I'm an atheist who loves Christmas!
Yes, yes I know...atheists usually shout out "Happy Winter Solstice!"...and try to start up fake holidays like "Festivus, a holiday for the rest of us"...only there is no tree, just an aluminum pole.
No no...I love the trees! I want to remember every one of those trees from my childhood. Especially the ones we cut down ourselves ...or decorated with strung popcorn and cranberries, and construction paper chains made by the little 'uns. I want to remember the bubble lights and us kids trying to throw foil icicles to reach the very top, where the homemade star rested.
I love that almost every shop has Christmas music, that the streets are decorated with a Christmas theme, and you can't turn on a radio without hearing "Little Drummer Boy" (one of my favorites)...those Christmas carols bring back many fond memories...we sang them in the school play.
I don't know about the rest of the country, but last year in my town a grade school held a Christmas play that celebrated Christmas, Hanukkah and Kwanzaa. Little kids sang songs and told the story of each one.
I love all those tearjerker stories about people helping needy families and making Santa possible for homeless kids. I love the joyful giving spirit that seems to run through all our hearts...the Angel Tree at the bank where you take the name of a needy child and buy the gift that he/she has asked Santa for...the people who give up Christmas with their families to serve the free turkey dinner Golden Coral has for the homeless every year.
Yes siree, I will be having a holly, jolly atheistic Christmas, one that will include presents under a Christmas tree and a big family party. I see no glaring contradiction in doing so.
Just because I don't believe in the supernatural doesn't mean that all the trappings of Christmas are to be disposed of....you don't have to believe the original nativity story to think that the tradition has value.
It's very obvious that everything we value in Christmas--giving gifts, celebrating the holiday with our families, enjoying all the sentimental kitsch that comes along with it--all of that has been embraced by the secular world.
I read the other day that 85 percent of the people in Sweden are atheists but almost everybody celebrates Christmas.
It has long since ceased to be a religious festival. I participate for family reasons, my complaints are strictly limited to the commercialism -- the obscene spending bonanza that nowadays seems to highjack not just December, but November and much of October, too.
So, Fox's Mr. Bill O'Reilly and conservative Christians who feel that the holiday has been hijacked are right! So much so that even atheists are now comfortable getting into the spirit.
Christmas is a fine example of how social rituals evolve. Hmm...I wonder, what form the celebration will take in the millennia to come?
To those who think you have to be a devout Christian to celebrate Christmas--I say bah, humbug.
I don't need religion to justify the warm feeling in my heart that I get around this time of year. All I need is to be human.
I wholeheartedly wish everyone a Merry Christmas!
