Saturday, December 22, 2007

Atheist Holidays

Dinesh D'Souza feigns ignorance.
Yes, I agree that many nominal Christians have also forgotten the message of Christmas. Even so I wonder: what's the atheist equivalent of Christmas? Darwin's birthday?
To which Radley Balko, an agnostic, aptly replies:
[M]y “equivalent” of Christmas is . . . Christmas. You don’t have to believe in virgin births or god descending to earth in human form to appreciate time and camaraderie with friends and family, to enjoy the tradition and fellowship of Christmas, and to dig the warmth and opportunity to recognize relationships that are important to you with small tokens and acts of kindness.
And let me add this: the notion that only Christians can celebrate Christmas is as goofy as the notion that only pagans can celebrate Halloween.

And by all means, let's celebrate Darwin's birthday, too. It's February 12th.

8 comments:

Steven Horwitz said...

Darwin and Horwitz, Aquarians to the end.

Feb 7, if anyone cares.

Anonymous said...

Are you not helping to promote Christianity by celebrating it, even though in a secular fashion? The proselytizers are dedicated to that. Why on earth would you want to help them spread and promote their big lie as the dominating paradigm. Throw a feast or several of them in February to celebrate Darwin, or even his contemporary, Steve Horwitz.

Glen Whitman said...

Are you not helping to promote Christianity by celebrating it, even though in a secular fashion?

On the contrary, the more people celebrate Christmas in a secular fashion, the more like Halloween it becomes.

Gil said...

And, if you want, you can also celebrate Newton's birthday on Dec. 25.

Anonymous said...

"Feigning ignorance" is right on. One could also call it "dishonesty." Is D'Souza really the best the Christians can bring to the debate?

jabrwok said...

I find the hostility to Christmas amusing. I'm an atheist and don't celebrate the explicitly religious aspects, but I have no problem with them. The desire to destroy Christianity strikes me as ultimately self-defeating, as it's likely to result, not in the world embracing Atheism, but rather Islam.

I know which I prefer.

Happy Agnostica!

Bertil Hatt said...

Christmas (the religious event, not the shopping spree) is the only religious holiday that I know off that explicitly includes the non-believers, gives them a role and makes a point about who God loves. I understand most of you don't care for God, but you can use the readings against the fake Christians who talk about their own personal Jesus. . .

Heather said...

My bf and I are atheists who celebrate winter solstice, Humanlight, and Christmas (although for us, xmas is more of another version of winter solstice). This time of year is nonstop partying for us!