Merry Secular Christmas!

26 November 2009

Video | ZJ on YouTube | Subscribe

ZJ: Well, it's that time of year again: the holidays. Which, of course, means it's time for the dumbest contrived controversy ever. Yes, I'm talking about the annual moronic uproar over any reference to "the holidays" instead of Christmas.

This year, the American Family Association is leading the charge against the alleged "War on Christmas". The AFA is one of those Christian social conservative groups that only cares about Americans who follow their religion and families that don't include gay people. A couple weeks ago, they decided to boycott The Gap because they didn't mention Christmas by name in their advertisements. Apparently they felt that Christmas deserves special recognition, beyond simply being grouped under "the holidays".

The only problem is, The Gap has been running commercials that prominently say, "Go Christmas!" It's a really irritating ad, but they do say "Christmas".

So, did the AFA admit that they were wrong and end their boycott? Well, no. Apparently that wouldn't be the Christian thing to do. Instead, they've decided to continue their boycott for a completely different reason. Their new complaint is that the Gap commercial also said, "Go solstice!" The AFA calls this a "pagan holiday", "celebrated by Wiccans who practice witchcraft!" Oh, no! You mean someone's celebrating a holiday other than yours? Ho-ho-holy crap!

But at least they've finally admitted that this was never really about having their holiday recognized. That's not good enough for them. What they really want is for every other holiday to be marginalized and ignored, because their very existence is considered an affront to their religion—which is obviously so much better than anyone else's.

The arrogance they've exhibited here is surpassed only by their ignorance. The solstice is the very reason there even is a holiday season. It's a naturally occurring event, marking the point when the duration of daylight begins to increase. And many cultures have used this as the basis of their seasonal celebrations, which were developed prior to or independently of Christmas and Christianity. The birth of Jesus simply had nothing to do with this. The date of Christmas was selected to coincide with non-Christian holidays for the sake of convenience and in order to facilitate the spread of Christianity.

Yet even today, when Christmas is the foremost seasonal holiday, its religious aspects are completely superfluous. Groups like the AFA seem to think that an acknowledgement of Christmas is somehow an affirmation of their religion. It's not. Christmas can be and is celebrated without any need for Christianity. Really, do you think God had to sneak in through the chimney to impregnate Mary? Did she give birth under a pine tree draped with garland? Did they wrap the baby Jesus in a big red stocking? Maybe! But I doubt it.

Nowadays, Christmas doesn't necessarily mean Christ-mas. For many of us, Christmas can be the best holiday of the year, without ever setting foot in a church. And that's exactly why it's so pointless to try and force people to recognize Christmas instead of just "the holidays". It's not going to make them start caring about the religious version of Christmas. The name can change, but the apathy remains the same. Essentially, all they're doing is fostering the dilution of the very meaning of Christmas that they're trying to promote. Even if they win, they lose!

So go ahead, call it Christmas. Or call it the holidays. Or whatever you choose to celebrate—it really doesn't matter. Just remember, you can have a happy holiday without having to celebrate the birth of a child who would ultimately be nailed to a cross and left to hang there until he died.

Merry Christmas!

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