by Anne StClair

Created on: May 30, 2009

I am an atheist, and yet I would like to see Christ put back into Christmas, because the Christmas we have these days is nothing more than a meaningless, wasteful excuse for greed and rampant, mindless consumerism.

Christmas preceded Christianity in the form of pagan festivals surrounding the winter solstice, and many of the symbols of Christmas have nothing to do with Christ. Christmas trees, for example, almost certainly originated in the winter festivals, and there has in fact been opposition at times from Christian churches about the use of these pagan symbols.

So why put Christ back into Christmas? For me, Jesus had two wonderful and simple messages: 'Do unto others as you would have done unto you', and 'Love your neighbour as yourself'. It would be good if all of us could live by these rules, and even though I am an atheist I do my best to live by both of these. It is impossible to reconcile the Christmas we have today with either of these messages, because Christmas is sold to us as a time to buy, buy, buy, and buy. Christ has taken a back seat to profit.

The crass commercialism of Christmas makes it a time of year I have begun to hate. Here in Australia Christmas decorations begin to go up in the shops around September (we don't have Thanksgiving, and Halloween has never really taken off here, though they have tried to get us to buy into that too), and by about October I get to the point where I think if I hear another Christmas carol I will scream. Not because of a Christian message I object to as an atheist because I actually love many Christmas carols (and hymns), but just because I'm sick to death of hearing them.

What would Jesus have made of the Christmas we 'celebrate' today? I don't think he would have been impressed at all. In the Bible he tore down the tables of traders outside the churches. I think today he would tear down all the Christmas decorations in the stores and all the lights outside the houses, and he would surely object to the commercialism, the rampant consumerism, profit motives, and the sheer mindlessness of it all.

I think if we put Christ back into Christmas, this would mean simplifying it, and it would mean being neighbourly to our neighbours, kind to our friends and families, and doing unto everyone what we would like done to us. It would probably mean making gifts that were meaningful rather than spending a fortune on consumer items designed to be thrown out in a month, and that the recipient neither needs nor wants anyway. It would mean concentrating on what is good about life and a new birth, rather than on selling, buying, making big profits, consuming the planet and trashing it.

For Christians, putting Christ back into Christmas would be about returning to the roots of your faith, and remembering the stories surrounding the birth of Christ. As an atheist I have my doubts about the veracity of these stories but they are good stories nonetheless, and there is a great deal of wisdom and truth in them.

I would love to see Christians reclaiming Christmas by putting Christ back in and throwing out all the extraneous and crass commercialism and greedy profiteering. Perhaps then we can change Christmas to a time when we can all of us, regardless of our beliefs, celebrate true giving, honest sharing, and the promise of new life. I could celebrate that too.

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