Lately I've been seeing a lot of Creationists, be it on YouTube, Faux "News", or what have you, who have been blathering on about how Christmas is a "Christian holiday" or that "Jesus is the reason for the season." Well, first let's look at what Christmas is defined and the history of the holiday, the way the US Government sees it, and finally we'll look at it's place in America and in the lives of Atheists.
Christmas (originally "Christ's" Mass") is defined as a holiday observed generally on December 25 to commemorate the birth of Jesus, the central figure of Christianity. The date is not known to be the actual bithday of Jesus, and may have initially been chosen to correspond the date of the Roman winter solstice or one of various ancient winter festivals. After recently watching the movie Zeitgeist, though I disagree with much of it, Part One of the movie explains the origins of Christianity. Therein, it explains that the Bible is likely a collection of metaphorical poems and such about that Sun. This would certainly explain the similarities with other religions, and the reason why we see such adaptation as the 25th of December being the supposed birth date of Jesus. Either way, much of the symbols, meanings, and central events associated with Christmas are actually historically known to be Pagan. Basically, Christmas is borrowed from the Pagans.. it's not Christian at all.
Concerning how religious holidays should be dealt with by the government of the United States, the first amendment (as well as article six of the constitution) signifies this clearly. The first amendment says "Congress shall make no law respecting the establishment of any religion, or the free exercise thereof;" This clearly demonstrates that calling Christmas (as recognized by the United States government) a "Christian" holiday would be in direct violation of the constitution. It is recognized by the government as widely celebrated and thus given special recognition, but the government is still prohibited from endorsing it.
In America, Christmas is celebrated by the majority of citizens, religious or not. Though, in this we see the ignorance of modern reasons for celebrating, or further the ignorance of those original meanings of the symbols and terms. Though "Christian"-proclaimed holidays aren't the only culprit of this sort of ignorance, they are the majority and should be dealt with accordingly. Still, even many Atheists such as myself see no problem celebrating it for secular reasons. I myself celebrate because I see this time of year as not necessary to appease some sky daddy, but instead as a good idea that we should take time to celebrate our lives and our loved ones. I see it as a fun, modernly altruistic, secular means for just taking time to relax, enjoy life, and enjoy prospering and seeing others prosper from your intentions and actions. I also see it as a time to use the little euphemism the American Atheists plastered all over New York Last year and relish in the meaning of it; it's always good to celebrate our advancements as a society, so let's ditch the myths.
Regardless of what you celebrate, there is no reason to not just want to give joy and wanted things to loved ones (and there's no harm in loving to receive the same either). Whatever you may celebrate, or the reasons for doing so, I hope you have a happy holiday.. but really? "Christ's Mass"? You KNOW it's a myth. This season, celebrate reason.
What do YOU think about all this?
Feel free to post a comment or email me at SilenceTheIDiots@hotmail.com
I'm also on YouTube at www.youtube.com/user/SilenceTheIDiots
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