Questioning Christmas

The big event is now over and the country begins to recover from a week or more of sumptious food, relaxation, socialising and generosity. Or should that read excess, stress, enforced fun and greed? Do you think that this is the way Jesus would want everyone to remember him?

Do you think that, from a secular point of view, it’s acceptable to turn an important religious date into an excuse for excess, almost freezing the state and private structures in this country, and the crass commercialisation that capitalises on people already under huge social and financial pressure?

Commercialised?

The commercialisation of every opportunity in UK society has been a growing concern amongst some social commentators (although not many); the gradual commercialisation of Halloween into a poorer version of the American event is an example. The issue I have with commercialisation is that, when combined with modern media strategies, it has a habit of overwhelming the senses and sensibilities of the people it targets, and inevitably draws others in or creates tensions in relationships that just don’t need more pressure.

Christmas is a time when we lavish gifts on people, often to excess and without rhyme or reason. Why? Why then?

I always thought that the gift given without expectation was of greater value than the one given not only with expectation, but with demand (come on, we have all asked people what they want for Christmas). Why should Christmas be the reason for this generosity, especially from and to people we hardly interact with outside of this season.

I have heard that Jehovah’s Witnesses have one day, in June I think, where they have a gift giving day. Outside of that they are just generous to each other. From a secular viewpoint, wouldn’t it be better for you and your family to choose your own day, and then have a greater range of options to enjoy that day?

Think about it: if you chose October 1st, in the UK there are no Bank Holidays, no school holidays, no shut shops and fully functioning public transport.

Well….. maybe not the public transport.

Christian or Not?

While the list of points could go on, the last point I would like to cover is that Christmas is a traditionally Christian festival. The UK has, at the best, a schizophrenic state attitude towards Christianity these days, and is quite often extremely secular in its approach.

You can look at the examples in the news:

• the actions taken to attempt to force Catholic adoption agencies to deal with gay couples (forcing them to compromise their beliefs and ethics);
• forcing a Christian couple running a B+B to accept gay couples as guests, despite the pairs’ previous insistence on only married couples sharing beds (again compromising their beliefs and ethics).

If Britain is becoming a more secular society, with increasing variety of religion, why should the entire country be forced to take time off and have a reduction in services just because of a Christian festival?

To be equal, shouldn’t it be all religions or none, and out of those two surely none is the least disruptive?

The Family Option

While you are considering if you need to go on a diet, reconstruct your post Christmas finances, spring clean and generally look forward with hope to a new year, wouldn’t you like to be able choose having time off to enjoy your family on your own terms?

Do we as a British secular society need Christmas anymore? Could the whole affair be far more beneficial if you got to define your own “Christmas” period without any expectations, enforced conditions and religious impositions?

Maybe with the new year we could bring in a new way of celebrating the family.

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FustratedHistorian is a secular atheist who guest-writes for CoolReligion. He also has a cracking, and very non-commercial, blog of his own: fustratedhistorian.wordpress.com