As another lockdown loomed this week and the nation despaired, prime minister Boris Johnson presented us with his Star of Bethlehem. Once again he promised the general public that if we abide by these stifling new measures, we’ll get our reward: Christmas celebrations.
It is a promise that we are tiring of, as we feel our way through this darkness, hoping and praying that a ray of light will miraculously reveal itself. Two weeks ago, a spokesperson for Number Ten spoke of “the ambition to ensure that people may celebrate Christmas as a family this year.” In saying that the new lockdown may be extended beyond 2 December, Michael Gove this week implied that Christmas may be cancelled as a result. And in a press conference on Thursday, Johnson spoke of his hopes that we will all have “as normal a Christmas as possible”.
Would he [Johnson] like to witness the extreme social distancing? The constant cleansing after services? The mask wearing? All factors which are taken far more seriously than virtually anywhere else? – Sir Edward Leigh MP
But this week was the first time that Johnson addressed Christmas with regards to religious communities.
Speaking on behalf of the faithful, Conservative MP Sir Edward Leigh put some questions to Boris Johnson in the House of Commons. Sir Edward, a Roman Catholic, asked the prime minister – himself rumoured to be of Roman leaning – to attend a service in Westminster Cathedral. “Would he [Johnson] like to witness the extreme social distancing? The constant cleansing after services? The mask wearing? All factors which are taken far more seriously than virtually anywhere else? And would he like to respond to Cardinal Vincent Nichols and give him the evidence why there is any possibility – with after all these measures – of religious services spreading Covid?”
The prime minister answered with all of his usual bluff and puff: “I’m so sorry that the faith communities are temporarily [sic] must go through this difficult period of not being able to observe service in the way that they want to. I would like them to. It [lockdown] is only 28 days, Mr Speaker, in the hope I could offer – the candle in the darkness – is that we will, we will, if we get this right, be able to go back to a much normal [sic], something much more like normal, life before Christmas and people will be able to celebrate Christmas in churches and elsewhere across this country”.
The many reasons why “cancelling Christmas” ought to be a cause for celebration in itself have already been discussed on these pages. The brief summary of the argument is that Christmas has become a hideous fanfare that is – for many, if not most – entirely detached from the Birth of Christ. But for practicing Christians of all denominations across England, Johnson’s Christmas bribe may well serve as motivation to abide by his new lockdown regulations.
We will, if we get this right, be able to go back to a much normal [sic], something much more like normal, life before Christmas and people will be able to celebrate Christmas in churches and elsewhere across this country. – Boris Johnson
The promise of reward is one with which Christians can sympathise. We know “the Son of man shall come in the glory of his Father with his angels; and then he shall reward every man according to his works” (Matthew 16:27) and we believe that great will be our reward in heaven.
Johnson’s preference for this carrot and stick approach reminds us less of the promise of eternal glory but is instead more reminiscent of tactics used by despots such as Joseph Stalin (in 1934, the Soviet leader reversed his decision to punish the socialists – the stick – instead welcoming them into the People’s Front Against Fascism and War – the carrot). True to the ambiguous and confusing nature of Johnsonian leadership, the prime minister appears to be offering at once the stick, in the form of imprisonment in our homes, with our church services prohibited and our freedoms restricted, and the carrot – Christmas.
However, Boris’s bluffery leaves Christians and believers of all faiths with no clear answer to Sir Edward Leigh’s final question: “Can he offer us any hope at all?”
Constance Watson is assistant editor of the Catholic Herald.
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