How Do Atheists Celebrate Christmas?
Categories: Books, Christianity, Society
Written By: Stiegemeyer
How do atheists celebrate Christmas? The ever articulate, never boring, Dinesh D’Souza asks this question here.
My other question is WHY do atheists celebrate Christmas?
The new atheists like Sam Harris, Philip Pullman and Christopher Hitchens like to claim that religion, and Christianity in particular, is responsible for the bulk of the world’s woes. If I believed that to be the case, I would find it disingenuous to participate in any fashion in the global commemoration of the birth of Jesus.
But then again, people who try to seriously argue that religion, and Christianity in particular, are a blight on human history are not especially clear thinkers. Have Christians or others done horrid things supposedly in the name of Christ or His Church? Yes, sadly. But the burning of witches and heretics is not all there is to say about Church history, surprising as that may be for some.
If you affirm the value of clear balanced argument, then I commend a book to you by Dr. Alvin Schmidt called How Christianity Changed the World. You will find that everywhere the Church has exerted cultural and social influence, that society became more humane, more compassionate, more peaceful, and generally more prosperous. I liked the original title of his book, Under the Influence, but I guess the connotations were distracting.
December 26th, 2007 at 5:09 pm
“My other question is WHY do atheists celebrate Christmas?”
A fair question, though I would recommend not leading in with Dinesh D’souza. He’s just plain awful – not because he’s a Christian, but because he’s an unoriginal, strawman-abusing blowhard. He apparently perceived a shift in the nation’s political mindset during the 2006 elections and realized the neo-con agenda would be a little more difficult to sell these days. What does sell is atheism, so what better way to make a few bucks than to attack it? I don’t think he even believes what he’s saying – all of his arguments were debunked ages ago – but as long as he rattles some atheist cages, the cash registers will ring. Regrettably, I fell for it a while back. Most of us are over D’souza at this point, though.
Sorry for the digression – we celebrate because people have been celebrating the winter solstice since before they had words to describe the fiery orb that seemed to appear less often during this season. We celebrate to be with family and friends. We humanists love the concept of giving – we have no problem with what Christmas represents in this arena.
I would respectfully suggest that you and Mr. D’souza are incorrect in assuming that atheists believe Christians and Christianity to be completely and irreversibly bad, evil, etc. I know and love hundreds of wonderful Christians of all stripes. I have a deep respect for the humanistic portions of your beliefs. There’s a lot of common ground to be shared, though the “new atheists’” task of pointing out some key differences is important in its own way.
So why do we call it “Christmas” if we don’t believe in Christ? For the same reasons we call them Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, even though we don’t believe in Tyre, Odin, Thor, or Freya. I don’t know of any atheists who want to remove the Christian history of our culture. That would be dishonest, and we’re all about honesty.
Speaking of, can you honestly show me where Christ’s birth is depicted as occurring on December 25 in the bible?
Sorry, I didn’t want to get mean-spirited – just couldn’t resist. You asked an honest question, and I have tried to supply an honest answer. I’d love to hear your response.
Respectfully,
d
Dante Ontario’s last blog post..Time and Perspective
December 26th, 2007 at 5:31 pm
D.,
Thanks for the comment. A couple of quick responses. First, no mainstream teacher in the Church teaches that Jesus was born on Dec. 25. The date of his birth is unknown. The calendar date upon which we celebrate the birth of Jesus is beside the point. I don’t know of any Christians who would say otherwise.
I appreciate your statement that you know and love many Christians. I know and love many non-Christians as well. I am sincere when I say that mutual antagonism is unhelpful.
Nevertheless, it sure seems pretty evident that SOME atheist writers currently popular (Hitchens, Pullman) do claim that religion is bad for people and bad for society. They paint with a very wide brush. It is those whom I would suggest are the fringe element of atheism to which I meant to refer. They’re entitled to their opinions and I don’t want them censored. I just oppose what they say.
But again on why atheists celebrate Christmas, I still find it very peculiar. You mentioned winter solstice in your explanation but you are not celebrating a version of the solstice. You are celebrating a version of Christmas. The date is irrelevant. Dec 25 is not the actual date of the solstice anyway.
I’m not even saying that I mind that atheists would celebrate “Christmas” in their own way. It’s a free country. But if one posits in a book, for instance, that Christianity is fundamentally a source of harm, I think it is strange to observe the festival of Jesus’ birth.
scott
December 26th, 2007 at 9:54 pm
Scott,
Thank you for the reply. As an atheist (secular humanist, to be more precise) in the self-proclaimed “City of Churches,” I’ve been doing a lot of thinking and discussing and debating lately on these types of questions. If you don’t mind, I’d like to get your take on a few clarifications. (You now have my email if you’re ever up for some friendly debate.) Oh, and I hope I didn’t come across as antagonistic. I found your blog using StumbleUpon, and I only posted the comment because I’m sincerely interested in finding out more about why you believe what you believe.
“But again on why atheists celebrate Christmas, I still find it very peculiar. You mentioned winter solstice in your explanation but you are not celebrating a version of the solstice. You are celebrating a version of Christmas. The date is irrelevant. Dec 25 is not the actual date of the solstice anyway.”
Regarding the date – you are correct in stating that Dec 25 is not the actual date of the winter solstice. However, at the time of the creation of the Julian calendar, it was the actual date. It is not irrelevant. Placing the date of the birth of Jesus on the 25th co-opted the birth of Mithra, Sol Invictus, and Horus. I don’t think this was an accident of history.
