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 The group American Atheists has placed this billboard in New York City's Times Square.
December 21st, 2013
10:22 AM ET
Why atheists should quit the 'War on Christmas’Opinion by Chris Stedman, special to CNN
In recent years, one organization, American Atheists, has claimed the mantle of prime atheist promoter of the tired “War on Christmas” narrative. This year, they ushered in the season with an electronic billboard in New York City’s Times Square carrying the message: “Who needs Christ during Christmas? Nobody.” The word "Christ" is crossed out, just in case their message wasn't clear enough. The American Atheists maintain that their latest entry in the annual “War on Christmas” saga is a message to other atheists that they are not alone. In a recent Fox News appearance, American Atheists President Dave Silverman said, “The point that we’re trying to make is that there’s a whole bunch of people out there for whom religion is the worst part of Christmas, but they go to church anyways, and we’re here to tell them they don’t have to.” While that intention is important and admirable, very few people—atheist or theist—seem to interpret the message as welcoming to anyone. Many of the responses I’ve seen have been vitriolic and disturbingly anti-atheist. Which raises the question: If the goal truly is to reach isolated atheists, why does the advertisement read as a dig at Christians? A better billboard for American Atheists’s stated aim might read: “Don’t celebrate Christmas? You’re not alone.” As atheists become more visible in our society, the entire “War on Christmas” back-and-forth feels ugly and unnecessary. Worse still, it seems to do little more than offer ammunition to those claiming atheists are just mean-spirited grinches. Bill O’Reilly—one of the major “War on Christmas” soldiers—made that clear when he and I discussed the “War on Christmas” a couple of weeks ago. Let’s not kid ourselves: There is no war on Christmas. We live in a culture that privileges stories of conflict, so it’s understandable that this narrative would gain traction—with or without billboards. Much of this narrative is a manifestation of religious fears about our increasingly secular society, and it reflects widespread anxieties about atheists and religious differences. But it doesn’t reflect reality. Rather, as religious diversity in the U.S. has become more recognizable, Americans have largely broadened their approach to this time of year. According to new data from the Public Religion Research Institute, the percentage of Americans who prefer the inclusive “Happy Holidays” or “Season’s Greetings” has now exceeded the percentage that prefers “Merry Christmas.” It’s not that Christmas is under attack; instead, our society is becoming better at embracing its religious diversity and challenging the notion that a single majority religion should dominate public expressions of belief. So why does the “War on Christmas” narrative persist? Based on how much play they give it each December, the “War on Christmas” narrative seems to be good for Fox News ratings. And American Atheists has openly admitted that it is good for their pocketbooks, as their talk show appearances bring in a swell of donations. Consider this from a recent profile of Silverman: “Silverman’s notorious anti-Christmas billboards and subsequent TV appearances have breathed new life into American Atheists and are often followed by an uptick in subscribers and donations. ... According to Silverman, the primary objective of the billboards is to get invitations to talk shows.” In other words: American Atheists and Fox News - alongside conservatives like Sarah Palin - seem to have discovered a mutually beneficial relationship. But does this relationship benefit atheists more broadly? Does it accurately represent the sentiments of nontheists in this country? Does it improve atheist-theist relations? Does it lessen the widespread stigma and distrust that exists between atheists and theists, which enables atheist marginalization across the U.S.? Does it invite Christians to think critically about religious privilege? Many atheists, myself included, suspect that there are more effective approaches to tackling these important issues. To start, atheists can build positive relationships with believers to humanize our communities and educate one another about our differences. That’s something that billboards, for all of their flash and fundraising capabilities, likely won’t accomplish. Atheists face real marginalization in the U.S., and it should be robustly challenged. But we also have good tidings and great joy to offer—important contributions to the public square that are currently being drowned out by attention-grabbing billboards claiming “nobody” needs Christ in Christmas. In the spirit of generosity, compassion, and kindness so often associated with this time of year, let’s ditch the billboards and build relationships of goodwill. Chris Stedman is the Assistant Humanist Chaplain at Harvard University, Coordinator of Humanist Life for the Yale Humanist Community, and author of "Faitheist: How an Atheist Found Common Ground with the Religious." You can follow him on Twitter at @ChrisDStedman. The views expressed in this column belong to Stedman. soundoff (5,210 Responses)« Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 41 42 43 44 45 46 47 48 49 50 51 52 53 54 55 Next »
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(CNN) - The “War on Christmas:” what — or who—is it good for?
We have free speech. I say let the atheists show their bigotry. In the free market of ideas they'll be shunned and silenced, just as they are trying so hard to do with their little campaign.
