I know that many do generally because they always have and don’t want to change. Some even say that it should be replaced by a more inclusive, general holiday. Part of me feels that all such holidays should be ignored by atheists altogether.  A more humane holiday should be global and universal, equally relevant to all humans, regardless of their cultural heritage or where they live.

The idea that xmas is a purely christian holiday is actually a myth perpetuated by the majority that happen to actually be christians. (link to post on this here) Many atheists don’t believe that Jesus existed, and those who do don’t regard him as having been anyone special. No atheists are christians, so why bother participating in such a holiday? It’s arguable that participating makes christianity seem more popular than it really is, not to mention giving christians an unjustified ego boost.

                I feel that atheists celebrating xmas can often cause more harm than good by arming conservative evangelical christians with the perceived argument that America is essentially a christian nation. The more popular and important christian holidays are in America, the easier it is to claim that there is something about christianity which is fundamental to America’s culture. It’s not a very good argument and this isn’t very good support for it, but why offer them even this bit of help?

Long ago I lost the struggle being an atheist parent who celebrates xmas, weather or not to perpetuate the Santa Claus myth. This required me to lie to my kids. Yes, it is a lie. There’s not a nicer way of describing what one does when telling small children that Santa Claus visits every house on the planet delivering presents to children via a flying sleigh pulled by “magic” ruminants.  If I had it to do it over I would have left this out of my children’s lives Aside from the joy of engrossing oneself in pure fantasy I find no value in it. In fact in many ways I feel it may even be a mild form of indoctrination.  There are always very strong incentives to do what other parents are doing. Not celebrating xmas and not telling kids about Santa could have caused my children to be ostracized from others above and beyond what simply being an atheist tends to do already.  At the same time, though, the numbers of religious minorities who also don’t participate are increasing, thus increasing the numbers of kids who are “different.” Being different isn’t easy, but who wants to be a hypocrite just to fit in?

One possible reason for atheists to celebrate xmas is that it has become increasingly secularized over time and there is little sign of the process stopping soon. Arguments against xmas remain, but atheist participation in xmas actually helps serve the cause of removing it from its various christian and pagan roots. There are good reasons why many christians are upset over the current state of christmas, and those may be good reasons for atheists to keep the changes in motion.

Some folks will read this and think it is an attack on a cherished holiday. Others may take away that I am a hard-line non- conformist that wants to openly besmirch christianity in general.  Nothing could be farther from the truth.  I enjoy all the pagan, secular aspects of the holiday.  I just don’t like the feeling of being under fire that comes along with its observance.

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3. Santa’s Arch Enemy?

    The pledge of allegiance was written by the socialist minister and magazine editor Francis Bellamy in 1892 for a nationwide public school celebration of the 400th anniversary of Christopher Columbus’s landing. Bellamy had hoped that the pledge would be used by citizens in any country.  Bellamy was a well-known ”Christian Socialist” whose beliefs involved some pretty unsavory bents.  I will leave you with one of his most often quoted statements as an example.

“(a)democracy like ours cannot afford to throw itself open to the world where every man is a lawmaker, every dull-witted or fanatical immigrant admitted to our citizenship is a bane to the commonwealth; where all classes of society merge insensibly into one another.”

The Pledge in its original form it read:

“I pledge allegiance to my Flag and the Republic, for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”

    In 1898, during the Spanish-American War, New York became the first state to mandate that public school students recite the Pledge of Allegiance at the beginning of each school day. Many states followed suit, and the pledge remained a staple of the daily routine in most schools.  The pledge recital itself was accompanied by a salute which Bellamy and one of his colleagues invented.  It consisted of a hand over heart motion ending with the extension of the arm pointing to the flag.  Look close at the image here.  Does the ending of the salute look familiar?  Yup, that’s right folks that is the same salute the Nazi’s adopted in their own socialist escapades.

The Bellamy Salute. Look familiar?

    In 1923, the words, “the Flag of the United States of America” were added.

At this time it read:

“I pledge allegiance to the Flag of the United States of America and to the Republic for which it stands, one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”

    In 1954, in response to the Communist threat of the times, President Eisenhower encouraged Congress to add the words “under God,” creating the 31-word pledge as it is usually spoken today. Bellamy’s daughter objected to this alteration.

Today it reads:

“I pledge allegiance to the flag of the United States of America, and to the republic for which it stands, one nation under God, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all.”

    The next time you state the pledge try to remember the facts.  What we view as a very patriotic and religious salute was and really still is anything but a good thing.  Allegiance to any symbol or person or belief without intelligent thought and discussion behind it is worthless and dangerous.

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1. Misguided Laudable Knowledge day
2. Gloriously Hedonistic Annual Jaunt
3. Updated Photos 12/28/2008

I will be the first to admit that I was never an upwardly mobile career oriented guy. I was, and am still pretty laid back in terms of my job and the whole career path thing. I was pretty content back then getting up each day and working my job without much care for the road my life would take. That’s not to say I did not have some plans for the future. My mind often wandered towards thinking about where I might be in 5 or ten years. I guess I was odd in the fact that I didn’t really party or hang out with the so-called fun crowd. I was also a late bloomer in that I wasn’t really interested in relationships with women. That’s not to say I didn’t have natural thoughts and desires but I just never actively pursued them. That’s why it was such a magical surprise that while doing my job I crossed paths with someone who piqued my interest at a very deep level.

