Merrimack’s religious and theological studies department, asked, “Can you win this game?

“One of them said: ‘Well, yes, but it takes a very, very long time! You just keep getting born over and over and over again.’

“I said, ‘Exactly, that’s it!’, and they learned it in a way that is very different.”

Norris and Nikki Bado-Fralick, an associate professor and director of religious studies at Iowa State University, examined the educational game as one component of the growing market of religious playthings for their book, Toying with God, due out in February from Baylor University Press.

It may be a niche market, but it’s big business nonetheless: Market-Research estimated a $6 billion-plus market for religious publishing and products in the United States, with growth fueled since mainstream mega-retailers recently began carrying faith-based toys.

To be sure, some religious playthings are tongue-in-cheek and even potentially offensive. But others, like the board games Episcopopoly, BuddhaWheel and Kosherland, can be educational and even help to reinforce religious identity.

Then there are those that are downright perplexing, like the Job action figure that comes complete with boils and sores; the Plagues Bag, billed as “the Passover/Seder Enrichment Toy”; or the Missionary Conquest board game, earnestly billed as “one giant game of laughter and strategy.”

Both avid collectors of religious toys and games, Bado-Fralick and Norris said there are many contradictions inherent in the items they studied. Christian games and toys, they observed, frequently are marketed as educational, yet many claim “no Bible knowledge required.” Some talking dolls, like Queen Esther, play fast and loose with Scripture quotes.

Such contradictions intrigued the academics.

“One of the goals as advertised on the boxes and websites is to give children good, clean, wholesome fun,” Bado-Fralick said. “The (makers of) talking dolls that seem to place an emphasis on Scripture don’t necessarily care about whether the Scripture’s accurate or not, or whether you can reduce the entire (biblical) story of Esther down to about 60 seconds of text, or whether some of the board games … are really doing a disservice to real religious dialogue.”

The authors acknowledge, too, that the marketing claims of “fun” by toymakers are entirely subjective. The Hajj Fun Game poses mild questions like, “How many days must a pilgrim spend in performing Hajj (Muslims’ pilgrimage to Mecca)?” The Mahabharata Game, meanwhile, comes with a hefty 38-page instruction booklet that includes an abbreviated version of the Mahabharata, an epic Hindu myth.

While some people might scoff at religious toys and games, viewing them as frivolous or irreverent or both, the book argues that such playthings reflect the reality that today’s religion is marketed like many other pastimes and consumer products.

Bado-Fralick noted her toy collections often provoke surprise and raised eyebrows from students and colleagues. Occasionally, some are offended.

“One of my jobs is teaching people how to talk about religion,” she said. “There may be people who don’t really have a sense of humor, who think there should be a very sharp line between religion and other aspects of life, … but I think most people are going to be fascinated by what our book says in terms of how it reflects modern life.”

WASHINGTON (RNS)—For years, Ken Uptegrove believed another Great Depression was at hand.

A computer professional in Springdale, Ark., Uptegrove started a garden and researched ways to live more simply. He studied the lives of early Christians and launched a ministry and a website where he and his wife share their beliefs with about 100 visitors a day.

Ideally, one day they’ll move to a remote area with other self-sufficient Christians where they can raise their own food and be ready should things get any worse.

They do not call themselves survivalists per se, but inherent in their way of life is the Christian ideal of neighborliness, he said. Surviving is not about saving yourself alone, but about coming through disaster with enough strength to help your neighbors, too.

“We are not militia. We are not an armed camp. We simply describe ourselves as first-century Christians,” said Uptegrove, 74. “It is always just simply living the Christian community lifestyle and being ready for (Jesus’) return as if it will happen tomorrow, but at the same time being ready to live our life and being ready for a full life.”

In the wake of 9/11, war, hurricanes, the worst recession in decades and countless other woes, preparation and survivalism are no longer fringe activities. In fact, for some Christians, current events yield signs of the End Times and Jesus’ Second Coming.

Government leaders warn of rising unemployment and worldwide pandemics. Movies such as 2012 stoke fears about looming Armageddon, while TV shows such as Man vs. Wild make survivalism hip.

Sustainability and self-sufficiency seem downright mainstream, led by first lady Michelle Obama’s White House vegetable garden. Mormon beliefs in stockpiling food and supplies no longer seem quaint, but maybe something worth looking in-to.

“We as Americans have this sense of personal responsibility and efficiency,” said Richard Mitchell Jr., a professor emeritus at Oregon State University and author of Dancing at Armageddon: Survivalism and Chaos in Modern Times.

“Individually we can solve those problems, and that we don’t live in an easy world or one that is consistent but one that requires focused reaction and cooperation and sort of individual grit.”

Across the Internet, message boards, blogs and businesses promoting survivalism are flourishing. Living Fresh, an online store that sells emergency supplies, has seen business jump as much as 700 percent, owner Joe Branin estimated.

The popular myth has been that survivalists are Rambo types, Mitchell said. Instead, survivalists often are urbanites or suburbanites who distrust the government or believe the government is flawed. For the less hardcore, the concept perhaps renders a measure of control they feel they have lost to disasters or 9/11, Branin said.

“This is one way people feel like they’re taking control of their own situations again,” he said. “We’ve had so much drama. It’s like getting your oil changed in your car. You’ve done something that feels good. It’s the same way with somebody going down and getting a survival kit and having extra food or water. It gives them that level of a little bit of security.”

Of course, doomsday fads come and go. In the 1830s, New York farmer William Miller saw the return of Jesus in 1843, which led to the “Great Disappointment” but also the birth of the Seventh-day Adventist Church. Similar End Times predictions led to the founding of the Jehovah’s Witnesses.

Some say the hype is fueled by the government and the media. Just ask anyone who worried about Y2K a decade ago, or the 2003 government directive to stock up on duct tape to seal homes from a chemical or biological attack.

But being prepared isn’t all bad, Mitchell said. If survivalists are gardening because they feel the U.S. should be less dependent on foreign countries for food or even energy, maybe they’re on to something. And if survivalists distrust government and economic systems they don’t completely understand, perhaps the recession has proven they have a point.

New technology is helping measure progress toward completing Jesus’ Great Com-mission to make disciples of all nations, said Allan Beeber, who runs the online Global Media Outreach missionary effort for Orlando-based Campus Crusade for Christ.

Many Christians believe the Great Commission must be fulfilled before Jesus can return, and at the rate the ministry is growing, Beeber believes it’s possible the job might be completed by 2020, maybe sooner.

Then again, he’s not making any specific plans.

“It may happen in our lifetime. I just don’t wake up everyday thinking today’s going to be the day. I just don’t do that. I’ve been through too much,” he said.

“I do believe the Scriptures will be fulfilled someday, but I think the timing will surprise every one of us.”

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (ABP)—While staunch defenders of human rights and religious liberty for all, Southern Baptists rarely mentioned religious persecution in convention resolutions until the 1990s.

That coincides with increased calls by social conservatives, including the newly conservative leadership of the Southern Baptist Convention, for the U.S. government to emphasize religious freedom in setting its foreign policy.

Those appeals became law when Congress voted overwhelmingly in 1998 to enact the International Religious Freedom Act, establishing religious freedom as an integral part of the U.S. foreign policy agenda.

A 2006 SBC resolution objected to China’s treatment of North Korean refugees “who are persecuted for conscience sake.”

A similar resolution in 2001 drew attention to “victims of persecution and genocide” in Sudan.

In 1997, the SBC voiced opposition to “religious persecution” and encouraged government officials to “elevate religious liberty concerns to the highest priority in foreign policy, invoking sanctions against those nations which tolerate persecution of those with differing religious beliefs.”

A 1996, SBC resolution cited growing numbers of Christian minorities facing persecution as scapegoats and for “the venting of popular hatred of the West and the United States.”

In 1995, the convention passed a resolution urging prayer and support for “those persecuted for their faith,” mentioning occurrences of oppression in Bulgaria, Russia, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Iran, Sudan, Yemen, Cuba, Romania, India and China.

A 1988 resolution protesting the firing of a Dayton Daily News publisher by Cox Newspapers for refusing to sell advertising to gay and lesbian groups was titled “Resolution on Persecution of Christians.”

