Do I celebrate Christmas? Yes.
Am I a Christian? No.
How is this possible, one might ask? Simple. I celebrate Christmas as a cultural holiday. Yes, just as I disbelieve in "Christ", well, at least I disbelieve in him as the born of a virgin, miracle-working, crucified and resurrected "Son" of the Creator of the Universe, I also disbelieve in goblins and leprechauns. But despite my disbelief in goblins and leprechauns, I still recognize Halloween and St. Patrick's Day as cultural holidays. Yup, I attend Halloween parties and I drink green beer, and I don't feel weird about it. For this reason, I do not feel that I and other nonbelievers are being inconsistent or weirdos for decorating a tree and hanging stockings for Christmas---IOW, celebrating the cultural aspects of the holiday.
While of course, belief in Santa and his reindeer-powered sleigh is no longer in the equation, it still brings back pleasant, childhood memories to put up lights and decorate a tree. There are a few things that I miss about my childhood at Christmas time..e.g...leaving cookies and milk for "Santa", making a list of the things I want, etc., just as there are things I miss about believing in "God". For instance, I miss the comfort that the thought of being reunited with my deceased loved ones gave me. I miss believing that "God" was looking out for little ol' me and would answer my prayers.....well, sometimes.
But alas, my missing the cookie and milk ritual and having my prayers sometimes answered doesn't mean that "Santa" or "God" have referent in reality, nor does it mean that the right amount of will power will work in forcing myself to readopt belief in either guy. There is just no amount of will power that can get me to believe in that which I find unbelievable. Only evidence can change my mind. This, of course, will sound dogmatic and "closed-minded" to some readers. 'Sorry, I can't help that, other than to maybe prompt you to ask yourself what you'd say to the person who called you "closed-minded" or "dogmatic" for disbelieving that "Poseidon" controls the tides without any evidence that it is so, and actually, plenty of evidence that it is not so.
This is how we know that non-belief isn't always a "choice". When a "bell" rings, we cannot "unring" it. When we learn to recognize the misses as well as the "hits", we cannot go back to ignoring the misses. When we get the courage to put intellectual honesty ahead of "faith" and sometimes even happiness, we cannot go back to doing things the opposite way. When we understand what subjective validation does and how and why it works, we cannot go back to a "group-think" mentality. When we learn that we just can't trust our feelings or "intuition" 100% of the time when it comes to what is true, we cannot go back to trusting those things.
Anyway.....
Happy Holidays and/or Merry Christmas to all!
