Dear Friends,

The national Muslim-Christian Forum recently put out a statement that said "as Muslims and Christians together" it was "wholeheartedly committed" to the religious recognition of Christian festivals.  "Christmas is a celebration of the birth of Jesus and we wish this significant part of the Christian heritage of this country to remain an acknowledged part of national life...  The desire to secularise religious festivals is offensive to both of our communities."

The statement, signed by the Forum's chairman, Rt Rev David Gillett (Bishop of Bolton), and its vice-chairman, Dr Ataullah Siddiqui, urged society to promote religious freedom.  "Those who use the fact of religious pluralism as an excuse to de-Christianise British society unthinkingly become recruiting agents for the extreme Right.  They provoke antagonism towards Muslims and others by foisting on them an anti-Christian agenda they do not hold."

Bishop Gillett said in a separate article that it was strange that so many public bodies were nervous or dismissive about Christmas when 72 per cent of Britons described themselves as Christian in the 2001 Census.  Any repetition of the efforts by councils to rename Christmas `so as not to offend other faith communities` will "backfire badly" on the Muslim community, he said.  "Sadly it is they who get the blame - and for something they are not saying."

The Muslim leaders stated that they honour Christmas - as indeed they do.  They may not share our beliefs about Jesus being the Son of God, but they acknowledge our faith - not to mention the fact that Jesus is an important prophet for them, mentioned as such in the Koran.

Sadly, as we remember the holy family in their draughty stable in Bethlehem, it is probably also true that many Christian families will not make a point of keeping Christmas together.  This is not true among Christians in southern Europe, or among our Muslim neighbours; indeed, they may well spend more time with their families than many of us do this Christmas - they may not share our beliefs, but it is a public holiday and families often seem more important to others these days.  Why are we so fractured ?

You cannot put right for one day what is wrong all the rest of the year, of course, so we need to try a lot harder all year round.  Mary and Joseph had no option but to be in Bethlehem that first Christmas (for the Roman census), no alternative but to flee to Egypt afterwards, but you can be certain that they sort out any relatives they might have had in Egypt and they definitely returned to all their relatives in Nazareth - Jesus grew up surrounded by folk he was very close to (how else could the events of Luke 2: 41-52 make sense).  Christmas means that God came to us; don't let it be just another day when we can't even get together with one another !

Have a blessed Christmas and a happy New Year !