Friday, December 24, 2004, is Christmas Day observed, a federal holiday.  It’s a day off from work for many people.  It’s an opportunity for Christians to go to church and praise their Lord, and it’s an opportunity for non-Christians to do as little as possible and try to relax.  It is a day of reflection, family, and friendship that falls at the winter solstice thanks to missionaries seeking to convert northern Europe’s pagans to Christianity centuries ago.  (By combining Christmas and the winter holiday, more people would convert to their religion.)  Since that secularization of the holiday, it has largely remained a time of friendship and fellowship for those who do not subscribe to the central tenets of Christianity.

Then there are people like Sidney and Jennifer Stock, people who vehemently disagree with any notion that Christmas could be associated with a positive contribution to our culture.  These two atheists so strongly opposed Christianity that they cannot even celebrate a day that long ago became a secular holiday of extremely capitalistic proportions.

The Stocks are upset by the Christmas tree put up at their local city hall in Bellevue, California – although city hall doesn’t call it a Christmas tree, it’s a “giving tree” which is adorned with requests for gifts from needy families and generated about $25,000 in donations.  (Incidentally, the courts have already ruled the city can keep their tree.)

According to Sidney Stock, quoted on KOMOtv.Com, city hall should be “a place where everybody feels welcome.  It is impossible for everybody’s religious belief to be displayed and non-religious belief to be displayed, so therefore, no religious beliefs should be displayed” [my emphasis].  Read that again.  If we can’t have religious and non-religious displays in the same place, we should have none.  Stock effectively says, if we can’t have both our beliefs, mine should win.  Jennifer Stock observes, “There are a lot of people who’ve come to this country, maybe been here for years, who don’t feel freedom to say anything.  So we feel we’re saying it for those people.  Not just for ourselves.”

Either of these statements sound familiar?  They should.  They’re not all that different from the statements used by religious zealots around the world who seek to convert people to their religions.  Bigots like the Stocks overlook the good their city hall tree does because they are blinded by their own ignorance, hatred of the world, and their efforts to proselytize.

That’s the central irony of the atheist movement in this country.  It is, by the definition of the word, a religion, “a specific system of beliefs… involving a code of ethics.”  That’s Webster’s definition.  Atheism is a system of beliefs that abide by a code and have structure.  The Stocks and their fellow atheists are simply using a high-profile time of year for Christians to garner their religion more press and more exposure because in our anti-Christian, politically-correct era there is the opportunity to garner free media simply by attacking Christianity.  Why pay for advertising?  It’s easy to attack our culture’s Christian elements because it was founded on Christian principles, many of which are now inextricably infused into our culture.

So to the Stocks and all the atheists out there, I say, Merry Christmas, not in the religious way, but in the secularized thanksgiving spirit of the holiday since I certainly don’t want to offend you.  Its messages of friendship, fellowship, and giving are not negative things that threaten our culture, but rather are positive things to be encouraged.  If you atheists can’t accept the spirit of friendship that infuses this season because you are so wrapped up in your own fundamentalist beliefs, then seclude yourself in your homes and leave the rest of us alone until you are willing to do three very simple things: admit that atheism is a religion like any other; accept that your religion is not any better nor any worse than Christianity; and most importantly, demonstrate that your religion has a set of positive values to offer that are in anyway similar to the friendship and family values encouraged by Christmas and Christianity.

And to everyone else: Merry Christmas.  You may not all be Christians, but it doesn’t matter.  For those who aren’t, it’s still a wonderful time of year to remember that there are more important things in this world than money, jobs, and yourself.  There’s family, there’s friends, and there’s the joy in knowing that perhaps we will each be capable of making a positive difference in this world.

Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas from BrianClardy.Com.

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