I have often been asked how I can celebrate Christmas when I have no belief in God. In fact, I remember a debate I got into with a marginally religious friend. In this debate, he stated that I had “no right” to celebrate the holiday since it involved celebrating the birth of a figure I do not even believe existed. Don’t get me wrong, this was a friendly debate. We all enjoy those from time to time. Typically I stay from more vigorous debates where people stop using their intellect and resort to name-calling, judgments or pointing to books that mean nothing to me.
If you will allow me a few minutes of your time, I would sincerely appreciate it.
Here are a few basic assumptions that I am making to form the basis of this post:
- God does not exist. I do not believe in the Christian, Hebrew, Muslim or any active creator of the universe. This I call “First Cause.” An argument that doesn’t address this first point, isn’t an argument.
- The all too common habit of relabelling this active creator into more marketable (and capitalized) terms like: Love, Spirit, Source, Self, Higher Self, The Truth, The Word, The Unknowable, The Light, Mother Nature, Eric Clapton, Gaia, Mother Earth, etc is a nuisance and completely sidesteps the question of the existence of a deity that created the universe and has an active stake in it.
- If God doesn’t exist, then The Bible is pointless to me as a source of “truth.” The Bible does not prove the existence of God in the same way that a book of Greek Mythology does not prove the existence of Zeus, Poseiden or Hades.
- The fallacy of the Bible does not mean that there are no stories in it of value or even beautiful and inspirational stories in it (though we all need to ignore many horrific stories in the Bible in order to find a good one, especially in the Old Testament).
- Whether you think that not believing in God is a bleak or depressing outlook on life, means nothing to me. EVEN if that were true, I do not find the alternative, blind faith, to be less depressing. I can’t believe in something only because it makes me happy.
- Knowing that all I have is myself, family and my friends and that this is the only lifetime I have to live and that there is no one judging me based on my ability to blindly follow is most certainly NOT bleak.
- Morality exists without God.
- It is not “safer” to believe in God (Pascal’s Wager).
- There are good Christians and good Atheists. The converse is true too. Neither side has a monopoly on goodness.
- This is important: It is OK to talk about religion. I have trouble with the argument that religion is a taboo topic. Every time I mention religion in a post, I will get one comment that states something along the lines that “you are entitled to your opinion, Dan, but religion is so deeply personal, you really cannot discuss it.”
- Many of the people I love are devout Christians (many of the people I love are also homosexuals, conservatives and have myriad other opinions that don’t agee with mine). I don’t love people less because they are Christians or love them more for being an atheist.
- My wife is a Greek Orthodox Christian and my children are being raised in that faith. This doesn’t bother me, but I would be happier if they were not indoctrinated until they were old enough to think for themselves. My children know I am an atheist. They sometimes still love me.
- I love many of the traditions of religion. Many people decry the ritualism of Catholicism and I have found myself craving them. Of course, this does not mean God exists, but the traditions of religion is a very powerful tool to bring families together.
- I think many of you will agree with me that Christmas has almost nothing to do with the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ. This saddens me as much as it does you.
- If you have regular two way conversations with God, then good for you. You would have to forgive me for not latching onto your conversations as proof of anything. I have a friend that says she was abducted by aliens when she was 12 too. What do I do with that information?
So, here we are. How can an Athesist celebrate Christmas? I am looking forward to bringing the kids to the IHOP parking lot to buy a tree, bring it home, decorate it and put gifts under it. I look forward to watching the kids open their gifts and cebrate with a delicious Italian and Greek feast. How is this possible if I don’t believe in Christmas? Well, please notice that nothing I said has anything to do with Jesus. More importantly, in this crazy life, a few moments of calm, peaceful, reflective togetherness as a family, is so rare, that I cherish these occasions, regardless of their relgiousness.
Thank you so much for listening. Thank you so much for being my friends. I sincerely wish you and your families a wonderful holiday…however you celebrate it.
Question for BoMR: How do you maintain your traditions, religious or otherwise, during the holidays year after year?