Do Atheists Celebrate Christmas?

Procrastinating on Twitter the other day, I saw a thread about the “most irritating questions atheists are asked”, courtesy, of course, of Richard Dawkins, whose writing solidified my son’s absence of belief into actual, active atheism.

Now, according to my spawn, who is a bona fide, card-carrying atheist, I’m not actually an atheist, but an agnostic, because I don’t entirely want to rule out the possibility that something survives of the person after life other than the fleeting memories others have of them and sundry atoms and molecules, because that’s just too darn depressing for words.

But, either way, I’m fairly close to atheist. I certainly don’t believe in any of the various deities floating around, even the Sky God I grew up with as a Catholic – although having once deeply held beliefs in various objectively ridiculous things from virgin births in species that aren’t fish to the physical transformation of a piece of wafer into the body of a deity, I’m happy with other people believing what they want to believe.

Well, provided they don’t go killing people about it, anywise.

To refuse to Skype call someone on Christmas, have a Christmas meal, or buy my child a present because I’m atheist strikes me as the same kind of radical statement a religious person might make.

What surprised me on this thread, though, was that the question “Do atheists celebrate Christmas?” kept coming up. You see, that doesn’t strike me as a stupid question at all. Or, especially, an irritating one.

I imagine there are atheists from a Christian background who don’t celebrate Christmas. But it never occurred to me – to either of us, in fact – not to celebrate Christmas. Like most Britons, I don’t go to church, except for weddings and for funerals: by the end of her life, my grandmother was the only practising Catholic in a once firmly Christian family.

And, in my younger, more radical days, I never crossed myself in church, because that seemed wrong as it communicated belief – although I do now, when it’s expected, though I’d never touch holy water.

But Christmas is a cultural thing. It’s a family thing. It’s a fun thing. And to refuse to Skype call someone on Christmas, have a Christmas meal, or buy my child a present because I’m atheist strikes me as the same kind of radical statement a religious person might make.

I suppose I could have some kind of humanist ceremony on Christmas day. But, boy, that would be a lot of hard work.

Isn’t this, fundamentally, an age-old human celebration with very little to do with religion at all?

Which leaves me genuinely curious. And, yes, I know we’re a long way into January, but I’m just about to write about Christmas and I can’t get this out of my brain, and I’m still trying to work out what fun chocolate thing we could do for Easter given the boy’s too old for hunting the stuff. (Aztec-style chocolate smoothies? Organic chocolate-making?…)

You see, many of the defining elements of Christmas – notably feasting, lights, Father Christmas, gifting and trees – derive from pre-Christian midwinter celebrations. Further, none of the various astronomical events most associated with the Star of Bethlehem fell anywhere near December. Isn’t this, fundamentally, an age-old human celebration with very little to do with religion at all?

And, further, isn’t it rather odd to make such a big deal about it? The missionary tradition is enshrined in Christianity (and how!), but to be a missionary for atheism, which isn’t a religion, strikes me as paradoxical.

So: a question. Or, rather, a series. What does Christmas mean to you? Do you celebrate it? And how? And if you don’t, why not?

Image: Bellagio Christmas Garden 2011 Christmas Tree Closeup courtesy of Scott Ellis on Flickr’s Creative Commons.