I know it’s upsetting as a Christian to hear, but I call it “Christmas” strictly as a point of reference. I can’t help that I was born into a culture dominated by Christianity, and, as I said before, the majority of people closest to me are some sort of Christian. Except for usage of the name, which I would relinquish if required, all of the other traditions I celebrate have their origins in cultures that predate Christianity and have become secularized. Maybe using the term “winter solstice” was not the best way to generalize them, but this is what I meant. I don’t attend church services or display a nativity scene – are there other strictly Christian portions of Christmas besides those? (By the way, I don’t intentionally avoid Christian symbols, nor would I ever reasonably discourage their display.)
“I’m not even saying that I mind that atheists would celebrate “Christmas” in their own way. It’s a free country. But if one posits in a book, for instance, that Christianity is fundamentally a source of harm, I think it is strange to observe the festival of Jesus’ birth.”
I think the dominance of (at least nominal) Christianity in this country precludes the irony of this statement for you. I can imagine a pagan in the 4th century saying nearly the same thing:
“But if one posits in the Bible, for instance, in the opening verses of Jeremiah Chapter 10, that heathenism is fundamentally a source of harm, I think it is strange to observe the feast of (insert Mithras, Sol Invictus, etc. here).”
So, am I saying that we should all revert to the original pagan celebration of winter festivals? Maybe go back even further, to primitive sun worship? Not really. I think it is instructive to note, however, that the Christmas season and most of its trappings evolved from earlier cultures, to their dismay, I’m sure, and the same is true of the secularization of Christmas, to your dismay. Christianity and its early leaders did not stop to consider the consequences of hijacking other cultures, so there’s no reason to expect this consideration from, well, all of the various agents of change to the contemporary meaning of Christmas. Not exactly a comforting thought, I know – but this is what history has taught us.
Here’s where we can (hopefully) find some common ground: I know you don’t want Christmas to change, but if you’re unable to steer it back toward the Christian interpretation, I think we can agree that the notions of peace on earth, goodwill to men, sharing, giving, caring, friends, and family, even framed in a secular way, are a much better option than the commercialization, greed, depression, and stress that have crept in to the meaning of the holidays.
Thanks much for the dialog.
Regards,
d
Dante Ontario’s last blog post..Time and Perspective
December 27th, 2007 at 1:33 am
D.,
I think a big part of the problem is one of miscommunication. When some people say “Christmas,” they mean December 25, trees, wreaths, presents, eggnog, etc. But none of that stuff means anything to me. It’s only significance is cultural, not religious.
When I say Christmas, I mean the commemoration of the birth of Jesus Christ. The date, the decorations and all the trappings could disappear tomorrow and Christmas would not diminish in the slightest, except in some sense of nostalgia.
Christmas won’t change. The churchly festival is not defined by the culture or any individual. Even if the whole celebration as we know it were to be banned by the Emperor of Earth, it would have no effect whatsoever on my faith. Jesus was still born to be my Savior. And that is a truth that sustains me year-round.
If Christians choose to celebrate the birth of Jesus on April 20 by wearing groucho glasses and blowing on kazoos instead of trees and mistletoe, my Christmas would be unchanged.
I do wholeheartedly agree with you, however, that a spirit of kindness and generosity, as you said, “even framed in a secular way”, is good. And if the particular cultural trappings that many people associate with Christmas, etc., help to promote feelings of neighborliness and goodwill, then I support that.
I should say that my original post on this topic was partly tongue-in-cheek. That is probably not clear, however, from the post itself. Christmas is not in any danger. I’m not wringing my hands calling for a culture war. Also, since a non-Christian presumably does not believe the essence of the nativity story and does not participate in a Christian worshiping community, then I don’t reeeaaalllyyy consider them to be having “Christmas” at all.
Think of it this way. The historical understanding of American Independence Day (July 4) is about the birth of our nation. But if over the millenia, some of our descendants want to change the meaning and stop recognizing the Decl of Indep., the founders etc. and make it all about baseball, backyard bar-b-q’s and fireworks, I suppose that’s fine. But for those who continue to remember the events and principles the celebration originally commemorated, nothing has changed.
The bottom line for me is this. I don’t think this is anything worth arguing about. If atheists, agnostics and Zoroastrians want to put up a tree in their living rooms in December and give presents to each other, more power to ‘em. The only thing, in that case, which has been sort of hijacked is the name of the celebration. And admittedly that does bug me, otherwise I wouldn’t have put up the post to begin with. But I’ll be quick to add that it does not bug me as much as you might think.
On that note, I wish you and yours a very Happy Holidays and a Wonderful New Year!
Scott
December 27th, 2007 at 7:20 am
Scott,
Indeed, it seems that we’ve reached an impasse over communication and personal meaning. I’m happy to let it go there. Thanks again for the conversation.
All the best,
d
September 27th, 2008 at 4:19 pm
[...] UPDATE: See my related post at Concordia TheoBLOGical Seminary. [...]
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January 5th, 2009 at 2:41 pm
I have found this debate very interesting. I am currently on a child care course and our recent assignment brief is as follows:
“you are planning a christams party for a reception class. You are aware that 2 of the children are Jehovah Witnesses and one family has already explained to you they are atheists”
My college seem to think that i would have to alter a christmas party to include an atheists? is this true, i dont think i would have to. I understand about the Jehovah Witness but changing it for an atheist.
i dont believe in a god and i still celebrate it
Trisha
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