Quotes from Gerry Bowler

The Glasgow kirk in 1583 ordered excommunication for those who kept Christmas, and in 1593 the minister at Errol equated carol singing with fornication. The commission of such sins at Christmas need not even have been public. In a number of Scottish towns ministers were known to go door-to-door on Christmas Day to ensure that families were not feasting.

The Gift-Bringer has ceased to be Dutch or Catholic or, indeed, of any particular ethnic or religious affiliation, owing no allegiance to Europe, the pope, or the past.

Gamaliel Bradford that "sacred as both are, the law of love is higher than the law of truth. For this there is a perfectly simple and unassailable reason, that truth at its best is deceiving, but love is never. We toil and tire ourselves and sacrifice our lives for the dim goddess Truth. Then she eludes us, slips away from us, mocks at us. But love grows firmer and surer and more prevailing as the years pass by.

Though the Church authorities were clearly interested in trying to impose a tighter moral discipline on society, they were never completely successful in extinguishing popular culture's hold on Christmas celebrations.44

One of the chief spiritual lessons of Christmas for Christian believers is the notion of social inversion, the world turned upside down. We can see this in the appearance of the incarnated God in a manger—an animal feeding trough—rather than a palace, and in the angelic first announcement of this miraculous birth to lowly shepherds rather than princes. The

Puritans had sought to eliminate Christmas mince pies as "idolatry in crust"; the minions of the French Revolution came down hard on bakers who dared term their Epiphany treats "Galette des rois" in honor of the Three Kings. Didn't they know France was now a regicide nation with no time for royalty? "King Cakes" perforce became "Liberty Cakes

reforms to Christmas behaviors were in part driven by fear of class conflict and a desire to tame customs that, despite their connection to the birth of the Prince of Peace, had become violent, confrontational, and an excuse for manifesting divisions of religion, ethnic origin, and social status.

Why is it that liquor flows more freely at this time of year than any other? Why is it that there are more automobile accidents during the "holiday season" than at any other time?

the motto "Shop less, live more, save the earth," the team at Operation Noah, anxious about climate change, is promoting a series of events throughout Advent encouraging people to experience Advent in its traditional sense—as a period of "quiet reflection and eager anticipation for the birth of Christ" rather than a time to buy and consume.

the "advertising lords" of Madison Avenue who "had reduced Christmas to a carnival of mass marketing.

Worship Fully, Spend Less, Give More, and Love All.

What the defenders of Christmas were doing was not keeping harmless old customs but rather perpetuating paganism and idolatry.