Why I want #Atheist to celebrate #Christmas.
Posted: December 10, 2013 Filed under: Atheism, Christianity, Christmas, Jesus 7 CommentsI’m likely going to catch hell for this post, but I’ve noticed a few of my favorite Atheist bloggers saying they can’t wait until Christmas is over. And that bums me out because it should be a great time of year for everyone to enjoy. If you don’t believe that Jesus was the son of God, and that he was born of a virgin then that doesn’t upset me at all. In fact, I’m not sure what part of that story I believe to be true, but I do know what I wish it meant to all of us. Do you want to hear my thoughts? Hello? Hello…is this thing still on?
We all know that Jesus was not born on December 25th, and we know that the Christians basically ripped the entire celebration off of the pagans. So in my mind that puts us all on a level playing field. And I understand that some of you may find the CHRIST in Christmas offensive, but you honestly shouldn’t because chances are Jesus never offended you. Yes, many Christians have pissed you off, but don’t let them ruin Christmas for you! In my opinion, the message of Jesus…the message of Christmas is that we need to focus on loving one another. We need find ways to breathe life into one another through encouragement, acceptance, and tolerance. Regardless of whether you see Jesus as a mythological character or a Savior the message is clear…we should pursue peace on earth.
I would love to hear your thoughts…feel free to straighten me out!
Happy Holidays or Merry Christmas! 🙂
religionsuckz.wordpress.com 
Nice post. I’ve never been pissed off that “Christ” was in Christmas (Christ Mass).
But I agree that this time of year can be exceptionally stressful, and people can get very depressed. Heil capitalism. So I don’t fall for the trap. I love the message in The Gift of the Magi” Just beautiful.
Would love to see people pursuing peace on Earth and feeding the poor year round.
The religious bits of Christmas don’t offend me, but they do make me uncomfortable sometimes. I haven’t entirely finished working out what I think about various religious stuff since I became an atheist, whether it’s holidays or music or whatever. Also, Christmas is a whole family thing. I’m not out as an atheist to my entire family, so there’s lots of opportunities for me to be pressured into stuff I don’t want to do, or for me to get put in a spot where I’d have to lie to keep my atheism secret. So yea, even if Christmas is mostly a secular holiday in practice (excepting nativity scenes and most Christmas carols, which are overtly religious), it’s still religious enough to make things significantly less fun for me.
What actually offends me, though, is people whining that there is a “war on Christmas” because some people say “Happy Holidays” instead of assuming that everyone celebrates Christmas, and because some people protest Christmas displays on government property which violate my country’s constitution (separation of church and state and all that). I really cannot wait until people stop whining about the supposed “war on Christmas”.
I’m a choral singer, and so I can’t really avoid the religious aspects, even if I wanted to. My chorus recorded a christmas album this year, so we’ve been rehearsing christmas music since September! My family’s cultural background is christian, even if we’re not religious anymore, so the kids expect the full round of presents, baking, and decorations. Stores start decorating just after Halloween, and then December is one long season of shopping, social events, cooking, shopping, extra rehearsals, concerts, and shopping. By the time the actual holiday comes around I’m so tired ready to drop, but then there’s usually a large meal to be prepared, which also mostly falls to me. I can’t wait until the holiday season over, because it leaves me exhausted. When the kids are grown, it would be cool just to skip all that for a year or two, and spend the holidays sleeping in and eating Chinese.
I like the sparkly decorations and lights, and the music (in moderation), but I don’t want them pushed into every single part of my day for a whole month. It’s nice to have a break, to have a few halls that aren’t decked, to have a few TV shows that aren’t “Rudolph”, to have some music that isn’t the frikkin “Little Drummer Boy” again. (Honestly, drums do NOT go “rum pa pa pum” they go “rat a tat tat”!) But almost every PA system is playing christmas music, and it’s the SAME SONGS over and over again. (I have an amazing number of carols memorized, including quite a few older obscure ones, which the radio stations never play. How often have you heard them play “Personent Hodie” or “Masters in this Hall” or “The Boar’s Head Carol”? Nope, it’s Johnny Mathis singing “O Holy Night” again.)
And then to top it off, as if we aren’t already christmas-saturated enough, the evangelicals complain about a “war on christmas” when they aren’t allowed to put religious decorations in every single public building, and when some people prefer to say the more inclusive “happy holidays”.
So if you like children’s pageants and midnight services, and living nativities, and all the other religious traditions, that’s great and I hope you sincerely enjoy them. And if I need to opt out of some of it, it’s not that I’m being a Grinch, I’m just christmased out.
So Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, Good Yule, Eid Mubarak, Happy Kwanzaa, Tolerable Festivus, Happy Solstice, Io Saturnalia, and Happy Monkey to you, and good wishes for whatever you celebrate.
I loved your post. 😀 The exhaustion part reminded of what I felt like towards the end of every Sunday. Totally exhausted. There was no true rest for women on the ‘Sabbath’.
Moms don’t get a “day of rest”!
Sometimes I’m tempted to just not sing during the Holiday season. But singing is my stress relief valve, so I need it. At this point, I consider singing those same christmas carols every year as the price I pay to get to sing the good stuff the rest of the year. (At least they don’t make us do “Messiah”, I don’t think I could bring myself to do that one again. I wonder if ballerinas get to feeling the same way about “Nutcracker”?)
I can relate to the stress release that comes from singing. That was one of the things I did look forward to each Sunday when I was a Christian, as I was quite active in the music ministry.
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