16 November 2017
The Tesco Advertisement
What are immigrants invited to join?
By John Watson
It is all rather surprising. When I heard that Tesco were being attacked on Twitter over the inclusion of Muslim families in their Christmas advertisement, I not unnaturally supposed that it was the work of Islamic fundamentalists. Some North London ayatollahs, perhaps, long bearded, clad in white robes and furious at the apostasy suggested by their flock’s participation in the great Christian festival, or at least in the excessive materialism which now pollutes it.
As readers will know by now, that wasn’t the case at all. The objections came from Christian parts of the community, angry that their Muslim neighbours should be allowed to participate in an important part of our lives. It is an odd approach, when you think about it. For one thing the celebration of Christmas has not been restricted to believers in the Gospels for many a long year. A huge majority of the population celebrates Christmas and yet only a small number go to church. Should atheists and agnostics be barred from the celebration as well? They are not Christians either.
The truth is of course that Christmas has long had a dual nature. For the practising Christian it is a hugely important religious festival, commemorating the start of the most important life in human history. For others it is merely a tradition, an occasion to celebrate family and friends which, although rooted in religion, has become a part of the secular culture. What possible reason could there be for objecting to the participation of Muslim families, even devout Islamic families, from this part of our national life?
This column often lays stress on the nature of the invitation which Britain extends to its immigrants. It is not an invitation to colonise parts of our cities and to live apart from us there. It is to share in the life we lead, with our values, our traditions and our culture. Of course they will have their own religion. We have no desire to “open windows into men’s souls” any more than did Elizabeth I, nor to start telling them or anyone else what they should or should not believe. Nonetheless, the long term aim must be to increase social integration, and those who sneer at Tesco’s advertisement should reflect on how well their attitudes fit in with that.
Many people find the secularisation of Christmas (and the focus on consumption which it has brought in its wake) offensive, either on religious grounds or because of the emphasis on greed, laziness, couch potatoism and indulgence. Still, like it or not it has become an institution – part of the way in which many of us live – and it is hard to see why immigrants should be excluded from it any more than they are barred from watching football matches or going to parties. If they are not to be barred, why should Tesco not include them in its advertisements?
One cannot help but think that there is a catch twenty-two at the bottom of all this. If you are an immigrant who does not participate in British life, you are criticised for trying to set up some sort of ghetto on British soil. If you do participate then you are indulging in a form of cultural appropriation, linking into a culture where you do not belong. Either way, one set or another of tweeters will be after you and the likelihood is that the two sets of tweeters comprise exactly the same rather nasty sneering people.
Perhaps we should end by going back a couple of millennia to the days when Christ did indeed walk the stony pathways of Palestine. It is way beyond the remit of this column to explain who he was or what he was there to do. One point does, however, stand out from the second chapter of Luke. He was “a light to lighten the Gentiles”, carrying his message beyond those of Jewish blood and out into the wider world. His teachings were for all, whatever their religion. It would be odd indeed to start excluding people from the celebration of his birth, however secularised, merely because they came from the wrong racial group.
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