Before that, the last mentions of persecution were resolutions passed at consecutive conventions in 1974 and 1975 expressing solidarity with those “who are being persecuted because they are believers in Jesus Christ” and calling for prayer on their behalf on Baptist World Alliance Sunday.

In 1931, the convention, “representing four million white Baptists of the Southern States of the United States of America,” denounced “persecution by the Russian Soviet government of the various religious communions on account of their religious opinions.”

A resolution passed in 1923 noted “with astonishment and indignation that many acts of persecution have been directed against Baptists” in Romania. That was the year the nation adopted a new constitution establishing the Romanian Orthodox Church as the dominant faith.

A 1915 resolution on religious liberty decried “Romish schemes and legislation” intended to allow the “Roman Catholic hierarchy to gain control of our government.” Messengers warned of a return to “the dark and persecuting age of the past” represented by a union of church and state, “making the United States government the executive of the Romish church against religious and civil liberty.”

A resolution on cooperation with other Baptists in 1899 called for a meeting with the czar of Russia to intercede on behalf of persecuted “Stundists,” a religious revival movement of the 19th century among the German and Russian population of the Ukraine which led to the establishment of a number of Protestant churches, especially Baptists.

FALLS CHURCH, Va. (ABP)—Baptists generally prefer to handle violations of religious freedom through quiet diplomacy instead of media headlines denouncing “persecution” of Christians, said a freedom-and-justice specialist for the Baptist World Alliance.

That approach contrasts with well-known organizations like Voice of the Martyrs and Open Doors that publicize and advocate on behalf of the “persecuted church.”

Mistreatment in the name of religion isn’t limited to any particular faith. Protestants and Catholics have waged war in Northern Ireland for decades, and violence between Sunni and Shia Muslims erupted in Iraq following the overthrow of Saddam Hussein.

But observers say the majority of people suffering because of their faith today are Christians, typically at the hands of officially atheistic regimes or in Muslim majorities where fundamentalist Islam is enshrined in Sharia law.

By undocumented estimates, some 200 million Christians around the world are persecuted for their beliefs. Rick Warren recently cited a statistic claiming 146,000 Christians died last year alone for their faith.

New figures compiled by the Pew Research Center’s Forum on Religion & Public Life report that 70 percent of the world’s 6.8 billion people live in countries where some citizens face high or very high restrictions on their religion.

Religious freedom belongs both to individuals and to religious groups. It includes a person’s right to walk down the street wearing a yarmulke or a headscarf, and it also includes rights of group to worship as they please.

The fundamental nature of religious freedom was enshrined in the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, prompted in large part by the Nazi Holocaust against the Jewish people.

Since passage of the International Religious Freedom Act in 1998, religious freedom also has been a centerpiece of U.S. foreign policy.

Systematic religious persecution by governments takes three main forms—officially atheistic communist regimes like China, North Korea and Vietnam; repressive Islamic states like Saudi Arabia, Iran and Sudan; and nationalist authoritarian states such as Burma, Eritrea and Uzbekistan. Those eight countries have been listed by the U.S. State Department as “Countries of Particular Concern,” a designation for the world’s worst violators of religious freedom.

Other countries have high government restrictions that favor some religions over others. In Greece, for example, only Orthodox Christian, Jewish and Muslim organizations are legally recognized as a religion, putting minority sects at a disadvantage, including the right to own property.

Some states have more moderate restrictions. Cambodia, for example, prohibits Christians from going door to door to proselytize or hand out literature. Switzerland recently created controversy when it banned construction of minarets, reflecting cultural fears of a growing Muslim population but denounced as a violation of religious freedom.

Some countries have low restrictions on religious freedom. In the United Kingdom, for example, the head of state is also head of the Church of England, but the government does not always favor the established church.

In the United States, the free exercise of religion is guaranteed, but churches can be prohibited from things like endorsing political candidates in exchange for being exempt for paying taxes or subject to zoning laws that regulate the construction of buildings.

Because the First Amendment also prohibits the establishment of religion, a Christian majority cannot impose its views on society as a whole. This often results in court battles over issues like community Nativity displays at Christmas, displays of the Ten Commandments on public property and skirmishes like one recently in Georgia over whether football players at a public high school could rush onto the field bursting through paper banners bearing inspirational verses from the Bible.

In some parts of the world, persecution is not at the hands of the government, but social hostility related to factors like politics, ethnicity, the economy and religion cause segments of the population to be treated harshly.

An example is India, where riots late in 2007 by radical Hindu mobs in the state of Orissa were described as the worst attacks ever targeting Christians since India became a democracy.

Some countries, like China, are not officially anti-religion but crack down on particular beliefs that are declared illegal. Buddhism is regulated in China, in part because of its integral association with the Tibetan independence movement.

In 1999, China outlawed Falun Gong, a movement that started in the early 1990s, branding it a “dangerous cult” that the government said posed a threat to Chinese society. Crackdowns on unregistered Christian groups that meet in private homes may reflect anxiety by local officials that secret meetings are a breeding ground for dissent or even revolution.

China’s mixed bag on religion also includes vestiges of the Cultural Revolution, a zealous crackdown in the late 1960s in which all religion was viewed as backward and contrary to social progress. China’s overall attitude toward religion is that a citizen’s No. 1 priority is to the state rather than to any religion.

In some places, religious minorities suffer just for being different. Because of the U.S. Constitution’s First Amendment, American’s don’t have a particular faith associated with national spirit. That isn’t true in places like the former Soviet Union, where the Orthodox Church is widely viewed as the only “Russian” form of Christianity.

“I think there are many different forms of religious persecution,” said Cindy Wiles of Arlington, executive director of Global Connection Partnership Network, which helps involve congregations in humanitarian missions in various parts of the world, including nations where religious freedom is severely restricted.

“To me, any time you are oppressed for following God as you perceive him to be, that is a form of religious persecution.”

Julie Justus, the staff member assigned to the Freedom and Justice Division of the Baptist World Alliance, said the BWA typically takes a low-key approach when responding to a report of a possible violation of religious liberty.

“Customarily the most supportive action for the parties involved is for the BWA to focus on mediation and conversation rather than on publicity,” she said. “An untimely and inappropriate external public protest can sometimes prove to be a bigger hindrance than help and could even put the case at risk.”

The BWA generally only publicizes a potential infraction if deemed completely necessary, she said. Customarily, that involves campaigning with other organizations, such as other church organizations, to issue statements supporting the religious freedom of those involved in the case.

“Christians around the world are committed to the cause,” she said. “Consequently, a compromise is sometimes made in order to help pursue what is a manageable outcome. The BWA wants to assist and is committed to asking for guidance on how we can be most helpful.”

NASHVILLE, Tenn. (BP)—Two-thirds of Protestant pastors in the United States believe Islam is a dangerous religion, according to survey results released by LifeWay Research. The survey, however, did not explore the issues behind their concern.

While opinions vary widely based on factors such as denominational affiliation and political ideology, the survey of more than 1,000 Protestant pastors found 45 percent strongly agree with the statement “I believe Islam is a dangerous religion,” and 21 percent agree somewhat.

Ed Stetzer, director of LifeWay Research, said American Protestant pastors’ agreement that Islam is dangerous could speak to various issues, however, “in one sense, Protestant pastors are a competing religion, so we should not be completely surprised by their concerns about Islam.”

Scott McConnell, associate director of LifeWay Research, said LifeWay Research decided to ask the question after European headlines used the phrase “dangerous religion” to describe results drawn from a 2008 study across 21 European countries that found an overwhelming majority of people believe immigration from predominantly Muslim countries poses a threat to Europeans’ traditional way of life.

“It appears that Protestant pastors in America are overwhelmingly willing to use that phrase and cite Islam as a ‘dangerous religion,’“ McConnell said.

Additionally, a study by the Pew Research Center found 38 percent of all Americans say Islam is more likely to encourage violence than other religions. But studies also indicate a need for interaction. For example, data from the Gallup Muslim-West Dialogue Index shows that when given the option of labeling greater interaction between Muslim and Western worlds a threat or a benefit, 70 percent of Americans call it a benefit.

