Is the mixing of commerce and religion a bad thing?

NEW York -- Valentine's Day recently came and went.

Other than homeward-bound prosaics carrying flowers, my most memorable sighting on this twenty-four hours dedicated to love -- an ancient birthrate festival rebranded for Christian sufferers -- was a clerk outside the Lady Godiva shop retention a $65 heart-shaped box of chocolates. His tongueless reminder of duty spoke loudly.

Next up in the intertwining of commercialism and faith will be Easter, a twenty-four hours still alive on the Christian church calendar and a bonanza for merchandisers selling candy, flowers and brunch.

Then come ups a long enchantment when the balance shifts, when Christian Religion makes small that asks for commercialization. (What merchandise implores to be sold on Whitsunday or Three Sunday?) Commercial attending displacements to mothers, graduates, fathers and, of course, summertime fun.

Following the marketplace's lead, the typical Christian church adapts its rhythm: discourses about Mom, words of farewell to graduates, a little nod to Dad, and "summer schedule," a self-defeating grading back that happens at precisely the clip many newcomers are church-shopping.

Some position this intertwining of commercialism and faith with disdain.

Their incredulity attains its extremum at the perfect violent storm of Christmas: ancient solstice festival, Christian dramatic and the merchandising season that brands or interruptions our consumer economy.

Others say, "So what?" Religion is always contextual. For centuries, Christian Religion propped up empires, feudalistic fiefdoms, colonial exploitation, kid labor, slavery, loyal ardor and societal conformity. What's wrong with offering a impermanent baptism to Mother's Day?

I be given toward the latter view. Even when the Christian church that is sensitive to linguistic context impetuses into pandering, it is tracking with people's lives. So it might be unfastened to their angst, joys, necessitates and hungriness for Supreme Being in day-to-day life. After all, the coincident of Graduation Day and the Day of Whitsunday preaches nicely.

The challenge isn't how to avoid a culture's commercial festivals, but how to convey the Gospels to bear on that culture's dark sides.

The collapse of public education, for example, shouldn't be just a concern for parents and for employers; it should be a cause for Christian witness, because public instruction is the land on which our democracy stands. If upward mobility stalls and the multitude go unemployable, our current impetus into predatory plutocracy will worsen.

The collapse of electoral political relation into money-grubbing, image-over-substance and the use of "race cards" and "gender cards" should be a cause for Christian witness, too. This isn't about conservative vs. liberal. It is about quality of leadership, comprehensiveness of vision, inspiration of citizens and our critical demand to put community and civility at least equal to self-interest.

Although "family values" became codification linguistic communication for bashing homosexuals and lesbians, the existent collapse and coarsening of household life should be a cause for Christian witness. Children demand to be loved. Partners demand to be faithful. Homes demand to be centered in something more life-giving than appliances and entertainment.

Loneliness, anonymity, unaffordable lifestyles, lives turned inward and other unintended effects of urban/suburban civilization should be a cause for Christian witness.

Toy bunny girls bearing the label "Easter" are the least of our concerns.