You realize that you just showed your bigotry, right?
Some apparently are convinced that the bigotry of many believers needs to be balance with a bigotry at the other extreme.
' I say let the atheists show their bigotry.'
If it's ok for Conservative Christian duck hunters it's ok for Atheists.
The part of the world that we think has some of the craziest people on the planet is the same part of the world that gave us judism, christianity and islam. Think about it
Yes, that area has always been the armpit of civilization.
And think just a bit harder and you'll understand its the cradle of civilization as well. Kind of hard to divorce our existence from that.
Cradle? Yes, waaaaaaaay back before Christianity and Judaism, it was where the human race started shifting away from a hunter-gatherer lifestyle. But fortunately, civilization progressed mostly elsewhere.
It's easy if you try.
No hell below us
Above us, only sky
When someone is kind, loving and wonderful, you don't cross out their name.
Oh, stop trolling. They are just as enti.tled to free speech as your idol Duckboy.
It's ok if they don't exist.
What if they are just one face of three and one is a vindictive pr.ick?
That's Jesus. Christ is the guy who's gonna massacre everyone who doesn't gown down to him some day, right?
How Santa-ish...
Yes, SpongeBob should not have his name crossed out.
The Reason For The Day is Saturn!
Keep Saturn in Saturday!
Resist this War on Saturn!
What kind of warranty do you carry?
The "war on Christmas" was already fought and lost to an even more formidable opponent than atheism. The winner for countless years has been RETAIL SALES. It's foolhardy to believe that Christmas has anything to do with Christ or Christianity. It has everything to do with parting fools from their money – SHOPPING; putting retail stores in the black and racking up profits for the financial industry. Only dolts swayed by agents of "Big Business" believe that Atheists are the enemy.
So the next time you go through your "Christmas list" to make sure you didn't forget to BUY anything, although you are in debt or living from paycheck to paycheck, ask yourself; Is this for Jesus or the YTD statement for stakeholders?
Some of the comments on here… Can someone define Religion … i mean really… Atheism is quacking becoming a religion in its self. Soon you will be no better then those you seem to hate so much. I do believe in God but i also believe that religion is a perversion. Look whats its done to all of you. I don't believe in intolerance and that is all you have for each other weather you are Atheists, Christian … what ever.
*quickly
Quacking? Pointing out the foolishness in religion will never be a religion just like bald will never be a hair color. You believe in god based upon what evidence?
Just like not collecting stamps is a hobby.
A "religion" where nothing is worshipped? No, atheism takes the place of religious belief, but it isn't a religion.
Religion is the belief in a God or gods and the organized system of beliefs, ceremonies, and rules used to worship a god or a group of gods.
So atheism, by definition, cannot be a religion. Otherwise you cannot call it atheism.
“If every trace of any single religion were wiped out and nothing were passed on, it would never be created exactly that way again. There might be some other nonsense in its place, but not that exact nonsense. If all of science were wiped out, it would still be true and someone would find a way to figure it all out again.”
― Penn Jillette
This guy isn't a comedian or a magician, but he does know more about science:
“A scientific discovery is also a religious discovery. There is no conflict between science and religion. Our knowledge of God is made larger with every discovery we make about the world.”
–Joseph H. Taylor, Jr.,
That's his opinion, and he's wrong. There is plenty of conflict between science and religion. Science, for example, only accepts things based on evidence. Try saying that about religion!
I really don't think it is science vs religion. There are definitely many Christians who have contributed to science and technological advances. I belong to a church that encourages scientific knowledge.
Anyway, I trust an actual scientists opinion on this matter over a comedian.
“Those who have magnified more recent controversies about the relations of science and religion, and who have projected them back into historical time, simply perpetuate a historical myth. The myth of a perennial conflict between science and religion is one to which no historian of science would subscribe.”
–Former Oxford University Professor of Science and Religion Peter Harrison
“Let me say that I don’t see any conflict between science and religion. I go to church as many other scientists do. I share with most religious people a sense of mystery and wonder at the universe and I want to participate in religious ritual and practices because they’re something that all humans can share.”
–Sir Martin Rees, the British cosmologist and astrophysicist who has been Astronomer Royal since 1995 and was the president of the Royal Society between 2005 and 2010. Rees is the winner of the Crafoord Prize (which is the most prestigious award in astronomy), amongst many other awards.
AE
There are Christian scientists, but they appear to be compartmentalizing their faith from their professional rationalism. I do not see any Christian scientists writing papers claiming that belief in God is science based.