“It’s important to note,” Stetzer said, “our survey asked whether pastors viewed Islam as ‘dangerous,’ but that does not necessarily mean ‘violent.’ ‘Dangerous’ can be defined in a variety of ways, including from the perspective of spiritual influence. Regardless of the definition, the numbers tell us that Protestant pastors are concerned.”

The LifeWay Research study found six statistically significant differences in the belief about Islam statement among pastors:

• Mainline denomination pastors are less likely than evangelicals to say Islam is “a dangerous religion.” While 77 percent of evangelical pastors either somewhat or strongly agree Islam is dangerous, only 44 percent of mainline pastors feel the same way, and 38 percent strongly disagree.

• More educated pastors are less likely to agree than those with less education. While 64 percent of pastors with a bachelor’s degree or less strongly agree Islam is dangerous, only 37 percent with a master’s degree or more feel the same way, and 25 percent of those strongly disagree.

• The majority of pastors affiliated with the Democratic Party are more likely to strongly disagree than Republicans or Independents. While 61 percent of Republicans and 40 percent of Independents strongly agree Islam is dangerous, only 16 percent of Democrats feel the same way, and 52 percent of Democrats strongly disagree.

• Older pastors are more likely to strongly agree than any other age group. While overall agreement differs little by age, 58 percent of pastors age 65 and older strongly agree about the danger of Islam, contrasted with 42 percent of pastors ages 50 to 64, and 44 percent of pastors younger than 50.

• Rural and smaller city pastors are more likely to agree than pastors in large cities and suburbs. A full 51 percent of rural pastors and 47 percent of small-city pastors agree Islam is dangerous, while 37 percent of suburban pastors and 39 percent of large-city pastors feel the same way.

• Politically conservative pastors stood in starkest contrast with politically moderate and liberal pastors. Among very conservative pastors, 78 percent strongly agree about the danger of Islam and 55 percent of conservative pastors feel the same way, contrasted with 69 percent of liberal or very liberal pastors and 38 percent of moderates who strongly disagree.

The Pew study, conducted in August, asked more than 2,000 adults in the United States whether Islam is more likely to encourage violence than other faiths. While 38 percent said yes, views on the subject have fluctuated in recent years. Similar Pew studies found 25 percent answered yes in 2002, 36 percent in 2005 and 45 percent in 2007.

The Gallup study was commissioned for the World Economic Forum, and released as “Islam and the West: Annual Report on the State of Dialogue.”

The LifeWay Research project, entitled “Protestant Pastors’ Reaction to a Statement on Islam,” was conducted by telephone in October 2008. The random sample of 1,002 senior pastors was weighted to reflect geographic distribution and the sample provided a 95 percent confidence that sampling error did not exceed plus or minus 3.2 percent, although margins of error were higher in subgroups.

WASHINGTON (RNS)—Hand sanitizer appears at the sanctuary entrance. Worshippers greet each other with a cautionary bow rather than a warm handshake or hug. Absences increase in Bible classes.

The H1N1 flu pandemic is shaking up religious communities and disrupting worship life. But when does caution veer into paranoia? And what is lost when faith becomes fear?

With H1N1 flu being declared a national emergency, religious or-ganizations are issuing guidelines for worship practices and even personal interaction during liturgy. In a reversal of the usual open invitation, some faith communities are asking people who don’t feel well to stay home.

“I have skipped church when the kids were sick,” said Ruth Wynja Gibbons of Whitinsville, Mass., whose 6-year-old son and 3-year-old daughter came down with bad colds. As it turned out, the kids didn’t contract H1N1, or swine flu, but Gibbons has noticed a drop in the number of children in Sunday school at Pleasant Street Christian Reformed Church.

At her church’s Sunday service, members are advised that they need not shake hands when the time comes to greet fellow worshippers.

“I personally just greet people verbally, not shake hands,” she said. “I think it’s a good precaution, that people not spread illnesses this time of year. It’s better to be safe than sorry.”

At Gibbons’ church, Com-munion wine traditionally is distributed in individual, disposable cups, but in some denominations, worshippers use a common cup. Advice varies. Some churches have banned the common cup since sipping from a shared cup may be a path to sickness.

Concern about passing along infections is causing changes in style among some clergy. Laurie Wozniak, a parishioner at Trinity Episcopal Church in Buffalo, N.Y., noted that her pastor, Cam Miller, normally is a hug-and-shake-hands kind of guy. When he wasn’t feeling up to par recently, he refrained even from meeting parishioners at the door, she said.

Hand sanitizer became the symbol of fears of a flu pandemic in 2009.

“He ventured no closer (to the congregation) than the pulpit. He explained … it was to make sure he was not communicating any germs. He stayed in the high altar area, so he could still be there and function,” she said.

Miller said he had upper respiratory symptoms, but didn’t have a definitive diagnosis. “My biggest concern was not being a distraction to other people,” he said.

An Italian inventor has come up with a dispenser that releases a few drops of holy water when worshippers pass their hands under it, to avoid the communal holy water basin used in some Christian liturgies. But all these precautions have some people wondering if an essential part of a faith community is getting lost.

Pamela Dempsey DeVries, who attends Fuquay-Varina Baptist Church in Fuquay-Varina, N.C., has kept her three children out of services, although they continue to attend Sunday school. As caretakers of the family, she said, women are bearing the brunt of the flu scare.

At worship, she keeps hand sanitizer in her purse and now is “more reserved” in greeting other parishioners, and worries she may seem less friendly to newcomers.

“It’s very Southern,” she said. “Everyone gets out of their pew, walks all over the church. It’s a chance to welcome new people or find your friends, and if you know people, give them a kiss or hug.”

Tim Schenck, rector of St. John the Evangelist Episcopal Church in Hingham, Mass., is taking all the usual precautions and found himself hurriedly writing a swine flu policy for his church after a parishioner’s child came down with H1N1. But he also mourns the emphasis on avoiding human touch.

“You don’t want to take this lightly or minimize it, but sacramental touch is being lost, and that can’t be replaced by being washed in Purell. Sacramental touch is an outward and visible sign of God’s presence. It’s human interaction and communication at its deepest level,” he said.

“It’s a shame that fear is being brought into the sanctuary, because you would hope that the sanctuary is a place where there is no fear.”

Nearly one-fourth of the self-identified Christians in the United States delve into a range of Eastern or New Age beliefs, a new study shows. Asked about their supernatural experiences, significant minorities of American Christian respondents said they believe in astrology (23 percent), reincarnation (22 percent), spiritual energy in physical things like trees or crystals (23 percent) and yoga as a spiritual practice (21 percent). The survey by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life found Christians are about as likely as Americans overall to say they have been in touch with the dead (29 percent), had an experience with a ghost (17 percent) or consulted a psychic (14 percent). The results of the survey, taken by phone and involving a nationwide sample of 4,013 adults, have a margin of error of plus or minus 2.0 percentage points.

Nazarene membership approaches 2 million mark. The Church of the Nazarene reported a total worldwide membership of 1.9 million after adding more than 165,000 new members in 2009. The denomination has 24,285 congregations, and the number of self-sustaining churches increased by 1,178 to 17,277.

Mississippi leads U.S. in religious devotion. Residents of Mississippi ranked first among Americans in all four measures of religious commitment in a survey by the Pew Forum on Religion & Public Life, with 82 percent saying religion is very important in their lives. Six in ten of Mississippi residents said they attend religious services at least once a week; 77 percent of Mississippians said they pray at least once a day; and 91 percent of Mississippians say they believe in God with absolute certainty. The findings, published online by the Pew Forum and drawn from data from its 2007 U.S. Religious Landscape Survey, mirror earlier results released by the Gallup Poll in January 2009, which also found Mississippi to be the most religious state.

