Greg Beato writes on pop culture's war on atheists/secularists:
Every year at this time, as visions of non-denominational sugar plums dance in our heads, Christmas derives great spiritual power from candy cane bagels, reggae versions of “Silent Night,” and Kwanzaa stockings hung by the chimney with care. Christians and heretics alike may decry the commercialization of the holidays, but when gift exchanges confer grace and delicious turkey dinners are the gateway to piety, it’s easy to have faith. Almost everyone wants in on the action.
Everyone but Richard Dawkins, the patron saint of faithlessness. According to an article that ran in The New York Times last December, the author of The God Delusion celebrates Christmas for “family reasons” but apparently has even less reverence for Cindy Lou Who than he does for Baby Jesus. “I detest Jingle Bells, White Christmas, Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer, and the obscene spending bonanza that nowadays seems to occupy not just December, but November and much of October, too,” he told the Times.
Is there any more concise illustration of why most Americans would sooner send a gay Hindu divorcée to the White House than a nonbeliever? It’s one thing to reject the Lord God Almighty, but Secret Santa too? Even in the bluest blue state, that qualifies as blasphemy.
Interesting read - including what I think is a fairly accurate read on the consumerism that has grabbed Christianity in the American Southern Suburbs around Christmastime.
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