Science certainly does not lead all to atheism or agnosticism.
its true, scientific evidence is what convince educated modern people in the exiistense of God,the fact that we are interacting here so we exist,but were did we came from? The evidence is we evolved from matter after the big bang,Thats the evidence that He is here,with us and we are part of Him.All religion from the past ,to the present and the future is all true and correct because its His,only it will conform to human intellectual capacity to comprehend,since we are evolving intellectually,so does also religion .Dont worry He is there to guide humanity,I can feel him this very moment.
This is all completely anti thetical to science. There's bound to be a conflict.
Conflict was avoided for a long time. There was an uneasy truce. Science would avoid questions about the beginning of life and the universe. These would be under the domain of religion. Scientists would get by–just compartmentalize. The many parts of the Bible that trespass on science overtly–well, those are just "metaphor" or "Allegory"–hey, it's only a problem if you take the Bible "literally". Well, why would you take it any other way? Nowhere in the Bible does it say–"oh, this book here–it should not be taken literally."
So as our ignorance grew less, and scientific understanding triumphed, the domain of "god did it" grew smaller and smaller. I think the real danger sign that the inevitable conflict would come out was the Theory of Evolution of Natural Selection. This theory contradicted the Biblical account of creation, and suggested that our origins had nothing to do with a special creation by a magical being. God was not required to explain our origin.
So I think the conflict, which has always been there, is coming more and more out in the open, and it's only a matter of time before it's apparent to nearly anyone who pays attention that the two cannot be reconciled, and cognitive dissonance will force people to choose.
Stephen Hawking believes that "science will win, because it works." I hope he's right.
Why is it up to atheists to seek common ground? We're not the ones telling people that not only will they suffer for eternity, but also that they deserve it and that we love the creature who's making it happen.
When it is your delusion then you get to make up the rules.
Why don't Christians come up with their own holidays instead of plagiarizing Jews and Pagans?
How do you plagiarize customs and traditions? A lot of our Christian traditions come from our Germanic roots. People held onto them. It didn't conflict with their belief in Jesus. Other people embraced them.
African Christians have different traditions than we do. Asian Christians have different traditions than we do.
It's really more usurpation than plagiarization.
So, did J.apan practice usurpation when they started playing baseball and rock & roll? Or did they simply appreciate these things and began to embrace them for themselves? Most of human history involves cultures sharing and embracing new ideas and traditions.
Do the Japanese insist that baseball is actually a Japanese invention honoring Shinto gods? Most Christians refuse to admit that Christmas is a usurpation of Saturnalia and solstice festivals that preceded them. I never hear any Christian say that winter solstice is the Reason For The Season.
I feel like I learned that many Christmas traditions were borrowed from other cultures at a young age. And that the true reasons followers of Jesus meet is in memory of Jesus. The church I go to offered services on Black Friday as an alternative to shopping and encourages making our own gifts and making sacrifices to help the poor and under-privileged in our community receive presents, gifts and food.
We meet on Christmas Eve and sing songs and remind each other that shopping and material items are not what is important.
I think the media has manufactured the 'war on Christmas'. I've never felt like there was a war or problem. I do hear people complain about aspects of it. Yes. I'll let the American Atheists and offended Christians battle it out if they want to fight.
How about we all agree to love Jesus and the atheists can go off and cross out their FSM?
No.
Happy Festivus Malmborg and Dan
Why should we all love your delusion?
How about not trying to legislate your religion and shoving it down everyone's throat. The Duckguy says something, christians scream freedom of speech, an atheist says something and its "shut up and be quiet."
If there really is a "War on Christmas" would someone care to cite the number of casualties that have occurred (injured & dead) as a result of this supposed Atheist onslaught versus the number of casualties resulting from the frenzies that have occurred during the shopping season, from Black Friday through Christmas and Boxing Day?
Perhaps ban Christmas because it incites violence???
Bible-thumpers need to stop believing in FAKE BEINGS and thinking that Christmas actually means something relative to a FAKE BEING. Get a life....
keith: are you ok? I mean, your post was so bad I thought I would inquire as to your mental state....You don't have an AR-15 lying around do you?
"The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary."
And today's hobgoblin is The War On Christmas!
I can't wait for the "Two Minutes Hate" tonight on Fox News!
Psalm 14: (my paraphrase) – "the fool says in his heart, there is no God"
The Bible is right because the Bible says it is right.
That logic is irrefutable, very well rounded logic indeed!
If that passes for logic to you, wow, okay, have fun with that.
A wise person knows with their brain that there is no god, and that the heart is an organ for pumping blood, not for speech or thinking.
heart: (noun) the central or innermost part of something.