Court rules against 9/11 families’ burial claims. A federal appeals court has rejected the claims of families who wanted the unidentified remains of relatives killed in the 9/11 terrorist attacks to be given a proper burial according to their religious beliefs. A three-judge panel of the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals ruled against a group called World Trade Center Families for a Proper Burial, which sued New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg and other city officials. The families had sought the burial of the residue from the debris of the World Trade Center, located at the city’s Fresh Kills landfill on Staten Island, in a cemetery. The suit turned in part on a novel legal claim—that the families’ inability to bury their loved ones according to the tenets of their faith violated their First Amendment right of free religious exercise. The families appealed a lower court decision, arguing it wrongly concluded their First Amendment rights had not been violated. The judges of the higher court upheld the lower court ruling against the families, agreeing city officials “did not target religious beliefs” in their recovery procedures.

–Compiled from Religion News Service

PORTLAND, Ore. (RNS)—Author Donald Miller’s best-selling 2003 memoir, Blue Like Jazz: Nonreligious Thoughts on Christian Spirituality, is being made into a movie, and he’s on the phone with his director.

“That explosion and the sex scene?” he says into his cell phone. “I still want those in there.”

He’s kidding. Blue Like Jazz won’t be that kind of movie. It is Miller’s account of growing up fatherless, struggling with relationships and finding a Christian faith that wrestles with Jesus, the church and cultural stereotypes.

There are no sex scenes, but Miller, 38, has lived through an explosion of sorts.

Before Blue Like Jazz, Miller was a freelance writer sharing a house in Portland’s Laurelhurst neighborhood. His first book hadn’t sold well, and his tiny publishing business wasn’t making much money.

“I reached a point where I had to get a job or write another book,” he said. “I wrote another book.”

Cue the explosion.

Blue Like Jazz was a giant hit. It made The New York Times best-seller list and has sold 1 million copies.

Part of Miller’s appeal—and what has made the book so successful—is his “brokenness,” said Miller’s friend Paul Louis Metzger, a theology professor at Mult-nomah Biblical Seminary in northeast Portland and a writer himself.

“Don understands at a core level what it’s like to feel pain, suffering and abandonment. There’s a sense of rawness and pain and earthiness to his writing.”

And a slightly warped sense of humor. “That humor is bound up with shared humanity,” Metzger said.

Blue Like Jazz caught the eye of documentary filmmakers Steve Taylor and Ben Pearson, who contacted Miller about turning the book into a movie.

Miller’s new book, A Million Miles in a Thousand Years: What I Learned While Editing My Life, is the story of that story and everything he’s learned so far about living and telling stories.

“The reward you get from a story is always less than you thought it would be, and the work is harder than you imagined,” Miller writes in his new book. “The point of a story is never about the ending, remember. It’s about your character getting molded in the hard work of the middle.”

After a year writing the screenplay and learning about character development and narrative arcs, Miller realized his actions convey his character. He recently finished a 70-day, 65-city book tour. He’s a sought-after speaker and a member of President Obama’s task force on fatherhood.

He’s organized The Mentoring Project, a nonprofit that works with churches to recruit mentors and match them with fatherless kids. He has dreams of creating a corps of good fathers in the next 20 years, of closing down the prisons that today house so many fatherless sons.

He lends himself—not just his name—to what he calls “noble causes,” including a cross-country bike ride to call attention to the global need for clean water.

He spends time alone, daydreaming and recharging his spirit with his cast of friends who show up often in his writing. When he can, he worships at Imago Dei Community, an independent, art-supporting, thriving church, whose founder, Rick McKinley, is one of Miller’s closest friends.

“We were nobodies in the beginning,” said McKinley, who first met Miller 10 years ago. “I wanted to start a church, and he was becoming an author.”

These days, Imago Dei draws 2,000 people every Sunday.

McKinley believes his friend’s success is making a difference in people’s lives.

“There’s a whole generation of people trying to make sense of church, of faith, of God. I think he created a following that continues to respond to Don.”

Miller grew up in Pearland, near Houston. His mother, Mary, still lives in the same tiny house where he would shut himself up in his room and daydream.

“He was very easy to raise,” she said, which was a good thing because being a single mother with two children wasn’t easy. “He didn’t get into trouble, but he had his own ideas about things.”

When his high school band teacher, who would urge students to “visualize yourself marching as you play,” complained that Donald was skipping rehearsals, his mom confronted him.

“Tell him to just visualize me,” Donald said.

Miller’s flippant streak helped him deal with his parents’ divorce and the handful of times he reconnected with his father.

“He left when I was 2,” Miller said. “I remember being 11 or 12”—the last time he saw him—“old enough to be scared of him, old enough to think, ‘Who are you?’”

The prospect of seeing his father again figures in A Million Miles in a Thousand Years. It’s an idea Miller says he wouldn’t have considered except that the filmmakers wanted to inject some conflict into the screenplay.

“If I learned anything from thinking about my father, it’s that there is a force in the world that doesn’t want us to live good stories,” he writes in the new book.

“It doesn’t want us to face our issues, to face our fear and bring something beautiful into the world.

“I guess what I’m saying is, I believe God wants us to create beautiful stories, and whatever it is that isn’t God wants us to create meaningless stories, teaching the people around us that life just isn’t worth living.”

WASHINGTON (RNS)—The nation’s religion journalists named President Obama’s speech to the Muslim world as the top religion story of the year.

Members of the Religion Newswriters Association ranked the June speech in Cairo, in which the president quoted from the Quran and said America will “never” be at war with Islam, as the No. 1 religion story of 2009.

President Obama’s address to the Muslim world at Cairo University in June was one of the year’s biggest religion stories, and perhaps one of the most controversial. (PHOTO/RNS/Courtesy Chuck Kennedy/The White House)

Evangelical leader Rick Warren, whose invocation at Obama’s inauguration was greeted by protests from gay-rights groups, was named the 2009 Religion Newsmaker of the Year.

The entire top 10 is as follows:

1. President Obama promises a new start of Muslim-U.S. relations in a speech at Cairo University.

2. Health care reform, the key topic in Congress for much of the year, includes religious groups urging assistance for “the least of these” and groups like the Roman Catholic bishops seeking restrictions on abortion funding.

3. Considered a devout Muslim, Maj. Nidal Hasan, the accused gunman in the Fort Hood massacre, prompts a review of the role of Islam in terrorism, with some fearing a backlash.

4. George Tiller, considered the nation’s leading abortion doctor, is shot to death while ushering at his Wichita, Kansas, church.

5. Mormons in California come under attack from some gay rights supporters because of their November 2008 lobbying efforts on Proposition 8, which outlawed gay marriage. Iowa, Vermont and New Hampshire approved gay marriage later in the year, but it is overturned by Maine voters.

6. President Obama gives the commencement speech and receives an honorary degree at the University of Notre Dame after the Roman Catholic university becomes embroiled in debates over his abortion views.

7. The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America votes to ordain gay and lesbian clergy who are in a monogamous committed relationship, prompting some conservative churches to make steps toward forming a new denomination.

8. The recession forces cutbacks at a range of faith-related organizations—houses of worship, colleges and seminaries, relief agencies and publishing houses.

9. The Episcopal Church’s General Convention votes to end a moratorium on installing gay bishops, disregarding a request from the archbishop of Canterbury.

10. President Obama’s inauguration features controversial prayers by evangelical megachurch pastor Rick Warren and civil rights veteran Joseph Lowery, as well as a pre-ceremony prayer by gay Episcopal Bishop V. Gene Robinson.

January
I humbly ask this in the name of the one who changed my life, Yeshua, Isa, Jesus, Jesus (hay-SOOS), who taught us to pray …. — Saddleback Church Pastor Rick Warren, in inaugural prayer for President Barack Obama.

February
"We don't know whether we have a meeting or a movement. What we're after is a movement." — New Baptist Covenant organizer Jimmy Allen at first of four regional gatherings scheduled during 2009.

"There is no way to measure the impact of Tom Corts' life and ministry on this university and the thousands of lives whom he touched. We have all lost a great friend."–S amford University President Andrew Westmoreland, who succeeded Corts in June of 2006.

Youth from Broadway Baptist Church in Fort Worth paint house in Nashville, Tenn.

