Should Kids Learn the Christian Roots of Christmas?

Post-religious pundits debate whether to 'put Christ back in Christmas'

One in five Americans claim to have no religion, but most of them will celebrate Christmas anyway. That trend has inspired two liberal pundits, both of them atheists, to ask whether its a bad thing that kids have no idea who the Three Wise Men are. Should post-religious parents offer their kids some religious context for Christmas?

Learning the religious roots of Christmas is a good thing, writes Salon's Andrew Park, because it emphasizes the holiday's focus on loving and caring for others. Park cites famous atheist Richard Dawkins, who sings Christmas carols with his family. However, his experiment with reading Biblical stories to his kids ended in bewilderment and confusion when his kids didn't get why Jesus had "two fathers."

Their bafflement isn't surprising, argues Slate's Amanda Marcotte. "The myths and legends of a desert-dwelling people from 2,000 ago" are mostly irrelevant to our ideals of Christmas present, she writes. "The story of Christ's birth...is about how virgins are better than non-virgins, with a side dose of arguing that babies who haven't done anything yet can still be superior to everyone else by accident of birth."

Via Salon and Slate.

Posted Dec 25, 10am PST.

Should America's kids know the religious context of Christmas?

[sylehrman]

Christmas has always been a Christianized version of pagan holidays. The early Christians were aggravated because the followers of Mithra were having a good time and attracting people with their celebrations so they set off to compete. Now we have Catholic Christianity all mixed up with Norse paganism along with stuff about the new year, only recently added. Christmas is, therefore, largely a party and always has been mixed with some Christianity and bits and pieces of other religions. The Italians have la Befana, a witch who brings more presents in January so maybe we should add that to our mix.

[hwyangel]

True that. Christmas is a big mix of secular, pagan, and Christian. I personally believe that parents have a right to raise their children according to their own beliefs and customs without having them dictated by someone else. Just as I also believe (my personal opinion) that schools should stick to reading, writing and arithmetic and stay out of religion and politics altogether.

[hankf68]

xmas is strictly about big money and greed, period, as is all the other "holiday" propaganda by the big corp machine!

[hwyangel]

@hankf68
I don't agree. The big money could also be interpreted as good business sense too. After all, people spending their money are not objecting to the secular Christmas practice. We don't have to agree to be tolerant.

[hankf68]

@hwyangel ...good business sense isn't separate from greed, for they go hand in hand, maybe some of us just believe there is a better way, life doesn't have to be about the accumulation of things, unneeded especially, peace always :)

[hwyangel]

@hankf68

I personally don't own more than what would fit into the trunk of a small car. But it doesn't mean that I don't spend a lot of money on other who need it.

[PNWest]

Merry Christmas PolitixMary. It's nice of you to be posting new topics on Christmas day.

[PolitixMary K]

Thanks, PN! Merry Christmas to you too, and to everyone on Politix!:)

[jessejaymes]

@PolitixMary I would like to commend Mary Noble for periodically responding to posters. This is a rare occurrence in comment sections across the spectrum of the internet. Far too often we are left to feel that our comments are never read by anyone other than those who post and we're just nobodies whose opinions matter not at all. It changes all that just a tiny bit when I see Mary respond. Thanks and Happy Holidays to you and yours. We're having Cornish game hens today. Come on by if you have the time. LOL

[PoliticalSpice]

@PolitixMary yes, thank you so much for all you do. I look at tge bios of you and the others on the politix board and see what is being done here. Highly qualified folks, I feel privileged to get in on this early. And thank you for the opportunity to be part of something that will be really big one day. You and your co-workers are really something special. Thank you so much !!!

[Rustgold]

@PolitixMary Don't you realize that Christmas is a Pagan festival, dressed up into a Christian pouter coating. So why not celebrate Paganism, and tell everybody how corrupted Christianity is?

[PoliticalSpice]

@Rustgold oh yea, great idea, as if people don't criticize her enough already. LOL

[KyleMFb]

Most Americans dont celebrate Christmas to be religious they celebrate it to give and receive gifts nothing else they could care less about the religious aspect of this pointless holiday and if they were truly religious I don't think they would celebrate a pagan holiday

[tomincali]

what i see now with folks putting an x infront of mas is sad to me. used to see it as a way to shorten the word Christmas until someone pointed out that is xing out Christ.

[citizen7]

I thought the same thing.. but I have read recently that the X is actually a character that stands for Christ..

[DARSB]

The "X" in Xmas is a hand-me-down from the Greek "chi" which has been used for centuries as an abbreviation for "Christ".

Merry Xmas.

[Republican5001]

@DARSB I did pay attention to my professor in my religious studies class.

[xvx]

I have been told that using the x is common among the Jewish people talking about Christmas, since some refuse to say the name of Christ.

[ConserveUSA]

It is very sad to see this. As Christians, we should stand strong no matter what.

[Jim49418]

Merry Christmas everyone!

[hwyangel]

Merry Christmas.

