Merry Christmas from Your Friendly Neighborhood Atheist

[rug]

Posted: 12/23/2012 1:04 pm
Luis Ruuska
17-year old senior from Tennessee

Right off the bat, I understand why my credibility as a teenage atheist can be called into light. Ever since a certain micro-blogging website sprung up -- and anyone who knows anything about teenagers and the Internet knows exactly which one I'm talking about -- teenage atheists, anarchists, nihilists, and the like have been churned out faster than you can say "happy holidays." Being different and even a downright outcast socially, politically, and religiously has now become the new cool. This is a huge shift from the attitude of the '90s and 2000s, and as British comedian Ricky Gervais said the other day in a tweet, "atheism is the new black." But I digress. Before I delve deeper, I'll give you a little background information on just how I got on the "A-Train," so to speak.

I was raised in a non-religious household. Both my parents were raised Christian -- one Roman Catholic, the other Finnish Lutheran -- but I've never been to church a day in my life. Up until I was about 13 or 14, I didn't even really think a whole lot about religion. I assumed a god of some sort existed, but I didn't ever talk to it or pray to it or anything like that. All I knew is that I was free from the CCD classes my friends complained about so much.

So, up until 2011, I was an agnostic. I never flouted my lack of religion, nor did I try to hide it. If somebody asked me where I went to church, I said, "I don't," and that was that. Then, in 2010, I really started to look deeper. I decided that I was an atheist when I realized that believing in a god -- or multiple ones for that matter -- that has a fan-base that is full of a lot of bullies, allows things like war, famine, and poverty to happen, and that is supposedly "benevolent" but sends people to a Hell or Tartatus -- or wherever you prefer -- for everything from being gay to not being a member of (insert religion here) was just foolish. It was all just very foolish to me and so I transitioned from agnosticism to atheism officially.

So now we're back where we started. Yes, I'm a teenage atheist and yes, I celebrate Christmas. Why? Well, you see I could list off the number of Christmas traditions that aren't even Christian at all from the Yule log to the tree to the caroling to the candles. The list goes on and on. I could point out many instances that prove that even a good deal of Christians themselves have really taken the "Christ" out of Christmas; for instance, when they flood the stores on Black Friday and tackle one another for the last iPad. I could say so many things and try and prove so many points but that wouldn't change the fact that some people -- Christians and even other atheists alike -- see an atheist celebrating Christmas as just wrong.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/luis-ruuska/merry-christmas-from-your_b_2348272.html

[fleur-de-lisa]

1. Good article. Thanks Rug! - eom

[Dark n Stormy Knight]

2. I celebrate because my parents and siblings celebrate and we gather, from points afar, at my

parents' house. Dad is seriously Roman Catholic--lectors regularly at mass, etc., Mom is a Methodist who converted to Catholicism to make my dad happy. Both are Democrats, supporting most progressive causes.

Only one of my four siblings is much of a believer and is the only one who ever makes direct religious references. She also has a RW boyfriend. She's always been the most conservative of my sibs and is annoying in other ways. Fortunately, I don't see her much thanks to geographical separation.

One of the other two sisters is a full-on atheist liberal, like me, and the other is a relatively progressive Dem who is an agnostic. Brother married an Italian Catholic, but neither he nor his wife and two sons attend church, except for special occasions like baptisms, weddings, etc. None of my nieces or nephews. all teens or early twenties are particular religious, a few are professed atheists.

So, though for most of us it is purely a secular, questionable holiday, we all celebrate because it's a tradition and one of the few times we get together these days.

[LeftishBrit]

3. Merry Christmas to all from this atheist!

In my part of the world, the only serious 'war on Christmas' came from Oliver Cromwell's Puritan government; they had the usual Puritan dislike for people enjoying themselves too much, and also regarded Christmas, no doubt correctly, as being linked to Pagan festivities.

[dimbear]

4. It's been my impression that the kids like the presents even when they come from the atheist uncle.

Am I wrong?