"We are not a church where homosexuality is a defining issue. While we extend Christian hospitality to anyone — including homosexuals — we do not endorse, approve or affirm homosexual behavior." –From a letter from Broadway Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas, to SBC Executive Committee

March
"I wouldn't give you a nickel for deafness, but, let me say, I wouldn't take a million dollars for what I have learned because I have had to cope with this handicap." — Baptist seminary professor Glenn Hinson reflecting on his 50 years in the classroom at a ceremony in his honor.

Glenn Hinson

"You are what you are under pressure. If you squeeze an orange, you don't get Dr Pepper…. When you're squeezed, what's on the inside is what comes out." — Al Meredith, pastor of Wedgwood Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas, at First Baptist Church in Maryville, Ill., one week after the church's pastor was killed in the pulpit.

April
"We were all praying, but we had no idea how bad things were outside the doors of the church." — Kristina Brown, a staff member at First Baptist Church in Murfreesboro, Tenn., describing a Good Friday worship service interrupted by tornado warnings that devastated the community.

"At some point I think we have to stop and recognize that human beings are more alike than we are different." — Author Maya Angelou, speaking on racism at New Baptist Covenant Southeast region meeting in Winston-Salem, N.C. (ABPnews.com)

May
Any church — congregation, parachurch organization, denomination, or group of individual Christians — that supports torture has violated its confessed allegiance to you and can no longer be considered part of your true church. Let them be anathema. — David Gushee, in an "open letter" to Jesus in ABPnews.com.

"When economic policies treat the poor unjustly, pro-life concerns take a big hit. The economy has been so devastated now that more pregnant women may conclude they cannot afford a baby, and have an abortion in 2009." — Ethicist Glen Stassen, column in ABPnews.com

"Not since the days of Jim Crow has the U.S. government maintained a policy that systemically brings death to a group of people based on their race or ethnicity. Our immigration policies are killing Hispanics." — Columnist Miguel De La Torre, ABPnews.com

June
"The usurper that is in the White House is one, B. Hussein Obama." — Former Southern Baptist Convention officer Wiley Drake, in response to a question by Fox Radio host Alan Colmes if there was anyone alive at whom he was directing "imprecatory prayer."

"In the name of missions, ministry and evangelism, the SBC is now in danger of embracing a new liberalism — 'cultural liberalism' that claims to be theologically conservative.'" — Conservative activist Roger Moran in a pamphlet handed out at the Southern Baptist Convention warning of dangers of the "Emergent Church."

"You say, 'What are you saying?' I'm saying you need to have a bunch of kids," Akin said." — Southeastern Baptist Theological Seminary President Danny Akin, on his statement challenging "unbiblical notions about marriage and family," such as "children are a burden rather than a blessing and smaller families are more 'responsible' than large families."

July
"All these kids want to do is praise God with their singing and serve God by helping those in poverty. We're not going to let denominational politics keep them from doing this good work." — Brent Beasley, pastor of Broadway Baptist Church in Fort Worth, Texas, about decision by University of the Cumberlands to withdraw invitation to the church's youth choir to a conduct mission trip after the Southern Baptist Convention disfellowshipped the church for being too gay friendly.

"Every story for people of faith has these subplots where God sends his angels."– Greg Hunt, pastor of First Baptist Church in Shreveport, La., on a National Guard unit that stopped to help after a bus carrying youth to a church camp flipped on a Mississippi interstate. Hunt said quick action by the soldiers saved lives. (ABPnews.com)

"One in 10 people in Texas is a Texas Baptist. With those kinds of resources, if one person in this state goes to bed hungry, it's our fault." — Randel Everett, executive director of the Baptist General Convention of Texas (ABPnews.com)

August
"If we fail to take seriously the 21st century and merely continue to defend religious freedom as though we were living under King James I, then we will become irrelevant and our defense of freedom irrelevant." — Denton Lotz, former head of the Baptist World Alliance, at a service celebrating the 400th anniversary of the Baptist movement in Amsterdam.

"My goals are to become a better Christian, a better actress and a better performer and a better daughter." –Fatal church-bus crash victim Maggie Lee Henson, in a video played at a memorial service celebrating her life Aug.6 at First Baptist Church in Shreveport, La.

"Maggie Lee, you truly are a star." — Madeline Richardson, cousin of Maggie Lee Henson, at memorial service celebrating the life of the girl who died Aug. 2 from injuries suffered three weeks earlier in a church bus crash.

"It was a step backwards." — Larry Lewis, the last president of the SBC Home Mission Board, on the 1995 decision to merge the HMB with other agencies to form the North American Mission Board.

September
"Truth be told, there was good reason to believe that Cecil might not leave that hospital. Well, Cecil set that prominent trademark Sherman jaw more firmly than ever and thanks to his unyielding faith … [he] defied the odds and he is here tonight, back in the pulpit, back in the classroom, back with friends and family." — ABP Executive Director David Wilkinson, formally presenting an award given a year earlier when former moderate Baptist leader Cecil Sherman was in a hospital fighting cancer.

"I doubt I would've been a good emeritus, anyway." — David Currie, founding director of Texas Baptists Committed, on his decision to resign instead of remaining in a new role, as previously announced.

October
"We are Fellowship Baptists. I like the word 'Fellowship' Baptist rather than 'moderate' Baptist, because 'moderate' sort of conveys a reaction to something that we came out of. It represents sort of the past. It represents, 'We're not something else; we're moderate.'" — Cooperative Baptist Fellowship Coordinator Daniel Vestal, on the group's upcoming 20th annual meeting.

Greg Warner

"You know the principles that ABP and I have stood for: freedom of conscience, unfettered responsible journalism and the radical concept that the truth can take care of itself. It doesn't need our props, and telling the facts is its own justification. That's where I cast my lot, and I am grateful that you noticed." — Former ABP Executive Editor Greg Warner, accepting a lifetime achievement award named in his honor. ABP's first full-time employee in 1990, Warner's career was cut short when chronic back trouble forced him to step down last year.

November
"We are mourning because today once again the rain has provoked desolation and death." — Gloria Cabrera de Rivera, former president of the Baptist Women's Union of Latin America, describing floods in El Salvador that killed several children and adult members of First Baptist Church in San Vicente.

"To be honest, having a Southern Baptist affiliation has not been especially helpful when it comes to connecting with our largely unchurched community." — Julie Pennington-Russell, pastor of First Baptist Church of Decatur, Ga., on the Georgia Baptist Convention's decision to withhold fellowship from the church because it called a woman as pastor.

December

"Of all the stories I have heard from churches and women about Martha Stearns Marshall Sundays, the most meaningful are those of churches that for the first time invited a woman to preach — or those of women who for the first time were invited to preach. I have heard life-changing stories," she said, "church-changing stories." — Pam Durso, head of Baptist Women in Ministry, encouraging Baptist churches to invite a woman to preach during a special emphasis in February.

"As an American pastor, it is not my role to interfere with the politics of other nations, but it is my role to speak out on moral issues It is my role to shepherd other pastors who look to me for guidance, and it is my role to correct lies, errors and false reports when others associate my name with a law that I had nothing to do with, completely oppose and vigorously condemn." — Baptist mega-church pastor and Purpose Driven Life author Rick Warren, breaking his silence on a law proposed in Uganda that would include the death penalty for aggravated homosexuality.

Christmas in the United States is both a secular and sacred holiday. There’s the hustle and bustle of shopping, parties and family gatherings, and for Christians, it is perhaps the holiest time of the year.

Sometimes that creates conflict between businesses that, for commercial reasons, prefer inclusive holiday greetings over “Merry Christmas” and devout shoppers, who insist that “Jesus is the reason for the season.”

When it comes to observing Christmas, Baptists in the United States can benefit from comparing notes with Baptists in other countries.

So, we contacted well-known and respected Baptist leaders around the world and asked them three questions:

• What is the significance of Christmas in your society?

• In what distinctive ways do Baptists celebrate Christmas?

• What is your favorite thing about Christmas in your country?

Their responses follow. We are deeply grateful to all who contributed, and hope our readers find their submissions both educational and inspirational.

