Revised/Repeated: Why Do Atheists Want a War on Christmas?

Friday, 20 December 2024. Revision/repeat of FFP#45 (December 2023)

About the Friday Freethought Perennials in general: This subset of my blog is to answer questions, nearly always already answered by me and by many others but posed again and again—over many years and in many places—on freethought, atheism, secular humanism, secularism/church-state/”This is a Christian Nation,” and similar topics. These answers are mostly not intended to be original analyses, breaths of fresh air, so much as just putting a whole series of things on the record (I’d say “forever,” except I know better). One source for many of these answers is the 2012 Prometheus Books book by me and my son (Michael E. Buckner), In Freedom We Trust: An Atheist Guide to Religious Liberty—and that is where footnotes and careful citations of sources can be found. It’s available in many libraries and pretty readily in the used book after-market. I’ll cite writings of others that answer these things in more depth if I’m aware of them when I post these.

Why Do Atheists Want a War on Christmas?

Short answer: Despite annual phony outbursts about this, we don’t. We—and of course I can’t speak for all atheists, but I’m confident what I say here is true of most atheists—are happy to celebrate and to let others celebrate in peace.

What we don’t want is for anyone—including Christians or atheists—to use governments to endorse or promote ideas about religion or to claim that the reason for celebrating this time of year is to celebrate the birth of Jesus Christ.

Want to display a nativity scene, complete with angels, Mary, Joseph, and a plastic baby, in your front yard or in your store window? It’s a free country and we want it to stay one—display away. (If it’s in a store, be aware that some might feel unwelcome as shoppers there—but that’s still your right.)

Want to display one on the county courthouse front yard? That we will vigorously object to—for the same reason we’d object to a yard sign in the same place saying “There is no God—get over it.” Governments should not endorse religious or irreligious ideas—and if they do, any who don’t accept the idea become second-class citizens whose freedom is at risk.

Most Americans—including most Christians, I think—probably know that in fact, Jesus is not the “reason for the season.” The Christians of an early era of church history just invented a date for “His” birth and they quite deliberately chose a date that would allow the church to compete with the several other religions whose gods were allegedly born in late December. None of these gods got their birthdays just at random—they were all imagined to have been born around the winter solstice.

That solstice is of course the time of the year when the days stop getting shorter and shorter and start getting longer and longer—a “returning of the light” well worth partying for and celebrating and praising “someone” for bringing it about.

Even if you take the Bible seriously (looking at you, Fred B.) and really want to go all out to celebrate Jesus’s birth (“Christ’s mass”), you have to admit there’s not a single verse in it that backs up 25 December as the appropriate date.

And some Christians, historically and still, think all the Victorian hoopla is blasphemous and disrespectful. After all, for example, the Bible does seem to condemn Christmas trees quite clearly:

² Thus saith the Lord, Learn not the way of the heathen, and be not dismayed at the signs of heaven; for the heathen are dismayed at them.

³ For the customs of the people are vain: for one cutteth a tree out of the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the axe.

⁴ They deck it with silver and with gold; they fasten it with nails and with hammers, that it move not.

⁵ They are upright as the palm tree, but speak not: they must needs be borne, because they cannot go. Be not afraid of them; for they cannot do evil, neither also is it in them to do good. —Jeremiah 10:2-5

And Santa Claus, gift exchanges, stockings, Yule logs, etc., have at best tangential connections to Christian mythology. (For a decidedly Christian spin on all the Santa Claus and other Christmas stuff, see the links to two of Bill Federer’s pious [and frequently misleading] tales that I’ve added, below.)

All of this led Massachusetts Puritans to outlaw Christmas. As Wikipedia put it—see the whole Wikipedia article on Christmas for the citations and more information—

Prior to the Victorian era, Christmas was primarily a religious holiday observed by Christians of the Roman Catholic, Anglican, and Lutheran denominations. Its importance was often considered secondary to that of Epiphany and Easter.

The Puritans, on the other hand, objected to the Christian feast of Christmas,^[37] during the English Interregnum, when England was ruled by a Puritan Parliament.^[38] Puritans sought to remove elements they viewed as unbiblical, from their practice of Christianity, including those feasts established by the Anglican Church.^[39] In 1647, the Puritan-led English Parliament banned the celebration of Christmas, replacing it with a day of fasting and considering it "a popish festival with no biblical justification," and a time of wasteful and immoral behaviour.^[40] Puritans disliked traditions that inverted social hierarchies, such as wassailing in which the rich were expected to give to the poor on demand, and which with the addition of alcohol sometimes turned into violent intrusions.^[41] Protests followed as pro-Christmas rioting broke out in several cities and for weeks Canterbury was controlled by the rioters, who decorated doorways with holly and shouted royalist slogans.^[42] The book The Vindication of Christmas (London, 1652) argued against the Puritans, and makes note of Old English Christmas traditions, dinner, roast apples on the fire, card playing, dances with "plow-boys" and "maidservants", old Father Christmas and carol singing.^[43] The Restoration of King Charles II in 1660 ended the ban. Poor Robin's Almanack contained the lines: "Now thanks to God for Charles return, / Whose absence made old Christmas mourn. / For then we scarcely did it know, / Whether it Christmas were or no."^[44]Many clergymen still disapproved of Christmas celebration. In Scotland, the presbyterian Church of Scotland also discouraged observance of Christmas. James VI commanded its celebration in 1618, but attendance at church was scant.^[45]

