Bah Humbug!

Why shouldn’t atheists and agnostics acknowledge the religious nature of Christmas? I celebrate Thanksgiving, but don’t view this celebration as an endorsement of the Puritanical religion of the Pilgrims or the injustices that quickly become evident in their relationship with the American Indians. Rather, I am impressed by the ideals of religious tolerance and the ethnicly diverse community celebrated by this holiday that becomes so important in the history of the United States. In the same way I feel like even atheists (obvs. not all, e.g. Hitchens, Harris, and co), can celebrate Christianity on Christmas as a vital part of our cultural heritage.

Sure, we won’t do this in the same way as the Christians–no praying or gratitude for the Incarnation, but Christianity is inextricably part of our culture’s mythos, and insofar as we value our cultural heritage I think we have to also value and acknowledge Christianity’s part in it. We can still do this while acknowledging that Christianity is a religion based on a bunch of false claims. We can do this even if we think that on average Christianity has been more harmful than not (unless we think it is always harmful).

This is not a way of saying that non-religious people should celebrate Christmas, but rather just that there is a way in which Christmas, even as an avowedly religious holiday, can be worthwhile to non-Christians.

Also, just as a note: I don’t think you can celebrate “Family Day” as a holiday. Holidays are collaborative community affairs, and your creation by fiat of such a holiday would not seem to meet the required conditions for instantiation. Not all celebrations are holidays (e.g. birthdays).

Sorry Professor,us British common wealthers current and former already have December 26th, Boxing Day that is and it is does have religious origins.(Saint Stephen’s) I fail to see the big deal with celebrating what you celebrate on the same day and call it what you like. As a native Jamaican my friend s and family members call it family day and no harm done. Why not call your celebration Festivus and make up your own rules?? Or since you want to give and receive gifts call it gift day. People seem to shop and party on labour day but in the islands we actually work. My point is everyone should do whatever makes them comfortable and don’t get too caught up in semantics 🙂

I agree with Joshua that participation in a historically religious celebration does not commit one to the truth claims of that religion. Indeed, I would go further and say that it needn’t even commit one to any sort of positive evaluation or endorsement of the religion. (This seems especially clear when the celebrants personally conceive of their activity as purely secular, no matter its historical roots.)

It just seems overly stringent to demand of people that they boycott all cultural traditions whose roots they do not fully endorse. Why would you make such a demand? Who is harmed by superficially secular celebrations that happen to involve decorated trees? So long as those involved understand their celebration as having a purely secular meaning (for them), any hidden religious significance is hardly going to count as any sort of victory for the Messiah’s public relations!

How does the church benefit? You haven’t explained how merely externalist meanings could have any moral/welfare significance. I can see how the church might benefit from people intentionally engaging in religious celebrations — such actions might promote further social support for the church. But this all depends on internal meanings, and how people think about the church. It’s just completely mysterious to me how a secular celebration of Christmas is going to benefit the church as an institution in any way at all! (Hence my earlier comment about hidden meanings vs. public relations.)

“MY problem is not with the fact that the celebration is on the same day, but that it is on the same day and includes all of the same rituals (I.e. decorated tree, carols, etc), At that point you are celebrating Christmas whether you like it or not. And that’s not just semantics…”

If the issue is not semantics but instead the rituals themselves, then what does creating a secular version of the holiday on Dec. 26th do? You can change things around; perhaps instead of a tree we’ll display a plate of spaghetti or instead of singing Christmas carols we’ll make macaroni necklaces but the particular rituals themselves seem less relevant to me than the intention behind them (what is it they are used for to celebrate) or even their origins. While the origins of the rituals are relevant insofar as we would not use that particular set of rituals if it were not for some person somewhere having used them prior to us for a particular reason, the original intention may be shed (Much like language and slang words; I can use “cool” and not mean that the temperature of something is less than warm.).

Perhaps you want to claim it is not a secular version of Christmas but rather a unique and independent holiday. I would ask, then, what it is exactly you would be celebrating on this holiday, as that seems to be the only relevant issue. If you are celebrating togetherness and family (as opposed to the birth of Christ), how is this any different from every atheist’s or agnostic’s celebration on Christmas? When I went to my family’s Christmas celebration I was not celebrating the birth of Christ (if we accept that what defines the celebration is what it intends to celebrate and not the particular rituals used to carry out the celebration). I was performing the same rituals as those who do celebrate the birth of Christ and even called it by the same name (Christmas), but my intention was different. If it was not for the birth of Christ (or at least the belief by people that Christ was born and his birth deserved celebration) I know I wouldn’t have used those rituals or called it by that name or perhaps even gone at all but my intention in going was to be with family and nothing more. Again, in my eyes the intention behind the action is what is relevant; the particular form or fashion of any rituals as well as what we call them don’t matter.