El Salvador

Mauricio Vargas has lived in the United States about 20 years but has family in El Salvador and visits three or four times a year. Recently, he visited the San Vicente region devastated by floods and mudslides associated with Hurricane Ida. While there, he participated in a memorial service for seven children and two adult members of First Baptist Church in San Vicente who died in the tragedy. He has retired as multicultural director for the Missouri Baptist Convention but works part-time as coordinator of the convention’s partnership in El Salvador, which is scheduled to end in two years. He also works part-time as multicultural specialist for Concord Baptist Association in Jefferson City, Mo.

What is the significance of Christmas in El Salvador’s society?

In a word, the coming of Jesus Christ. In a Catholic society, the celebration of Christ’s coming starts early in December with the Posadas—a nine-day festival Dec. 16-24 symbolizing the journey to Bethlehem before Jesus’ birth. Mary and Joseph travel the streets of our city, looking for a place to rest for a night. The following day, they travel to another home and wait for the baby to be born.

People sing praises during the walks, and many times at the end of the journey, families celebrated with drinks and candies.

In what distinctive ways do Baptist churches in El Salvador celebrate Christmas?

I remember well the coming of Christmas because the church began to prepare music, poems and different prayers where children and youth participated. I still remember some of those poems that my teacher asked me to learn. We prepared to celebrate Dec. 24 in the evening service. Our parents provided us with new clothing for the special occasion. After the service, we had tamales and hot chocolate. For me, the best part was that the people from our mission points came to spend the night with us at the church. It was an extended church family celebration.

What is your favorite thing about Christmas in El Salvador?

When I was growing up, my sisters were in a Baptist college in Santa Ana. I really looked forward to seeing them coming home. Our church was the center of activities in December, and we really enjoyed being part of the Christmas plays and music. We did not receive many toys, but we always had some home cooking that my mother did, like special turkey and sweet tamales. Family has been important to me, so to see all my three sisters and two brothers was a celebration that we still have as family.

Australia

Rod Benson is an ethicist and public theologian with the Tinsley Institute based at Morling College in Sydney, Australia. He is a former church planter and pastor. He is married with three sons and attends Dural Baptist Church

What is the significance of Christmas in Australian society?

Australia lies south of the equator, and Christmas falls in the middle of summer. The weather can be sweltering, there is often bush fire smoke in the air, and winter Christmas traditions seem strangely out of place. Yet most Australians persevere with the traditional trappings of the festive season.

Although secularists and multiculturalists have tried to abolish public expressions of the Christian tradition of Christmas in Australia, in recent years there has been plenty of evidence that Jesus is the reason for the season. Nativity scenes appear in shopping malls, homes are adorned with Christmas lights, people say “Happy Christmas” to one another, and there are nationally televised Christmas concerts featuring traditional carols and an implicit evocation of the biblical incarnation narrative.

In what distinctive ways do Baptist churches in Australia celebrate Christmas?

For Australian Baptists, Christmas is a time for spiritual formation, outreach and community service. For example, Small Boat Big Sea, an innovative missional community based on Sydney’s northern beaches, kicked off Advent with a labyrinth service, and the next two Sunday services will address different aspects of waiting on Jesus.

Blakehurst Baptist Church, a Sydney suburban church, will host a “stations of Christmas” event where participants walk from house to house as elements of the Christmas story are presented in drama and song.

Kenmore Baptist Church, a large Brisbane church, presented a contemporary version of the Christmas story set to adapted lyrics from pop songs such as “I’m All Shook Up” and “Graceland,” emphasizing God’s gracious intervention in human history to save us.

Dural Baptist Church, of which I am a member, has a range of Christmas activities, including three fund-raising projects. We will help develop Futsal, a small-court soccer program, in Solomon Islands, building a stronger sense of community through sport. Dural introduced Futsal to the Solomons in 2001.

We also will contribute to a Baptist World Aid Australia capacity building project in Solomon Islands focused on employment, HIV/AIDS education and teacher training. And we will support a Baptist World Aid Australia project in Cambodia, providing microfinance to help people disabled by landmines to achieve economic independence.

Away from church, there also are opportunities for meaningful outreach. A friend of mine directs an antenatal ward in a major Sydney hospital, and this Christmas commissioned a series of scenes from children’s stories for the hospital—The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, The Wind in the Willows and Little Women.

What is your favorite thing about Christmas in Australia?

What I love most about Christmas, apart from the delicious rest and food, is a fresh awareness of the depth and extravagance of God’s love, and the reminder that with God the impossible becomes history. Christmas never fails to deliver.

Germany

Klaus Rösler and his daughter, Marie.

Klaus Rösler, 52, works as an editor for various Christian magazines and press services, including the European Baptist Press Service, a department of the European Baptist Federation.

What is the significance of Christmas in German society?

In German society, Christmas is above all a feast for the family and a feast of peace. It involves two holidays (the 25th and the 26th). The reason behind Christmas—that Jesus, the Son of God, came to earth—has largely been forgotten.

Nevertheless, the Christmas services in Lutheran and Catholic churches have the highest annual attendance by far. It’s a long-time tradition for many to go to church at Christ-mas—but never otherwise. For trade and commerce, Christmas is—of course—vital, for it is the time when we give each other gifts. Twenty percent of a store’s business is done only during November and December. On toys, it amounts to 30 percent. The Christmas rush begins in grocery stores as early as September, when chocolate and gingerbread Santas begin to appear on the shelves.

In December, Germany’s cities and villages are blanketed by thousands of lights, which exude a romantic atmosphere. Every town has a Christmas market consisting of small stalls smelling of hot wine punch (Glühwein), bratwurst and holiday pastries. And most German households will have a Christmas tree, which are to be more expensive this year than ever before. Last year, a yard-high tree cost roughly $30 U.S.

In what distinctive ways do Baptist churches in Germany celebrate Christmas?

This question is tough to answer, for one cannot speak of “the Baptists” in Germany. We support a broad range of theological convictions with very different ways of expressing faith.

Some congregations use Christmas as a time for evangelistic campaigns. Becoming increasingly popular are “living mangers,” in which the Christmas story is portrayed by real people. Before Christmas, youth groups and church choirs sing in homes for the elderly and hospitals.

The biggest event of all is Christmas Eve. Then, choirs and orchestras perform with additional manger games and activities for children. Baptist services also are well attended on Christmas Eve, though there usually are not many more in attendance than for other services. As a rule, during the course of an entire year, Baptist congregations are better-attended than Lutheran or Catholic ones.

Many Baptist congregations have no services whatever on the 25th and 26th. Other congregations hold special events for singles. Christmas being a family feast leaves not a few people lonely. Such persons are then invited to visit a Baptist congregation. Other congregations offer special events for the homeless and itinerate.

What is your favorite thing about Christmas in Germany?

Christmas is important to me as a celebration for the family. We have a seriously-handicapped or impaired daughter, Marie, age 16. She suffered cerebral bleeding 11 years ago and has been in a coma and living in a children’s care center ever since. The remaining family visits her every year at Christmas—that is, her older sister Lara, 19, we as the parents and often also the grandparents. We sing Christmas songs for her, take her for a walk in her wheelchair and play games. We often have the impression Marie notices that her family is there, and she is glad about that. That is then a very special present for us, for which we are very thankful to God.

Zimbabwe

Isaac Mwase

Isaac Mwase is currently a cancer prevention fellow with the NIH National Cancer Institute in Bethesda, Md. Previously, he taught at Tuskegee University and Ouachita Baptist University. A native of Zimbabwe, Mwase was a pastor and editor there before coming to the United States. He earned a bachelor’s degree at Gardner-Webb University and master’s and a doctorate from Southwestern Baptist Theological Seminary. He returned to his homeland as a visiting instructor at the Baptist Theological Seminary of Zimbabwe in the summer of 1992.

What is the significance of Christmas in Zimbabwe’s society?

Zimbabwe’s society is just as diverse as other societies. For Christians, Christmas was a time when I was reminded—and as a young preacher, I participated in the reminding of others—to put Christ back into Christmas. I remember gathering at a church or at the Baptist conference center to celebrate Christ’s coming into the world as our Lord and Savior. We prayed a lot. We were part of all night prayer meetings. Other Christmases and for many outside the church, it was a time to get a new set of clothing and shoes, a time to eat the bird for special occasions—free range chicken. The cold Fantas, sparkling lemon, ginger beer and Coca-Cola sodas pleasured our palates to no end.

