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Friday, December 25, 2009

A Secular Christmas

A Secular Christmas

Atheism is the absence of belief in a god or supernatural force. Atheists cannot prove there is no god and are open to scientifically verifiable evidence of gods existence forcing them to rethink their position. To date, no such evidence has been provided therefore an absence of belief is the only rational position. Despite this humanity clings to theism. My suspicion is that our natural emotional responses to the dark events of life are what makes theism so firmly emeshed in our society. Christmas, as we all know, brings our emotions to the surface as we interact with our families and friends while expressing our most intimate beliefs.

I am no expert on loss or grieving. I am quite fortunate in this regard, and I thank "my lucky stars", even as i say it. One thing i do know is that we all have our moments of anxiety, confusion, anger, and maybe even despair and depression. We all find our individual ways to cope with these natural emotions when they arise in our lives and thankfully we get thru them as best we can. Of course we all fall back on and standby our families and loved ones to help us build our defenses against these dark tides. Many in our society, maybe most, also use their religious faith to bolster themselves against these trumatic events. It is this sturdy mesh of familiar tradition and theistic beliefs that atheists find themselves dwarfed by in both the private and public spheres.

Yes, atheists have families, and traditions, and history as well but these are fragile, relatively few and new. The pilings are not yet deep enough to forestall the darkest seas. When the difficult events of life occur for many atheists the only place to find comfort is right back in the theistic mesh. This is what i fear, that my rational, logical, skeptical viewpoint will be consumed by the desire for love and comfort. We all fear death, no matter our theistic fervor, but my atheist self also fears the death of my intellectual dignity due to some emotional crisis.

I have always loved christmas. Even as a non-believer I relish the season for the love and togetherness it brings. At the same time I recoil at the medieval superstitions practiced by the ones i love. When I find myself at the rare catholic mass I feel as the anthropologist does while observing the tribal customs of noble savages. The totality of christmas is lost for me. I treasure what remains but it is not what it once was for me.

So..... what is to be done. It is work, work driving those pilings deeper into the bedrock . It is establishing and supporting an atheist community in both the private and public spheres. It is fully supporting the seperation of church and state and it is fighting for the rights of anyone who is discriminated against because of their beliefs or non-beliefs..It is strengthening our educational system for the best defense against fundamentalist beliefs is a strong education. But, most of all, it is crucial to "come out", declare your non-belief and live a freethinker. It is to make Christmas as valuable a holiday to the atheist as it is to the theist.

Merry Secular Christmas and a Happy New Year

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Beautifuly written Anton. We don't have to agree to appreciate the comfort we both have in our beliefs or non beliefs and traditions. I respect the search that you have been on after viewing the books in your library. Have a wonderful Christmas Anton, as I said I don't always agree with you but I do enjoy your posts!

Unknown said...

Your god is intellect, my God is Jesus Christ. Let's agree to disagree.

Your brother,