Christmas: Religious or Secular?
Saturday November 1, 2008
Americans all over the country in all walks of life look forward to getting a day off on December 25, a day which has traditionally (and almost certainly erroneously) been celebrated as the birth day of Jesus Christ, savior for all Christians. What's wrong with that? Nothing, really — except possibly the fact that it is a holiday which is legally recognized/mandated by our government. It certainly appears as though our government has taken the stance of officially endorsing a holy day of one particular religion.
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Isn’t this a false dilemma? It’s possible for Christmas to be both a secular and a religious holiday at the same time. For some people it’s more or exclusively secular, for some people it’s more or exclusively religious. There are secular also secular elements and religious elements to the holiday. Couldn’t a court acknowledge that Christmas has this dualistic nature while saying that it is the secular aspects of the holiday that make it an acceptable public holiday? This would distinguish it from, say, Pentacost, which has not acquired any secular significance and is not acceptable as a public holiday.
Ah, but if the government were to declare an observed secular holiday, they could do something sensible and change the observation date each year to be on a Monday, like Presidents Day. Even better, they could declare a multi-day winter festival, and get rid of this business of the Christmas/New Year split and the unproductive “work week” between them.
Christmas for me, has always been a secular and festive holiday. As a small child, I believed in Santa Claus and loved all the ornaments and lights. I enjoyed the decorated store windows and the glitter in all the stores and malls.
My family was never religious, though I think they believed in some sort of god. I was never coerced to go to any house of worship.
When I got older I went with friends to their churches, synagogues, cathedrals, etc. for holiday services, but only as an observer and friend.
As an adult I haven’t visited any church, etc. However, during this season, I still put up the festive decorations, and enjoy the atmosphere with nary a twinge of atheistic guilt and not a hint of anything other than secularity.
From my experience in the private sector, the reason a company (or a government, for that matter) will designate a day as a paid holiday where the office or government agency is closed is mainly cost (assuming it is not involved with the delivery of a crucial public service such as the police or fire department, or a hospital). Think about it - if an office were open on Christmas you would have a high rate of absenteeism so the office might as well close that day.
I recall from way, way back when my elementary school was open the Friday after Thanksgiving (before it became the big shopping day it is today). Absenteeism for both the kids and the faculty was high so they closed the schools after that.
Having Christmas an “official” holiday sure seems like a government endorsement to me. I think it is done simply because Christians make up the majority of our population (and virtually all the lawmakers) in the U.S., and as we all know, they get capitulated to because of this.
The absenteeism wouldn’t be nearly as bad on Jewish or Muslim holy days, and it’s highly unethical for people of those faiths to not receive the same treatment such as paid holidays, and excused absence from school. Then again, there might be a mass conversion to Flying Spaghetti Monsterism, because Friday is the holiest of holy days for Pastafarians.
Of course, you can imagine what a fit the Xian right would throw if these other faiths were to even ask for the same privileges.
As for myself, I do celebrate Xmas, but it’s purely secular for me, just as it is for the majority of my family.
Obviously “Christmas” is a christian holiday, how else would you explain the name. That many people celebrate it in a secular fashion just tells us something about how seriously they take their religion.
And by the way:
That it is the o n l y christian holiday that is a public holiday where you get paid, tells you something about the influence of businesses in the US and t h e i r stance: Money before religion.
So… Easter is a pagan holiday, not a Christian holiday?