In what distinctive ways do Baptist churches in Zimbabwe celebrate Christmas?

It just occurred to me that I have not been in Zimbabwe for Christmas since 1983. Back then, we spent Christmases at the Baptist camp in Gweru—the young people, that is. In Dotson/Nyathi Hall, named after the first Southern Baptist missionary and the first national Baptist pastor, we would seek to draw closer to God through energetic choruses and fire-and-brimstone preaching. Sometimes we would spend the whole night in prayers.

What is your favorite memory about Christmas in Zimbabwe?

The abundance of food and cold sodas in just about every home, even those known to be populated by the working poor and the willingness to share these simple pleasures of life with whoever showed up. Christmas allowed us to experience an abundant life of sorts. The sharing and caring was heavenly.

Canada

Lois Mitchell

Lois Mitchell is justice initiatives coordinator for Canadian Baptist Ministries, a national partnership of four Baptist conventions and unions serving more than 1,000 Baptist congregations and 250,000 people who worship across Canada in 32 languages.

What is the significance of Christmas in Canadian society?

Canada is an intentionally and proudly multicultural and pluralistic society. Religious freedom is unambiguously embedded in the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. However, many Canadian Christians feel increasingly marginalized by the political correctness of inclusion and diversity.

In recent years, it has become inconsiderate and a breach of multiculturalism to use time-honored and traditional Christmas language. Thus, for example, it’s more acceptable to say “Happy Holidays” or “Seasons Greetings” than “Merry Christmas.” Similarly, a “Christmas Tree” is now a “Holiday Tree,” and Christmas music is a mix of traditional carols and an increasing array of non-Christian songs of cheer. Nativity scenes are generally not welcome in public places, although they’re fine in private homes or in churches.

The Christmas season, though enthusiastically celebrated, has been thoroughly secularized. It’s all about shopping and gift giving, culinary indulgence, festive adornments—both inside and out—and shifting the emphasis from busyness as usual, to busyness with an added social emphasis with family, friends and co-workers.

In spite of the individualism of our society and our time, there remains a spirit of “good will”—communities of all sizes and political persuasion find creative ways to encourage charitable giving for the sake of the “less fortunate among us.”

The Christmas season begins for many in mid-November and extends into the New Year. As Christmas Day approaches, there is an expectation that families will spend the holiday together, but with the dramatic increase in the rate of family breakdown in Canada, this is more and more challenging. Cards are still exchanged, but more and more people resort to digital communication, sending greetings and family updates by e-mail.

In what distinctive ways do Baptist churches in Canada celebrate Christmas?

Perhaps because of the excessive commercialization of Christmas in secular society and the efforts to neutralize the Christian message of the season, Baptists in Canada seem to be making efforts to reclaim the holiday. While gift giving still is practiced, there has been a real shift toward giving to the poor and marginalized, both locally and globally. More and more churches are involved in compassionate ministries in their own communities and, through the proliferation of gift-giving options for overseas projects through Christian charities, many Baptists now give a significant portion of their personal gift-giving budgets in the form of donations to these organizations.

Traditions such as Christmas concerts and musicals and special Christmas Eve services still play a prominent role in many—perhaps most—Baptist churches in Canada. There also seems to be a renewed interest—especially in small towns and rural areas—in caroling in the neighborhood—going from house to house and singing Christmas carols, especially to those who are shut-ins.

What is your favorite thing about Christmas in Canada?

My favorite thing about Christmas in Canada is the general sense of goodwill that permeates both secular society and the church. Despite the commercialization—and maybe in a weird way partly because of it—that is, when shopping produces an artificial “high” that causes a short-term elevation of mood—there seems to be a deep sense of community and care for one another. For a few weeks, an emphasis on peace and goodwill pierces through the otherwise callous drive for self-fulfilment and personal prosperity.

Great Britain

Mark Woods

Mark Woods is editor of The Baptist Times, a weekly newspaper associated with the Baptist Union of Great Britain.

What is the significance of Christmas in the United Kingdom?

Christmas in the United Kingdom is dominated by commercial interests, as it is everywhere in the developed world. It sometimes seems that there’s a race between retailers to see who can get their Christmas merchandise and decorations up soonest; it seems to have crept back as far as late November nowadays, and the widespread irritation this causes still doesn’t stop them doing it.

Like many European countries, the church in the U.K. is swimming against a secularist tide, quite a lot of it very aggressive and vocal. A popular book this year is The Atheist’s Guide to Christmas. And generally, church attendance at Christmas seems to be declining, though it’s still much higher than at other times. Interestingly, attendance at our great cathedrals has risen consistently year by year.

Churches and parachurch agencies make a concerted effort at this time to reach out to people who don’t normally attend. This year there’s a national ad campaign using billboards and bus shelters, for in-stance, and many churches will carry out their own neighborhood invitation programs as well. We try to make sure that services are seeker-friendly, with mixture of welcome and challenge.

Many churches would have a Carols by Candlelight service, where the old favorites are sung. Some would have midnight communions. Often, the young people will visit elderly members of the congregation or local care homes to sing for them. And many churches will have an outward-looking focus, caring for homeless people or inviting people without families of their own to meals.

On Christmas Day itself, children often are invited to bring one of their gifts to church and show it to the congregation. The service will be short, probably around 45 minutes, and include lots of singing and a short address.

What is your favorite thing about Christmas in the United Kingdom?

As a pastor, I prepared literally hundreds of Christmas messages over the years. But I never found that the old story grew stale, or that I ran out of things to say about what that quintessentially English poet, John Betjeman, said about “that most tremendous tale of all”—“that God was man in Palestine/And lives today in bread and wine.”

Korea

Billy Kim is pastor emeritus of Suwon Central Baptist Church in South Korea and the first Asian to serve as president of the Baptist World Alliance, a position he held from 2000 to 2005.

What is the significance of Christmas in Korean society?

“The Best Gift from God,” a musical drama portraying the birth of Christ, was the premier performance of “The Living Christmas Tree” in Korea in 2004.

Christmas is called “Sung-Tan-Jul” in Korean.

Korea’s Christmas began at the beginning of the 20th century. It was introduced in Korea by the Christian missionaries from Western countries, and for many years, the only people who celebrated it were those who had turned to the Christian faith. But now, Christmas becomes one of a few holidays that are celebrated in Korea, and not only Christians are enjoying this holiday, but also non-Christians.

Many Western customs in observing Christmas have been adopted by Koreans. Besides exchanging gifts, they decorate their houses with colorful lights and ornaments, and in some places there are even community Christmas trees. During the holiday season, the Salvation Army rings the bells in front of their red kettles, as well.

One of common traditions to Korea is ‘‘Christmas cakes.’’ Generally, people buy the cakes and light candles to celebrate Christmas. Artists and entertainers run Christmas-related shows and Christmas-themed performances.

Most churches will have their own special Christmas worship service on Christmas morning and on Christmas Eve, too. Lots of church activities are going on Christmas season, including children’s night, volunteering work and music program like Christmas cantatas and choir concerts.

Indeed, Korea’s Christmas customs are similar to other, Western, countries. However, there is no special meal for Christmas in Korea.

In what distinctive ways do Baptist churches in your country celebrate Christmas?

There is no particular distinctiveness among Christian denominations in Korea.

What is your favorite thing about Christmas in your country?

Korean orchestra celebrates Christmas.

Christmas, especially in Korea, has become associated with love and mercy, so that people usually take good care of the poor, especially during this season.

Poland

Daniël Trusiewicz of Poland oversees the European Baptist Federation’s Indigenous Missionaries Project, an effort to facilitate evangelism and planting new Baptist churches in Europe, the Middle East and Central Asia.

What is the significance of Christmas in Polish society?

Christmas is preceded by the four weeks of Advent. The culmination of Advent is Christmas Eve. Families gather around the festal table for a special meal. The food can be served only when the first star can be visible in the sky. People start this meal by breaking a wafer bread—a piece of flat and white bread—and exchanging good wishes. It is also important to be reconciled with each other.

