The denominational world tries to pressure its members to focus on the birth of Christ, but in doing so layers of guilt are imposed, and competition gets complicated as one Christmas program tries to outdo the other.

Clayton’s remark criticizes how religious institutions can turn a theological focus (the birth of Christ) into a social obligation enforced by communal pressure. He suggests that once observance becomes a measure of loyalty or spirituality, it produces guilt in those who cannot—or choose not to—participate at the expected level. The reference to Christmas programs “outdoing” one another frames holiday worship as a kind of performative competition, where spectacle and comparison displace devotion. In this reading, the quote is less an attack on Christ’s birth than on institutional dynamics that convert celebration into status, anxiety, and one-upmanship.