One of the persistent niggles that arises from contemporary British culture is that curiosity called “Christmas”.
Sitting in a classroom a few days ago, the day before the school offered an optional Christmas celebration of carols and songs of a decidedly Christian nature, I was confronted by a curious situation.
Here were a class of Year 11 (15-16 yr old) students hotly debating the idea that Christianity was false and a pointless cause of things like war; only two students in the class confessed to Christian faith, the rest self-identified as atheists or agnostics. Yet, when the lesson came to an end and I asked who would be attending the Carol celebration, all except three of them raised their hand.
How is it that it has become acceptable to celebrate Christmas, the second most sacred of Christian festivals, even when one denies the existence of God and condemns the religion as false?
Answering that question, it seems, is quite complex… but here are some of the reasons commonly cited.
Christmas Isn’t Christian
The claim most commonly given for why it’s ok to celebrate Christmas is that, simply put, Christians stole it from Pagans.
On the surface this seems a perfectly acceptable defense because it’s quite true to say that Christmas is a Christianized festival which took over the various midwinter solstice celebrations of pagan Rome.
It is, of course, also a complete red herring.
If people want to celebrate Yule or any of over 50 other genuine midwinter solstice events then why don’t they just do so?
In a pluralist society, you don’t need to celebrate Christmas to have a party. You can celebrate anything you like… and yet people choose to stick with the default: Christmas. Curious, it seems, in a society in which you will no longer meet religious opposition if you shun Christmas.
People don’t celebrate Hannukah if they are not Jews; you don’t celebrate anyone else’s festival if you are not of their faith or culture… unless you are a guest. So why do you celebrate a Christian festival if you are not a Christian?
Christmas Is British
Here comes the nationalist chant: Christian values are the British way.
You hear this from the current Prime Minister when he champions a “return to Christian values” despite the fact that most of his Cabinet are confessed agnostics or atheists. What a lovely sound-bite.
The argument goes like this: Britain is, in the main, a Christian country (true) and so everyone celebrates Christmas. Hmm.
Ask the key question: is Christmas a religious festival or a social one?
This is, once again, a red herring argument.
Christianity is a religious faith existing within a secular society. It is now ok for you to shun Christmas if you are not a Christian, even if the Queen still chooses to confess to that faith.
Christmas is not a state celebration. Royal weddings, Remembrance Day, and the Queen’s birthday are not the same thing as Christmas. People in other countries celebrate Christmas too.
Christmas Is A Commercial Necessity
Retail business depends upon Christmas. Now we are getting nearer to the truth.
You hear this all the time on TV: retailers are worried about Christmas. Why? Because their annual profit comes, on the whole, from the sales in preparation for Christmas and through the New Year sales.
Thus, we all celebrate Christmas to keep shopkeepers happy, right?
Another bogus argument.
Certainly it’s true that retail is unhealthily dependent upon Christmas shopping, eating, partying and other festivities. But, and let’s be honest, money-makers don’t care about it being called Christmas.
Jesus didn’t teach that Christians should go out and shop, eat and be merry. In fact those elements of Christmas are the things that pagans did and which, over time, Christians adopted. Our modern Christmas spree has more in common with Victorian excess than it does with the simple teachings of Jesus.
Christians were to keep all their worldly goods in common and share with each other, living as though everyone was equal and only took was he or she needed.
Commerce and Christianity have an uncomfortable truce.
You’re not celebrating Christmas because you want to keep shop-keepers and restaurateurs in business. Stop pretending that retail is part of the Christian faith.
Unthinking Herd Mentality
My theory is that people are unthinking when it comes to Christmas.
Most people confess to hating the whole Christmas she-bang. We spend too much, we eat too much, we argue with relatives, we get depressed, we waste loads of resources, and we even feel guilty enough to turn up in droves to church once a year. Hypocrisy abounds.
