Nowhere in the article does the author suggest that a cross necklace could be an instrument of personal devotion — no, the object must be a social statement.
The New York Times offered readers an especially scrumptious, cosmopolitan treat this week — an article that explains to its erudite readers why Americans, especially American women, are wearing a new, trendy pendant out and about town. The article, titled “A Hot Accessory, at the Intersection of Faith and Culture,” strives to explain to readers why the cross necklace is “in vogue” — and why someone might wear one.
The author, Misty White Sidell, primarily covers shopping and fashion trends for the metropolitan outlet, although it seems religion is now also part of her purview. She opens the article with an anecdote from Arianna Salerno, a former intern for Senator Cory Booker and current Catholic University college student. Sidell writes that Salerno “says she noticed an uptick of [cross necklaces] each time she takes the Metro, and they are now a regular presence on Capitol Hill.”
While I would wager that Trump 2.0 has more professing Christians in his ranks than Biden ever did — and more necklace-wearing women in top positions — cross necklaces, in and of themselves, are not a political statement.
My favorite part of Sidell’s article is when she tries to explain what a cross is to NYT readers:
The cross, a symbol most associated with the crucifixion of Jesus Christ, first emerged during the Roman Empire when it was an instrument of mass torture, said Robert Covolo, a theologian and associate pastor at Christ Church Sierra Madre near Los Angeles.
The qualifications here are delicious — saying the cross is a symbol “most associated” with the crucifixion of Jesus Christ is like saying the “Star-Spangled Banner” is a symbol “most associated” with America. Even the origin of the cross’s meaning cannot be taken for granted among NYT readers. (You can just hear a Times editor asking Sidell to source the symbol’s meaning from an “expert.”)
Sidell continues,
Over centuries, the cross evolved as a signpost of the moral compass one shares with fellow Christians and a kind of talisman with deeply personal significance.
She describes the cross as an object of foreign intrigue, a “talisman,” like the Crystal Skull from Indiana Jones or the infamous ring from The Lord of the Rings.
To top it off, Sidell writes that a cross necklace’s
cultural meaning can be harder to define as the symbol now seems to vary in interpretation across geography, church affiliation and even — to a growing extent — political value systems.
Who is going to tell her that Christians, for centuries, have fought over differing church affiliations and political value systems? (Thirty Years’ War, anyone?)
Nowhere in the article does the author suggest that a cross necklace could be an instrument of personal devotion — no, the object must be a social statement. Sidell writes:
Many still wear their [cross necklaces] as a straightforward declaration of their faith and as an expression of communion with other believers.
While typing this piece, I keep reaching for the cross pendant I wear daily — not as a political declaration of my faith to the world, but as a tactile reminder to pray. (It seems neither the author nor her editor actually know any practicing Christians.)
To her credit, Sidell doesn’t totally sideline cross necklaces as MAGA neckwear. She writes:
On red carpets, on social media, at protests by high-ranking Democrats and in the White House, necklaces with cross pendants are appearing with renewed prevalence. Chappell Roan wore an oversize one to the MTV Video Music Awards in September, and one dangled from Sabrina Carpenter’s neck in the music video for her single “Please Please Please.”
But even there, American rock performers and pop singers have subverted the Christian symbol for decades. Peter Criss, i.e., “The Catman” who played the drums for KISS, also incorporated an oversized cross pendant as a key part of his look. Some 20 years ago, Madonna performed “Live to Tell” while hanging from a giant disco-plated cross and wearing a crown of thorns (a giant screen above her head counted the number of children in Africa who died from AIDS in one year).
Iconic posters of Avril Lavigne depict her wearing oversized gothic cross pendants. Lavigne’s pop-punk style is memorialized on the racks of Hot Topic, where Goth kids can still purchase a slurry of cross-studded belts, necklaces, and navel rings like it’s 2008.
Whether obvious to a New Yorker or not, the symbolism of the cross is simply integrated into American culture — and Western culture, more broadly.
In Jane Austen’s Mansfield Park, the heroine’s brother gives her an amber cross from his time at sea (the pendant sets up an important plot point later in the story). Kate Middleton donned a cross necklace for the Platinum Jubilee and after Queen Elizabeth’s funeral. And, of course, religious leaders like Cardinal Timothy Dolan and Bishop Robert Barron wear large crosses daily as part of their proper garb.
While the number of practicing Christians in the U.S. may fluctuate, the moral foundation of our country has not changed.