[idiot]

please drug test the idiots that come up with this crap

[Nat]

Why not just allow everyone to tell their own children what they want them to know? Why get in other people's religious business? The government is doing a bang-up job of it. I've had enough.

[jessejaymes]

My children were raised without religion. My granddaughter is being raised without religion. As far as I'm concerned this is one of those things that the absolute authority should lie with the parent(s). Not the government, not the church, not anyone in any way, shape or form. Freedom of religion means exactly that. Including freedom from religion. My kids asked what the manger scene was all about and we told them it was a religious ceremony much as the passing out of trophies at the end of little league was a baseball ceremony. that seemed to be enough at the time and after all they were little and more interested in Santa Claus and their presents. When they got older they never asked again.

[twinertia]

DEFINITELY toss in the religious aspects; once you've put reality up against the competing mythologies, the sooner li'l nontheists tend to sprout up.

[thejimbo]

The only reason that Slate publishes these little defiant "stick in your eye" articles is to get a lot of clicks. Congratulations to the marketing guy that told the editor to tell the writer to draft something "controversial".

[Dan_Tien]

Christianity is not the root of Christmas, it's one of the branches.

[jamie91]

I think it is a parental decision. I was never taught about it, but still learn all about the mythology due to media and others in the community. I also learned the pagan roots as my best friends parents were pagan, and several times I was there while they were celebrating. But I do not think any parent should have to tell their child something they do not believe in.

[CharlieRosencr]

I think it's important for them to know that Christmas is a derivative if the pagan celebration, saturnalia. I would like them to understand the evolution of the custom. It's a great opportunity to teach.

[Santiagoquijan]

Yes!, every good believer is obliged to feed the good knowledge to every child
around them, we have to remember that the reason for the celebration is Jesus,
also is good to notice that "santa claus" is just one more lie that deviates the
atention from the true meaning of christmas if christians feed their children with
lies they shall reap what they saw.

[ST_Louie_Sue]

Jesus is the reason for the season. Meaning “Christ”mas. You can celebrate the winter solstice or whatever you want but Christmas is celebrating the birth of Christ. I think it would do most people some good to teach their kids the real meaning of Christmas since most of them have also forgotten.

[seedtick]

I can't even believe that this is an issue for anyone. Even heatherns and Muslims must understand that Christmas is a Christian religious holiday. They don't have to celebrate it, but they do need to know what it is.

[Cheenoguy]

So you believe we should know the roots? Fair enough, but the roots are NOT Christian. Christianity combined and popularized a few different pagan traditions. Jesus' only contribution to Christmas is that 400 years after his death his followers attached his name to Saturnalia.

[seedtick]

@Cheenoguy So you say. I say otherwise. And it is the first I've ever heard of that. And probably anyone else. LOL

[Cheenoguy]

@seedtick
Irritating thing about print in a forum. I can't tell whether you are being sarcastic or ignorant about Christmas being a Christian holiday.

[seedtick]

@Cheenoguy I have stated my belief and nothing you can say will change that. You say, they say...means nothing to me. December 25 is the day we Christians celebrate the birth of Christ...period. You can celebrate anything you wish, I just don't care, but don't waste your breath or keystrokes trying to change my mind about what I believe. I tell you this with all due respect to you and what you believe or don't believe.

[Cheenoguy]

@seedtick
I am not saying YOU aren't celebrating Jesus' birthday on Christmas. All I am saying is that Christmas is simply a combining of ancient traditions and celebrations under an umbrella of celebrating the birth of Christ. Christmas is simply the Christian version of the celebration of the winter solstice. There is no assumption of any kind here. Everything is simplly documented and universally proven. Nothing wrong whatsoever if you want to put the focus on Christ during this season, but that doesn't change facts.
This is the problem with absolutism ideologies like Christianity and many other religious/political views. When confronted with facts that contradict or disprove a belief many choose to ignore facts furthering delusion.
Happy Hanakuah.(At least Jesus actually celebrated that.)

[infidel1]

In the old testament guess what God called those who cut down trees and put them in their house and decorated it? Something like ...heathen. totally pagan stuff

[NormalFlora]

Yes, and it's important to tell the WHOLE truth, including its Pagan roots in Saturnalia and the Solstice celebration.

[Drake_Burrwood]

yes. but Christmas is not on the solstice just near it is not Saturnalia but was to replace it.
They didn't mind how you celebrated the birth only that you did. Now for some it isn't enough you must do it their right way.

[NormalFlora]

@Drake_Burrwood Because of the precession of the equinoxes, the solstice is NOW on the 21st, but it was on the 25th 2000 years ago.

[Drake_Burrwood]

See now we can celebrate both each on it's own day. ;-)

[NormalFlora]

@Drake_Burrwood True, but christians still need to acknowledge that the "reason for the season" on Dec 25 is the Pagan celebration of the solstice, and NOT the birth of Jesus, which happened in late Spring.

[Drake_Burrwood]

But when would you celebrate the beginning of the growth of the Son, but at the beginning of the growth of the Sun.