In Colonial America, the Pilgrims of New England disapproved of Christmas.^[46] The Plymouth Pilgrims put their loathing for the day into practice in 1620 when they spent their first Christmas Day in the New World building their first structure in the New World—thus demonstrating their complete contempt for the day.^[46] Non-Puritans in New England deplored the loss of the holidays enjoyed by the laboring classes in England.^[47] Christmas observance was outlawed in Boston in 1659, with a fine of five shillings.^[48][49][50] The ban by the Puritans was revoked in 1681 by an English appointed governor, Edmund Andros; however, it was not until the mid-19th century that celebrating Christmas became fashionable in the Boston region.^[51] Before the Declaration of Independence in 1776, it was not widely celebrated in the American Colonies.^[49]

Tom Flynn: No, No, No!

A more modern remnant of this opposition is by the Jehovah’s Witnesses, which led them to promote, quite effectively, the sales of an atheist’s book on the subject. The late (and still much missed) Tom Flynn wrote a detailed, engaging book on Christmas in 1993, arguing against atheists celebrating the holiday because it made us appear religious. He went to considerable lengths to show that Christmas as celebrated is in fact not really true to Christianity at all.

Thomas W. (“Tom”) Flynn (1955-2021)

The Witnesses’s major periodical publication, The Watchtower (with a large circulation), featured a positive write-up of Tom’s book—failing however to note that Tom was irreligious. As Tom delighted in recounting, their attention led sales of his book to go up sharply enough that Prometheus Books added another printing of it.

Any atheist in a leadership role is asked, pretty much every December, why s/he is so bitterly opposed to Christmas—see some of the links below for more details.

I was once interviewed on Fox News nationally about the holiday, and a short snippet was broadcast on Christmas Day. I assumed that surely no one was watching television that day—but an irate Christian in one of the Dakotas emailed me to cuss me out—and an atheist friend in New Jersey e-mailed to thank and congratulate me.

Some years back, when Donald Trump was first running for President, he promised that when he became President, people would be allowed to say, “Merry Christmas!” again. And when he won, people had that right. Just as they always had. Just as no one had attempted to deny them.

So, if a friend or neighbor wishes me a Merry Christmas this time of year, am I offended and do I give them a dirty look or explain what the “true” meaning of Christmas is? Not even close. I may not be the same as all other atheists, but unless someone snarls when they say it, I consider it pleasant and reply with “Happy Holidays” or “Happy New Year!”

Life’s too short to be at war, especially over good wishes cheerfully conveyed.

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https://www.atheists.org/2012/12/war-on-christmas-continues-as-atheist-banner-is-destroyed/

https://blogs.chicagotribune.com/news_columnists_ezorn/2009/12/waronsolstice.html

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2009/12/why-the-war-on-christmas-is-basically-over.html

https://oldweirdalbion.wordpress.com/2009/12/09/war-on-solstice-pt-1/

https://mailchi.mp/secular/christmastime-in-congress-and-the-17th-century?e=b664d12f61

https://lifehacker.com/entertainment/war-on-christmas?

https://mailchi.mp/ffrf.org/ffrf-spreads-solstice-message-at-milwaukee-county-courthouse?e=e216cd07da

https://americanminute.com/blogs/todays-american-minute/how-saint-nicholas-turned-into-santa-claus

https://americanminute.com/blogs/todays-american-minute/christmas-tree-lights-poinsettia-famous-carols-white-house-christmas-american-minute-with-bill-federer

And can I possibly resist this chance to sign a Christmas (oops—a MAGA Christmas card) card to Donald Trump—

🎄We want to wish PRESIDENT TRUMP and his FAMILY a VERY Merry MAGA Christmas, Friend!🎄

Currently, spots are filling up to sign theexclusive "Merry Christmas, President Trump" Card!

And finally, I got this e-mail in 2023—

We’re waiting for your signature before we send out our Christmas card to President Trump, Ed! Will you add your name to wish Trump a very Merry Christmas this year?

No thanks.

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From 2024—

More from Bill Federer—

https://americanminute.com/pages/copy-of-tv

and—

Thanks to Charles Shapiro— http://smbc-comics.com/comic/tradition

What about abusing Christmas to try to raise funds to fight lawsuits? Kari Lake—

MERRY CHRISTMAS

From Kari, Jeff, Ruby, and Leo

𝑭𝒓𝒐𝒎 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑫𝒆𝒔𝒌 𝒐𝒇

Kari Lake

Dear Friend,

I wanted to send you this Christmas Card to wish you and your family a Merry and Blessed Christmas.

I’m looking forward to spending time with my family and celebrating the birth of our Lord and Savior.

But Friend, I’ve got to be honest with you. There’s a dark cloud hanging over my family right now. . . .

and—

An Open Letter to Anyone Spending the Holidays With Trump Voters

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Note: Anyone may copy and publish what I or my guests write, provided proper credit is given, that it’s not done for commercial purposes, that I am notified of the copying (you can just leave a comment saying where the copy is being published), and provided that what we write is not quoted out of context or distorted.

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