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Christmas vs Secularism

Where Have All the Christmas Decorations Gone? A Meditation on Joyless Secularism

Where I live (Near Los Angeles) you can drive for blocks without seeing a single home with Christmas lights, let alone a manger scene or some other religious decoration. And you can drive miles and see fewer than a dozen. I grew up in Brooklyn, New York, in an area where most residents were either Italian or Jewish. So many homes had Christmas decorations that you could almost be sure that if the home wasn’t decorated, a Jewish family lived in it. And while I was — and remain — a committed Jew, I loved — and still love — those decorated homes. It makes December… Ref. Source 1h.

Secularism Christmas

Wow, so many things to find wrong with that article.

The assertion that various joys cannot possibly compare to certain pagan traditions that have been re-branded as Christian is amusingly incorrect. I find myself wondering if the author is so deprived of positive family contact that he can only feel happy around his family when they're forced to be pleasant by the time of year.

The assertion that one cannot have a moral center without faith is not only incorrect, the sentiment is incredibly dangerous. Oh, having one's ethics dictated to you is easier, but it is also the path to mass acceptance of evil. He mentions the Nazis, but apparently fails to realize that the worst excesses of that group were based on principles once actively taught and spread by the Catholic church.

And finally, the assertion that life without god is without purpose is not only incorrect, it is incredibly insulting to every human being, whether they realize it or not. A being whose purpose is defined for them is nothing more than a slave, or perhaps a pet. Don't get me wrong, a man that chooses to define himself in relation to god has a purpose, and it is probably a good one. But a man that chooses to define himself in relation to humanity, or knowledge, or any number of other things also has a purpose. What purpose a person chooses is considerably less important than their ability to choose.

EDIT: Hmm, on review that came out more negative than intended. Suffice it to say that while I'm an agnostic, I have no problems with Christianity, and happen to love the celebration of Christmas Day (Although not all of the capitalistic hype surrounding it). But I do find it irritating when people assert things about my life and the lives of others like me that are certainly not true.

Edited: daishain on 22nd Dec, 2016 - 3:03am