Shouldn’t confessed atheists, at least, shun Christmas and all other religious festivals? Surely they can celebrate the midwinter nothing-in-particular-is-special if they choose… but it’d be nice if they stopped the pretension of calling it Christmas.
As for the agnostics, well… I can understand hedging your bets and celebrating Christmas on the off-chance that God is real, but why not then celebrate every religious occasion from every major faith?
Muslims and Jews, Hindus and Buddhists – they all have the integrity to ignore Christmas. Why can’t the rest of us?
Christians, why are you putting up Yule trees and drinking to excess? Why are you spending money on pointless gifts when you should be giving it to the poor?
Christmas is about the birth of a King. It’s about celebrating a mythic story which has inspired change in millions, nay billions, of Christians throughout time. If we don’t believe in it, why don’t we stop making excuses and save ourselves a lot of money and stress by ignoring it?
On that note… I’ll go and put on my flame-retardant coat, sit under the Christmas tree, and wait for Santa to tell me I’ve been too naughty to get any presents.
Merry Christmas, one and all!
I’m an atheist and I celebrate Christmas. Or should that be christmas with as small ‘c’ as it is not religious celebration and has nothing to do with Christ. Personally I think christmas would be much improved if people didn’t try to bring religion into.
But the question is valid, why do I and people like me celebrate christmas?
I think there are three broad reasons: Habit, Conformity, Necessity
Habit – I’ve always celebrate christmas so I always will. As child, it was Christmas with a trip to church and all the religious trimmings. As a young adult, even if I skipped the church bit, christmas was when the family got together. As an older adult, I see no reason to change. I enjoy christmas so why stop?
Conformity – Christmas Day is a bank holiday. All the shops, pubs, cinemas and take-aways are shut so there isn’t much else to do. I might as well join in with the celebrations and gain the benefit of a festive mood rather than sit at home going bar-humbug.
Necessity – Christmas is (in origin) a northern hemisphere celebration which means it falls at the darkest point of the year. A time of year which has always been a point of celebration in this country for at least 4000 years (ref: stone hedge etc) and is probably much, much older. There are clear benefits, both practical and psychological to celebrating at the mid point of the winter. Despite our warm houses and supermarkets, our brains still need something to get us through the winter.
Ultimately humans need to celebrate something.
Every culture, every religion has celebrations involving feasting (and most also have gift giving) which is a pretty good indicator that it is hard-wired inside of us. So I celebrate christmas because that is what the culture I live in does. If I lived else where it would be Saturnalia or Diwali or whatever.
It’s also a shame that many leaders in Christianity also depend on the annual ‘hypocrisies’ to bolster the opinion that Christianity isn’t such a minority after all. One thinks of head and sand!!
I once worked at a radio ministry called the Christian Jew Hour. Really. The purpose of the ministry was to convert Jews to Christianity by convincing them that Jesus is, in fact, the savior they are all waiting for.
My converted Jewish boss took the liberty to disavow Christmas, for a number of reasons. It was originally a pagan religion, (as you write), Jesus couldn’t have been born in winter as the shepherds would not have been pasturing the sheep at that time, and it was a good excuse not to give paid holidays or gifts or bonuses.
I’m not a big fan of Christmas, which hardly anyone can understand, but for the reason you mention in your post. Plus, I don’t like spending money on a tree, especially as this can be a financial hardship for a lot of folks, but they are pressured into so they can be like every other family with a tree.
Since we are now substituting “holidays” for the word Christmas. Here’s hoping you have happy holidays, whatever they are.
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I am an agnostic. I spend the whole Christmas season expressing that I feel like a hypocrite at Christmas and I wish I could be secluded from the whole thing. But if I didn’t participate, I would end up gifted with an abundance of presents with nothing to give in return. I don’t celebrate Christmas: I even the giving-scales. To ask people to ignore a holiday their entire community is ‘unthinkingly’ including them into is asking them to treat their fellow man cruelly. It’s not going to work. I would like to ignore Christmas and save money, and live as I do the rest of the year, but it just doesn’t socially work that way.