Natal adalah perayaan Kristen dari kelahiran Yesus Kristus yang diadakan setiap tahun pada 25 Desember. Disamping sejarahnya selama berabad-abad, perayaan tersebut telah menjadi bahan dari beberapa reformasi, baik relijius maupun sekuler.

Sebuah edisi tahun 1931 dari majalah Uni Soviet Bezbozhnik, terbitan Liga Ateis Militan, menggambatkan seorang imam Gereja Ortodoks dilarang untuk membawa pulang sebuah pohon untuk perayaan Natal, yang dilarang di bawah doktrin ateisme negara Marxis–Leninis.[1]

Pada abad ke-17, Puritan memiliki hukum melarang perayaan Natal, tak seperti Gereja Katolik atau Gereja Anglikan.[2] Dengan Kultus Akal Budi yang bersifat ateistik memegang kekuasaan pada era Revolusi Prancis, ibadah Natal Kristen dilarang dan kue tiga raja secara paksa berganti nama menjadi "kue kesetaraan" di bawah kebijakan-kebijakan pemerintahan yang anti-rohaniwan.[3][4] Kemudian, pada abad ke-20, perayaan Natal dilarang di bawah doktrin ateisme negara di Uni Soviet.[5][6] Di Jerman Nazi, agama terorganisir secara keseluruhan diserang sebagai musuh negara dan perayaan Natal dirusak agar sejalan dengan ideologi rasis dari Partai tersebut.[7]

Kontroversi saat ini, yang diasosiasikan dengan pemakaian istilah "perang terhadap Natal", umum terjadi di negara-negara seperti Amerika Serikat,[8][9] Kanada,[10][11] dan Britania Raya.[12] Beberapa penentang mengecam istilah generik "hari raya" dan menghindari pemakaian istilah "Natal" dalam rangka pembenaran politik.[12][13][14]

Referensi

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  1. ^ Kesalahan pengutipan: Tag <ref> tidak sah; tidak ditemukan teks untuk ref bernama Harper1999
  2. ^ Lowe, Scott C. (2011). Christmas. John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 1444341456. On the mainland, seventeenth-century Puritan New England had laws forbidding the observance of Christmas. The Christian groups who broke with the Catholic Church and the Church of England deemphasized Christmas in the early colonial period. 
  3. ^ Christmas in France (dalam bahasa English). World Book Encyclopedia. 1996. hlm. 35. ISBN 9780716608769. Carols were altered by substituting names of prominent political leaders for royal characters in the lyrics, such as the Three Kings. Church bells were melted down for their bronze to increase the national treasury, and religious services were banned on Christmas Day. The cake of kings, too, came under attack as a symbol of the royalty. It survived, however, for a while with a new name--the cake of equality. 
  4. ^ Mason, Julia (21 December 2015). "Why Was Christmas Renamed 'Dog Day' During the French Revolution?" (dalam bahasa English). HistoryBuff. Diarsipkan dari versi asli tanggal 1 November 2016. Diakses tanggal 31 October 2016. How did people celebrate the Christmas during the French Revolution? In white-knuckled terror behind closed doors. Anti-clericalism reached its apex on 10 November 1793, when a Fête de la Raison was held in honor of the Cult of Reason. Churches across France were renamed "Temples of Reason" and the Notre Dame was "de-baptized" for the occasion. The Commune spared no expense: "The first festival of reason, which took place in Notre Dame, featured a fabricated mountain, with a temple of philosophy at its summit and a script borrowed from an opera libretto. At the sound of Marie-Joseph Chénier's Hymne à la Liberté, two rows of young women, dressed in white, descended the mountain, crossing each other before the 'altar of reason' before ascending once more to greet the goddess of Liberty." As you can probably gather from the above description, 1793 was not a great time to celebrate Christmas in the capital. 
  5. ^ Connelly, Mark (2000). Christmas at the Movies: Images of Christmas in American, British and European Cinema. I.B.Tauris. hlm. 186. ISBN 9781860643972. A chapter on representations of Christmas in Soviet cinema could, in fact be the shortest in this collection: suffice it to say that there were, at least officially, no Christmas celebrations in the atheist socialist state after its foundation in 1917. 
  6. ^ Goldberg, Carey (7 January 1991). "A Russian Christmas—Better Late Than Never : Soviet Union: Orthodox Church Celebration Is the First Under Communists. But, as with Most of Yeltsin's Pronouncements, the Holiday Stirs a Controversy". Los Angeles Times. Diakses tanggal 14 December 2015. For the first time in more than seven decades, Christmas—celebrated today by Russian Orthodox Christians—is a full state holiday across Russia's vast and snowy expanse. As part of Russian Federation President Boris N. Yeltsin's ambitious plan to revive the traditions of Old Russia, the republic's legislature declared last month that Christmas, long ignored under atheist Communist ideology, should be written back into the public calendar. 'The Bolsheviks replaced crosses with hammers and sickles,' said Vyacheslav S. Polosin, head of the Russian legislature's committee on religion. 'Now they are being changed back.' 
  7. ^ Kesalahan pengutipan: Tag <ref> tidak sah; tidak ditemukan teks untuk ref bernama Perry2015
  8. ^ Bazar, Emily (1 December 2005). "Trimming 'Christmas' from Trees Stirs Debate". USA Today. Diakses tanggal 11 August 2008. 
  9. ^ Bishop, Tricia (24 November 2006). "Stores Revert to 'Merry Christmas'". Chicago Tribune. Diarsipkan dari versi asli tanggal 2007-03-12. Diakses tanggal 5 December 2006. 
  10. ^ "Concert Goes Ahead Despite Controversy over Change to Christmas Lyrics". National Post. Diarsipkan dari versi asli tanggal 29 January 2013. Diakses tanggal 28 July 2008. 
  11. ^ "Premier Appeals for Tolerance in Courthouse Christmas Tree Debate". CBC News. 21 December 2006. Diarsipkan dari versi asli tanggal 3 February 2008. Diakses tanggal 11 August 2008. 
  12. ^ a b "The Brits Have It Right: Forget Happy Holidays, Just Wish People Merry Christmas". The Guardian. London. 16 June 2015. 
  13. ^ Jankowski, Paul (16 June 2015). "Is Saying 'Merry Christmas' Politically Correct? Who Cares?". Forbes. 
  14. ^ "If We Can't Say 'Merry Christmas' in Canada, Multiculturalism Failed". The Huffington Post. 16 June 2015. 

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