While it is true that that particular style of local celebration has spread the farthest the truth is local stylistic celebrations are common. Simply because they are familiar in materials, foods, and artistic expression. If I was discussing the history of the celebration of Christmas of course I would do more then mention it, along with others. Though I would mention it as a first with all that means. But honestly we celebrate the new year and if you want a solstice celebration I wouldn't hesitate to celebrate the lengthening of the days myself at my age.

[RobertJHarsh]

At some point, I plan to teach my kids that religion is something that is quite bad, in fact. I'll teach them how Christmas came to be, how its a pagan holiday, how religion is a fraud, how there is really no difference between Santa Claus and Jesus Christ, and how Xmas honestly should be named "National Buy Stuff or you're a terrorist day". I just tell people Merry Christmas to make them mad.

[Chrysalis]

So in other words you are going to plant negative prejudices against religion in your children as opposed to letting them choose for themselves? Creating hate against a group of people one way or another is still immoral. Personally when I have children I am going to expose my children to any spiritual and religious information I can, including things from the past like Egyptian mythology to modern religions like Buddhism and Christianity so that they will be well informed about people's beliefs and religions and why people believe certain things, and be open minded and tolerant toward others, while also letting them decide for themselves if there is any kind of religious or spiritual path that they may want to practice or take part in or whether they choose to be agnostic or atheist.

[RobertJHarsh]

@Chrysalis Here is the problem with your argument, Christians, or Xitians as I call them, are the most intolerant people on the face of this Earth. Asking any black, latino, homosexual, muslim, woman, or any one else whom has been on the business end of their stick.

Catholics play the game of sending missionaries around the world to convert people with food. 200 years ago they threatened to kill them, and often did.

Southern Baptists, or the Xitian Al-Qaeda as I call them, cannot stop meddling in US politics and often fund nasty things. Such as anti-Homosexual propaganda in Uganda, just to name one thing they fund.

Jews, while not technically Xitians, might as well be since they are the ultimate "do as I say, not as I do" crew. They basically have the Southern Baptists as their practical slaves since SB's believe they will be raptured, trained into a military where Jesus will send them to fight against the enemies of Israel during the last days. The funny part, the Jews think Jesus Christ will be a general whom will lead the IDF to defeat their enemies. Oh...and their "enemy" has been locked up in concentration camps since the 1950s. I am not making any of this up, both the Jews and the Southern Baptists..errr...Republican party both believe this. I was taught this AS A CHILD IN CHURCH.

Muslims had a pedophile as their leader....

I can go on and on but to your point, why would I expose my children to any of this? Bottom line...all religion is a fraud and that is what I will teach my kids.

[Chrysalis]

@RobertJHarsh I visited several Southern churches growing up. My grandmother was of the Holiness faith, this is a faith that is associated with snake-handling, however she thought it was an outdated practice and should not be going on in churches for the risks it presented and understood that snakes can be as she put it "charmed" by loud music. I knew her as a kind woman who helped people whether she agreed with their way of life or not if they needed help because that was part of the way she was raised and part of her religious conviction. I grew up in the South, neither of my parents were consistent church goers however, so I didn't have religion forced upon me, but as I mentioned before, I had opportunities to visit a wide range of Southern churches of varying denominations because I had friends who attended and accompanied them. I think your view of Southern Christians is grossly exaggerated. The most loud mouthed people on religious issues, usually don't even attend church regularly or try to live or follow the way of obedience (in other words "live the life") that the religion they supposedly claim to follow expresses they live (ex: waiting until marriage to have sex, doing good works as well as faith, abstaining from alcohol, practicing humility). While there is ignorance in the church, and ignorant people in general who claim a religion, not everyone who attends church or believes in a deity, or lives a certain lifestyle, is an extremist and most people I've experienced do it either for the personal relationship they feel they have with God, and the social interaction in the community and coming together as a community. Most church-goers are not political extremists trying to influence laws. So in my opinion, your view seems laden with prejudices against religion and religious people which is hardly any different than any other kind of prejudice you can have against a group of people. You can teach your children what you want, but it's no different to put in their minds that all religious people are hateful bigots and con-artists than it is making them homophobes or racist when you isolate a group of people you don't understand and hold attitudes toward that group that are hateful based on your assumption of what you think they are as opposed to what they are. The fact of the matter is, there are many religious persons who are not as you described and it sounds like political extremists twisting religion to their own means is what you really have a problem with.

[AtheistStand]

The people who want the "religious" history taught dont REALLY want the COMPLETE history taught. Thats the problem......they want the story to START with their christ and end with their christ......with no info in-between.

Simple to see.

Its all or nothing.......can their religion stand up to COMPLETE truth?

Hummmm....hehehehehehehe!!!!!!
Nah.....

[Real4WheelDrv]

And an EQUAL part of the problem are the hardcore atheists who see religion as a disease or mental illness, so why WOULDN't religious folks stick to their narrow interpretation of it since they'll still be ridiculed for including it in the narrative anyway?

[Synthesis]

What class would it be taught in?