An atheist who likes Christmas may seem a strange thing to you, but such is the case with me. Many times, I have written on my love of the holiday and have even broken it down into its Christian, pagan, cultural, and moral components. Recent years have brought us the concept of The War On Christmas, which, as far as I can tell, is predicated upon the notion of trying to push the Christian elements of Christmas out of the holiday. While I sympathize with efforts of other atheists to try and push religion out of the public square on the basis that their tax dollars should not have to go towards depictions of, for example, a nativity scene, I am also not too concerned about the matter. It is important for atheists to stop and reflect upon what the religious are really concerned about with their concept of The War On Christmas. Individual instances of, "merry Christmas," being replaced with, "happy holidays," nativity scenes banned from public land, or traditional nativity-based school plays being replaced with productions of A Christmas Carol are not at the heart of the matter. No, the heart of their concern is that Christmas is becoming less and less proprietary. One may take heart that this is true and, I believe, inevitable.
Let's back up and take stock of one of the most defining traits of atheists and other freethinking types. We do not accept claims submitted to us unless they are accompanied by sufficient evidence. So whether or not Christmas ought to be a thing in which we may participate boils down to whether or not participating in it requires such acceptance. It seems plainly evident that the modern American Christmas requires no such acceptance. Sure, the holiday is filled with straight-out religious notions like the birth of Jesus, quasi-religious notions like Santa Claus, and entirely secular fantastical notions like Frosty The Snowman. Yet we do not have any problem celebrating Halloween, despite its connection to the Catholic holiday of All Hallows' Eve, the pagan festival of Samhain, or the secular depiction of clearly fantastical notions like ghosts, witches, and other magical monsters. Halloween is all about the joy of pretend and the power of laugher to help us deal with our fear of death. Religious origins and the fact that the church still recognizes it as a religious holiday plays no role in how the atheist feels about Halloween and nor should they do with Christmas.
Christmas is ultimately about hope, whichever of its elements makes it a meaningful and worthwhile holiday for you. People of other religions, as well as those with none, let Christians tell them that Christmas is about the birth of Jesus and that's all. Well, the holiday can be about that for them all they want, but why do we have to let them get away with defining it for us? Festivus was conceived as a holiday for everyone left out of Christmas, but I say it's our holiday too. Anyone can decorate a beautiful tree, exchange gifts with friends and family, eat delicious seasonal food, and get caught up in the joy that comes from every man, woman, and child trying to be just a little bit nicer to one another for a little while. As the days grow shorter, the weather gets colder, the trials of the year culminate into whatever terminus at which they may have arrived, and we're all taking stock of where we're going in life, we all deserve to be able to claim Christmas, not as a Christian holiday, a pagan holiday, an American holiday, or any other kind of holiday but a human holiday. Whatever Christmas may have been in the past, it has outgrown that and become a thing that offers an outstretched hand of human kindness and merriment to all who wish to participate. Those who wish to put the Christ back in Christmas have missed the fact that now there is simply human solidarity in Christmas and that that may just be the greatest miracle of all.
-Frank
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