After that, people eat a semi-vegetarian meal composed of several dishes. A red beetroot soup, dumplings filled with cabbage, different types of fish, fruit drink and poppy seeds cake would be particularly popular. Meat is not allowed on that night. One place at the Christmas Eve table must be free for a potential guest. This is a symbol of hospitality and openness to an invisible presence of the One who once was rejected when he came to this earth from heaven.

After the meal, people sing carols and give gifts to each other. All gifts are laid at a Christmas tree, and children always wait impatiently for the moment of unwrapping them. This is practiced in order to remember that God had sent his Son as the gift to humankind. At midnight, the Roman Catholics attend a Christmas Mass.

In what distinctive ways do Baptist churches in Poland celebrate Christmas?

Daniël Trusiewicz (center), who oversees the European Baptist Federation’s Indigenous Missionaries Project, enjoys a Christmas dinner with his family

Baptists would practice the same rituals as Catholics, except for the midnight Mass.

Most of Baptist churches would have a family service with children singing carols, reciting poems or acting the Nativity stories according to the Bible. Children often get gifts in churches that are prepared by Sunday schools. Sermons during Christmas would be based on the stories about birth of the Savior, and carols would be sung in churches.

What is your favorite thing about Christmas in Poland?

I personally like that Christmas is a family reunion. People try to be reconciled for this occasion and are even more friendly than usual. I think it is really important that Christmas can be celebrated, because it reminds us of the Savior who became man so that sinners may have eternal life.

Russia

William Yoder is media spokesperson and liaison to the English- and German-speaking communities in the external relations department of the Russian Union of Evangelical Christians-Baptists.

What is the significance of Christmas in Russian society?

William Yoder, who works with the Russian Union of Evangelical Christians-Baptists, enjoys family time with his wife, Galina, and their granddaughter, Isabella.

Russians are only now relearning Christmas. There was no official Christmas holiday in Russia between 1925 and 1992. Its reintroduction also is greatly hampered by the fact that Christmas, the New Year and usually also Easter need to be celebrated twice. Lenin adopted the Western, Gregorian calendar—introduced in 1582—in 1918, but the Orthodox Church continues to celebrate by the Julian one, which presently has Dec. 25 falling on what the Western calendar regards as Jan. 7. Presently, the Julian calendar—introduced in 45 B.C.—is 13 days behind the Gregorian one.

As a consequence of the Soviet era, New Year’s—the Gregorian, worldwide one—remains the biggest celebration of the year. Dec. 25 is not an official holiday in Russia, and most Russian celebration occurs in the first two weeks of January. Add that the Russia economy grinds to a halt between the days of the New Years (Jan. 1) and the “Old New Years” celebrations on Jan. 14.

In what distinctive ways do Baptist churches in Russia celebrate Christmas?

The churches of Western origin, which remain primarily the homes of ethnic minorities—the Catholics, Lutherans and Mennonites, for example—celebrate almost exclusively on Dec. 25. Others, like the Baptists, who stress their Russianness, celebrate twice. How Baptists manage the calendar spaghetti is dependent upon the creativity of the local Baptist leadership. A friend reports that in his Baptist church, the last hours before midnight on both Dec. 24 and Dec. 31 are spent in church on one’s knees in prayer.

In his Baptist congregation, the family celebration occurs on the evening of the 24th, and the year’s most special church service occurs on the 25th. Baptists often use Jan. 7 as an opportunity to evangelize, attempting to invite persons off the street to attend a church event that day. Caroling is done on the street on the evening of Dec. 24 or Jan. 6. This occurred even during the late Soviet period, but the caroling was done on-the-move without remaining at one location in order to minimize difficulties with the authorities.

What is your favorite thing about Christmas in Russia?

  Christmas gifts remain modest in Russia; there is no month-long shopping spree to speak of. Advent, the last four Sundays prior to Christmas, also is rarely commemorated. But there are gifts for Baptist children on the evening of the 24th, and this is indeed the most special time of the year for the vast majority of Baptist children and their parents.

The evening of Jan. 6 is a terrific time for Baptists like me to visit an Orthodox church. It’s their version of an all-night hymn sing: The candles glow and the drawn-out, almost sad and highly melodious music of the Orthodox tradition reverberates until late in the morning hours. Indeed, the same occurs at Orthodox Easter.

Italy

Anna Maffei is president of the Christian Evangelical Baptist Union of Italy, which includes 116 churches and a total of 6,200 members.

What is the significance of Christmas in Italian society?

Christmas is the feast of the family in Italy. It is felt very much as the occasion for the extended family to meet together starting from the evening of Dec. 24. Special meals are prepared and shared. There is exchange of gifts and visiting. Before Christmas, one tries to reach the highest number of relatives and friends by phone or mail to exchange information and wishes.

In our country, which is massively and culturally a Catholic country, even those who never attend the Mass may choose to attend a special Mass, either on Dec. 24—the midnight Mass—or on Dec. 25.

Of course, before Christmas there is a lot of shopping going on, the same as it happens everywhere in the Western world.

In what distinctive ways do Baptist churches in Italy celebrate Christmas?

The Baptists celebrate Christmas in a similar way as the others but concentrate more on the Christian meaning of the feast. It is not only a family reunion holiday, but also a community feast when we try to welcome the lonely people or immigrants and be family for them. We may eat together, for instance, or play together a special Christmas play. Christmas is also the children feast and many churches organize plays on nativity or other subjects in which to engage mainly children. In many churches choirs sing gospel songs and carols.

What is your favorite thing about Christmas in Italy?

The atmosphere, the warmth of the family, the celebration of being together and the good food!

NASHVILLE, Tenn.—Throughout his December concerts, Christian recording artist Chris Tomlin is seeking to do more than spread Yuletide cheer. He wants young worshippers to find new meaning in traditional Christmas carols. 

“The lyrics of these songs are so beautiful, and the stories behind these songs are so amazing,” Tomlin said. “They are some of the greatest songs ever written.

“I hope it brings people back to the heart of the way these traditional Christ-mas songs were written. They are songs of worship. … Too many times, we just go through the motions when we sing these songs, because we have been singing them for so many years and take them for granted.”

As a way to encourage worshippers to reflect on the reason for the season, Tomlin released his first Christmas CD, Glory in the Highest. The CD includes familiar classics such as “Hark! The Herald Angels Sing,” “O, Holy Night” and “O, Come All Ye Faithful,” as well as a few new songs. Tomlin also added a refrain to “Joy to the World.”

Recording the CD, Tomlin wanted to capture the atmosphere of a live worship experience. He invited more than 200 people, including worship leaders and radio programmers from across the country, to sing on the project.

“I thought it would be really special to capture people worshipping God with these songs,” he said. 

“I had never done a recording like that, so I didn’t know how it would work, but it turned out amazing. I love to hear people singing these songs. From the very first note, it’s like, ‘Wow, this is something really different.’”

Tomlin hopes congregations can be successful in incorporating traditional Christmas songs—and a few new ones—into worship services.

“This is a time of year when people are attending a worship service for the very first time or maybe they haven’t attended in a long time and decide to return,” he noted.

“There’s something about Christmas songs that opens up people’s hearts and has everybody wanting to sing. Whether it’s at church or carolers on the street, people are eager to sing. This is a wonderful opportunity to take that desire to sing and enter into a time when everyone is singing together and worshipping God.”

“When most people think about the King of Kings coming to this earth, they assume that he would be treated like royalty with a palace and the most skilled attendants,” Tomlin said.

“While he deserved all that and so much more, he was born in the most humble of places—a manger.

“The fact that Christ would enter our world in such a strange and humble way, to fulfill a redemptive plan that was set in motion before the beginning of time really blows my mind. Fully God and fully man is hard to comprehend but beautiful in knowing that he not only created us, but has felt, sensed, touched, heard and seen just like we have in human form.

“With these songs, we’re proclaiming that Christ has come, entered this world and made a way for us. That is our reason for singing these songs and giving glory to God in the highest.”