Reddit Hate Mail

It didn't take long for the Reddit hate mail to start rolling in. Thanks to /u/yaysuekristy for providing me with the most coherent argument so far. Here's the abbreviated version. Italicized text is yaysuekristy; anything bold is my reply or original post. And here's the link  to the full page in case you want the unadulterated version complete with awesome comments from other wonderful people.

yaysuekristy: So basically you are arguing that every bit of mythology ascribed to Christmas is a shining example of the "great wisdom and creativity" of our ancestors... except the Christian mythological parts. So I guess Handel's Messiah, Silent Night, other amazing classical Christmas pieces are shite?

Quite the opposite, I find it unfortunate that such masterpieces are relegated to a 2-month window of time every year.

And how is Christianity not part of our history, when pagan myths are? 

It is a part of our history. A part of our history that has nothing to do with this season and Dec 25.

Also, the "family gathering" bit didn't come into Christmas until a reformation in the 19th century, prior to that it was mostly a raucous public festival akin to Mardi Gras. Should we go back to that too? That aspect was also pagan. 

I think we could do with a little more partying and a little less shopping and church-going. Personally I would skip out on the public orgies and human sacrifice but otherwise sounds like an upgrade from how we currently do things.

 "I have no problem with Christianity. " Yes, clearly, you do. Admitting that bias is something you need to do.

Feel free to browse my comments on Reddit. I spend far more time defending Christians and religion in general. I think it's awesome that online atheists champion truth and the dispelling of myths and falsehoods... until those falsehoods are linked to warm and fuzzy childhood memories. Then it's like 'Fuck that I like those lies!' To reiterate: my issue isn't with the Bible or New Testament or Jesus; it's with the idea that this season has anything to do with all of the above.

"The first order of business should be to abandon the word “Christmas.” I know, I know. "Why bother? It's just semantics. You can make it whatever you want it to be. Call it what you want. Festivus. Saturnalia. Solstice Day. Gift Day. Whatever." How about.... Christmas? "We Wish You A Merry Gift Day" and "White Saturnalia" don't quite have that ring to them... and Festivus is already a SEPARATE HOLIDAY that is a REJECTION of the consumerism of Christmas, yet you want to equate it with a holiday you call "Gift Day"? What ignorance. 

You got me there. Didn't know Festivus was a 'thing' outside of Seinfeld.

Christians clearly don't have a problem with "Easter" deriving from the name of a pagan goddess, so why do you, the person who self-identifies as having "no problem with Christianity", have such a beef with the word Christmas? 

Early Christians also had no problem shoving Christ into the pagan solstice where he had no business so I assume they chalked Easter up as fair trade. But that's neither here nor there. We (I posted this to an atheist subreddit so "we" means atheists here) are not Christians. Why should their willingness to adopt pagan rituals equate to our adopting Christian myths into our lives? I thought we were the rational ones? The Mythbusters? Many of us go throwing scorn and insults at our theist brothers and sisters in the name of "dispelling myths" that have little to no bearing on our lives. Christmas affects all of us but here we are arguing semantics.

Do you also favor renaming Halloween, St. Patrick's Day, Valentine's Day, and BC/AD/BCE/CE (yes, BCE/CE still reference the supposed birth of the Christian deity)?

Time is subjective and we need a reference point we can all agree on. I would much prefer we use the fall of Rome as our marker for BCE vs. CE but it's too late to change it now.

Besides, the word "Christ's Mass" only has significance to Catholics anyway.

Really? Seems to have significance to anyone celebrating Christmas since they named the holiday after Christ's Mass.

Neopagans still believe that mistletoe has magical powers, so why aren't you deriding that practice as much as a nativity scene or religious Christmas carols? 

Because neopagans have zero influence beyond their own small circle whereas tons of people still believe Christ was born on Dec 25. I get it. It's a harmless myth. A white lie. But then the bible is filled with all sorts of debatable information, some of it beneficial, some of it harmful. Maybe you can explain to me why atheists defend the Christian mythology of Christmas but attack nearly every other aspect of the Christian faith?



I haven't gotten an answer yet but I got some downvotes (for anyone not familiar with Reddit, people can give you what amounts to "internet points" if they like your comment; likewise, they can downvote you and take your points away. These points are completely meaningless but Redditors lose their shit over them) so I posted this response:

Downvotes without arguments are just as good as upvotes. If you want to do something constructive you should address my counter-arguments... 

I won't hold my breath.