Posted: Nov 21, 2010 10:45 pm
I like Christmas but not for any faith reasons.
It's entirely possible to enjoy a midwinter festival without invoking any spirits or muttering any prayers to "imaginary friends". The majority of the UK population do just that. They decorate their houses with evergreens, they exchange gifts, they support charity cards and they spend time with their families and friends. The vast majority of them won't go near a church or commit their lives to the rules in a book they've barely read.
Most of the Christian "traditions" have earlier or later origins and have nothing to do with a "Christ-child" cult. Not that I abhor that story - it's a great story but it's only that. Most UK people take it as just a story and they enjoy it at that level. However, there seems to be a growing tide of Christians who are frightened by the increased agnosticism (or apathy?) of UK citizens and they are determined to push the supernatural elements of the story as though they were real. I doubt they'll have much influence on the general population and if we can keep all the "cultural Christian" aspect of Christmas while rejecting or ignoring the fairy tale bits as "truth", we'll be able to keep enjoying the traditional seasonal holiday without supporting the political movement to oversee our schools and relationships.
It's entirely possible to enjoy a midwinter festival without invoking any spirits or muttering any prayers to "imaginary friends". The majority of the UK population do just that. They decorate their houses with evergreens, they exchange gifts, they support charity cards and they spend time with their families and friends. The vast majority of them won't go near a church or commit their lives to the rules in a book they've barely read.
Most of the Christian "traditions" have earlier or later origins and have nothing to do with a "Christ-child" cult. Not that I abhor that story - it's a great story but it's only that. Most UK people take it as just a story and they enjoy it at that level. However, there seems to be a growing tide of Christians who are frightened by the increased agnosticism (or apathy?) of UK citizens and they are determined to push the supernatural elements of the story as though they were real. I doubt they'll have much influence on the general population and if we can keep all the "cultural Christian" aspect of Christmas while rejecting or ignoring the fairy tale bits as "truth", we'll be able to keep enjoying the traditional seasonal holiday without supporting the political movement to oversee our schools and relationships.