Do Muslims in Western countries like US and Norway celebrate Christmas? Is it as a Secular holiday or birth of Jesus. Pew found 73 percent of Hindus and 76 percent of Buddhists surveyed "celebrate Christmas.
Khyati Y. Joshi: Asian Americans and Religion: Pew Study Highlights Hindu, Buddhist Diversity
Pew found 73 percent of Hindus and 76 percent of Buddhists surveyed “celebrate Christmas.” As Pew notes, “holiday celebrations can … entail religious, secular or a mix of both practices.” But even assuming that for most Hindu Americans, “celebrating Christmas” is more about trees and gifts than the Baby Jesus, this is a striking figure. The framers of the Constitution could not have imagined America’s religious diversity today, but they would surely rejoice to see different religious groups celebrating with one another.
These data also provides a window on the American diversity of faiths by illuminating some of the distinctions among non-Christian faiths. Whereas Jewish Americans probably don’t “celebrate Christmas” at a similar rate, this isn’t because Jews are more sensitive or “stronger” in their faith or because Hindus are weaker in theirs or are “assimilating.” Rather, it’s about a theological distinction between the two. For a Jew, “celebrating Christmas” could imply accepting the Christian idea that Jesus was the Messiah sent to fulfill the prophecies in the Tanakh (Hebrew sacred texts). By contrast, the Christmas story does not contradict any similarly central tenet of Hinduism or Buddhism. In the absence of a need for theological exclusivity, Hindus can indeed “celebrate Christmas” without negating their own beliefs.
Pew concludes that Asian American religions are being transformed in the United States. Of course, they are. The development of American Hinduism is being influenced by the dominant culture and shaped by the experiences of young Hindus raised in a Christian milieu. And Asian American religions are also transforming the United States.
In order to advance religious pluralism, the normative nature of Christianity must be acknowledged. We need to stop judging or understanding our neighbors’ faiths based only on what we understand as “religion.”
Perhaps someday, the number of American Christians “celebrating Diwali” (a holiday celebrated not only by 95 percent of American Hindus, but also by 45 percent of non-Hindu Indian Americans) will match the number of Hindus “celebrating Christmas.”
In the meantime, let us relish these new data, while recognizing that avoiding Christian normativity in social science research can help us better meet and discover America’s other religions on their own terms.
