This Atheist Loves Christmas So Stop the War on My Favorite Holiday

It's that time of year again -- atheist holiday billboards are hung with care and Tony Perkins' face is glowing like Rudolph's nose. That's right, it's time to take up arms in the War on Christmas.But I, like many other Americans, find myself in quite the Christmas pickle as the battle lines are drawn. I'm an atheist, but I love Christmas. Come to my house and you'll see it decked with boughs of plastic evergreen entwining Santa Claus and more angels than could dance on the head of a pin, while shimmering lights of all colors wind around my house in a kaleidoscopic display. Of course, the early Christian fathers condemned such greenery and illumination as too pagan for the followers of God's Only Son. It's a fair point, since cultures long before Christ had been celebrating this time of year as the annual death and rebirth of Earth's Only Sun. Solstice festivals are viciously practical, providing artificial light during the darkest days of winter when good cheer is rare, and we humans are in desperate need of some revelry.   Continue reading...