Sunday Opinion: The Fake War On Your Religious Holidays

I am an atheist that celebrates Christmas. Get over it.

Like most American atheists, I grew up in a religious household celebrating religious holidays and Christmas means more than just a celebration of the birth of Christ. It’s also a day about family meals, visits with all the quirky relatives, drinking eggnog until I’m sick and mandatory viewings of A Christmas Story.

Navigating the holidays as an atheist gets tricky, and any day now the religious right is going to start complaining about any use of the word “holiday” in the place of “Christmas.”  Like the swallows returning to San Juan Capistrano each year, the conservative talking-heads on cable news return with such predictability that I can write this article about their yet-to-be-delivered talking points before the official holiday season starts. (We agree that Christmas doesn’t start until after Thanksgiving, right?)

Soon we will be told that anyone that wishes to be inclusive of all religions and of non-believers are suppressing the rights of Christians by not using the terms that Christians want us to use. This is very regularly called a “war on Christianity” and the Christians that claim to be under-attack get pretty incensed at how non-Christians and those that respect diversity are limiting their right to celebrate a religious holiday.

I’m not personally offended when someone says to me, “Merry Christmas!” or if I’m wished, “Happy Chanukah!” even though I’m neither Christian or Jewish. So why is it offensive to the religious right if I decide to be inclusive and wish people “Happy Holidays” during this season?

The truth is, this is all fake outrage.

I like to call it the “Christian Victimhood Complex.” If any faith (or lack thereof) is given an ounce of equality, the religious right claims oppression. It’s an effective political tactic because often in politics we get people involved by presenting to them an idea to be against rather than an idea to be for.

Christians, however, dominate this country. We close our government on their holidays. Their God is represented on our money. We’ve never elected a non-Christian president. So this outrage over religious inclusivity is manufactured to create feelings of oppression and to get conservatives energized. It’s a ploy to help divide our country into warring factions.

This battle is being lead by people like Sarah Palin who has regularly said that “angry atheists want to abort Christ from Christmas.” And Bill O’Reilly who claims that atheists want to “banish any mention of Jesus in the public square.” And you don’t need a degree in religious studies to see that the outrage is fake.

If the religious right was genuinely interested in keeping “Christ in Christmas” their philosophy wouldn’t also include slashing programs that help the less fortunate like food stamps, health insurance and unemployment benefits.

Jesus’ words, “I was sick and you took care of me,” are ignored in the Republican war to destroy the Affordable Care Act which provides health insurance to millions of Americans who can’t afford coverage. In 24 states it has become increasingly more difficult to afford health insurance coverage because their Republican governors and Republican-controlled legislatures have refused to expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act.

And last year House Republicans cut millions of dollars from anti-hunger programs that help feed Americans. A problem that falls disproportionately onto America’s children. Proving again that the same people that are the loudest about the “persecution” of American Christians are the quietest about the neglect of the less fortunate.

Some public schools are calling trees “holiday trees” and some department stores are refusing to erect nativity scenes. But at the same time, some of our elected representatives are causing suffering and truly contradicting Jesus’ teachings. Do you think that Jesus would care more about requiring all Americans to say, “Merry Christmas” instead of “Happy Holidays” or feeding the hungry and caring for the sick?

Happy Holidays!