There are multiple uses of the word heart. I think that verse was referencing that definition.
More likely it was considering the physical organ.
"If you talk to a man in a language he understands, that goes to his head. If you talk to him in his language, that goes to his heart." – Nelson Mandela
So, is Mandela talking about an organ here, too? Does that quote confuse you?
"The happiest moments my heart knows are those in which it is pouring forth its affections to a few esteemed characters." – Thomas Jefferson
Thomas Jefferson thinks the organ that pumps blood "knows" things?
Jefferson wrote that all men are created equal and endowed with the rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, but owned other human beings. Ever hear of cognitive dissonance?
B.A. Baracus says, "Shut up, fool!"
It always amuses me when people quote fiction to try to make a point.
There used to be a Tea Party guy where I worked who kept saying that Dirty Harry was a great American. No amount of reason infiltrated his illusion.
That psalm may have had a point back before science could offer an alternative to superst_ition, but nowadays the opposite is true. The fool denies solid science.
"If God were small enough to be understood, He would not be big enough to be worshiped."
–Evelyn Underhill
Then Christians do not understand god. Interesting. They all act like they do.
Thankfully, not all act that way. Some admit they don't know it all.
Yes, I should not have said "all." I do know a number of Christians who are sincerely trying to act in accordance with the better parts of Christian thought. But unfortunately I know a lot more who are pretty unpleasant and hypocritical.
That's true. Kind of like most of the atheists I know that claim they are logical and rational, really don't act very logical or rational.
AE
How so? What's irrational about not believing in something based merely on blind faith? I've never been conned out of any money, so it seems to be working for me just fine.
I too would like to hear about those illogical irrational behaviors.
Atheists are only human beings. And human beings are imperfect. Flawed. Illogical at times. A person who tells you all his beliefs are logical is arrogant. Not logical.
Look at Christopher Hitchens: He ridiculed Christians for being illogical, while at the same time smoking cigarettes and drinking heavily. At a time when the dangers of doing so were very well known and docu.mented. His actiions were completely illogical. He could talk the talk, but not walk the walk.
I personally know many Christians, atheists, Jewish, agnostics. I don't see any group as having better access or understanding of logic, reason and science.
I haven't been conned out of any money, either.
Nice platitude, means absolutely nothing.
Why do you worship something that you don't understand? You could be worshipping something evil, after all.
Cola,
The vast majority of theists–or at least Christians, make vast sweeping claims about God on a routine basis. All, with no evidence, just a collection of old books written by anonymous authors which make dubious and sometimes impossible claims. If God is too big to understand, then why make any claims about him or his existence at all? It seems the most intelligent course is to withhold all belief until better evidence is available.
Yes, it should not be a war on Christmas, it should be a war on Christians.
Why confine it to christians? There's nothing special about that cult's delusions.
This is just plain mean spirited. I'm not a believer, but it doesn't bother me in the least they have their holiday, which is much a part of Western tradition as it is religious. I don't begrudge Italian-Americans celebrating Columbus day or Mexican-Americans celebrating Cinco de Mayo, neither of which really affect me as an American, so why should I get outraged by Christmas? Chill.
Yes, it's a part of Western culture, and not just a religious holiday. That's exactly what the billboard is communicating.
They're aren't against God, they're against Christians. They know Christians won't give them grief in return. If they had any cojones, they'd slam Allah, with a big anti-Allah billboard next to a mosque. Same God, but the atheists aren't up to it. They aren't sure they disbelieve that much.
Oh yes, we do indeed disbelieve that much. But many of us just don't feel the need to get antagonistic about it. With very rare exceptions, I've found in my 70 years that "ignoring with dignity" works swimmingly with religionists.
Wrong. Last year, a billboard reading "You know it's a myth and you have a choice" in Arabic was displayed.
Regardless of the religion or the language, all of religions are imaginary.
Poor persecuted Christian. Wahhhhhhh!
In a country 80% Christian, where every social advance is challenged mostly by Christians, these are the people who need the message that not everyone is on their team. Once Muslims begin to become as much a problem, then we'll put more effort into them, OK?
You should give all year long. Not only on Christmas. Society and business has turned Christmas into insanity. Atheists want things to be sane for the first time ever.
" I like your Christ – I wish your Christians were more like him."
Gandhi
It ain't gonna happen Mohandas.
"I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ."
and the gods of Gandhi's world were not enough to save him......We give the man too much credit. He just gave anorexics a reason to exist....
Good gracious, he was 78 when he died.
We all will.
Your god won't be able to keep you from dying either.
I've heard that this saying of Gandhi's is apocryphal, or at least inaccurate.