When Laura and I met it was not love at first sight. On the contrary, it was more like a “do what I say and we will get along just fine” type of meeting. You see, we both worked at opposite ends of the daily schedule and as anyone that has worked in a restaurant environment can tell you, that amounts to almost two totally different jobs. They were similar, but altogether VERY different as well. I was making the transition from my time zone, nights, to her time zone, early mornings. This meant I was sort of invading her space. She was comfortable and commanded quite a bit of respect because of her knowledge of the job and skills at doing it. I was the new egg. That’s why I did my best to defer to her as I worked to get used to my new duties.

She was pleasant and fun to work with but she was older than I was and I was not much of a dating guy so it was a real surprise when she asked me if I wanted to go have dinner. She was wickedly smart and funny and I wanted to get to know her better so I accepted. Once again in a non-fairy-tale way, I can’t say we had everything in common. In fact, we were on opposite ends of the spectrum in terms of movies we liked, activities we enjoyed, politics, and money matters and so on. We did have a lot in common in terms of our beliefs about religion, life and family and what it means to come from distressed homes. We both had similar uneasy childhoods so we shared that. Most importantly she has a huge heart and is a

 wonderful mother. She brought a sparkle into my life that it is tough to describe. Her son Adam was a joy and being with them made me feel whole in a way I had not felt before. I fell for her and as the cliché’ goes, the rest is history.

All relationships suffer from high and low points. We have had our share. We are still together today 18 years later. She has given me support, nurturing, love attention and three beautiful children and not the least of which 18 years of her life that I can never thank her enough for. I am not the man I was 18 years ago. I am who I am today largely in part to her patience, understanding, love and guidance. I have never met anyone like her before and I am very happy to say, never since. She is my world, my universe, my rock and my love all rolled into one. She is everything to me.

Honey, when you read this know that I look forward to spending another 18 and more years with you. I have always tried to be a good man, father and husband. I could not do it without you. I love you more than words can express and am forever glad and grateful that you came into my life 18 years ago today. Happy anniversary darling.

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    Normally I enjoy spring and fall the most as far as the seasons go.  This year my two sons are as close to being grown as I could hope.  I don’t dress them.  I don’t bath them.  They pretty much get themselves up and out the door for school.  You get the idea.  They always still take up a great deal of my daily thoughts.  I wonder what we might have done right and what we might have done wrong.  I also wonder what we can still do to help them with their burgeoning lives.  I watch them and sometimes catch a glimmer of some thought in their eyes.  Usually it’s when they are seeing something old again in a new light.  Easter is one of those things I hope I got right.

I really feel that folks who celebrate Easter are, consciously or otherwise fostering the myth of christianity in some measure.  I also never felt the necessity to cram my children full of chocolate, or perpetuate some lore about a magical rodent that farts shiny colored eggs filled with happiness.  I do feel it is a good idea to not restrict holiday fun for kids who have to go to school and listen to how everyone else had lots of fun on this “special” day. Doing this, like many other things in religion, breeds resentment.   I still feel, with this in mind, that I need not support or endorse such silliness.  That’s the way we raised our boys.

  I hope my kids will feel the same way I do because critical thinking and logical debate is good for the mind.  Remember, the lack of verifiable proof that something exists is not in and of itself evidence of any kind that supports its existence.

   So, this Easter please ignore the dizzyingly unbelievable messages from your religious teachers and take this, my Easter message to you as an atheist: Morality is not something a god gives us. It is something that is inside us all as human beings.  Love one another and share what you have with those less fortunate. Feed the hungry, care for the sick and above all else this Easter do as you please not as your told because you only live once.

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    This made me wonder what it would have been like at the funeral of a comedian.  I bet the jokes flow and the good memories make the whole room howl with laughter.  With that being said here is a list of my favorite comedians that have shuffled off their mortal coil.  I hope you enjoy some good memories and laughs thinking of these folks and the joy they brought to the world.  I know I did.

12►

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1. Age Old Debate..Trapped Miners

    Of course, the reason ostensibly given for Saturday night Halloweening is that it will keep the holiday from interfering with Sunday night church activities.  If we follow this strange logic when Christmas or some other holiday falls on a Sunday, shouldn’t we also designate it for another day for the same reason, to eliminate any possible distraction for church-goers?  That would be crazy, right?

     I cannot resist thinking that every day must feel like Halloween for Christians. After all, they imagine angels and demons at war for their “souls,” and worship assorted spirits with which they claim to be able to communicate.

    Typically, when Halloween falls on a Sunday it simply means double the fun, and people can usually expect trick-or-treaters two nights in a row. When TN residents were asked how they felt about the age-old debate on the News Channel 5 website, answers were mixed but the majority who commented preferred keeping the Halloween hoopla on Halloween.  

    The city of Mt. Juliet Tennessee where I live has officially decided to keep the holiday on its proper day and observe the fun on October the 31^st 2010.  This is a rather progressive move considering I live where the majority of the folks are religious by diffusion.

   Happy haunting all!

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