Why religious holidays are increasingly without religion
Publisher: In-Sight Publishing
Publisher Founding: March 1, 2014
Web Domain: http://www.in-sightpublishing.com
Location: Fort Langley, Township of Langley, British Columbia, Canada
Journal: In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal
Journal Founding: August 2, 2012
Frequency: Three (3) Times Per Year
Review Status: Non-Peer-Reviewed
Access: Electronic/Digital & Open Access
Fees: None (Free)
Volume Numbering: 12
Issue Numbering: 2
Section: B
Theme Type: Idea
Theme Premise: “Outliers and Outsiders”
Theme Part: 30
Formal Sub-Theme: None
Individual Publication Date: April 8, 2024
Issue Publication Date: May 1, 2024
Author(s): James Haught.
Author(s) Bio: James A. Haught, syndicated by PeaceVoice, was the longtime editor at the Charleston Gazette and had been the editor emeritus since 2015. He was thought to have been the first investigative reporter in West Virginia. He won two dozen national newswriting awards and was author of 12 books and 150 magazine essays. He was also a senior editor of Free Inquiry magazine and was writer-in-residence for the United Coalition of Reason. He died on Sunday, July 23 (2023), at the age of 91.
Word Count: 301
Image Credit: None.
International Standard Serial Number (ISSN): 2369-6885
*Please see the footnotes, bibliography, and citations, after the publication.*
Keywords: Americans, biblical elements, Christmas, cultural phenomenon, family closeness, Frosty the Snowman, gifts, gatherings, happy holidays, Jesus, merry Christmas, Pew Research survey, Rudolph, Santa, Winter Solstice.
Why religious holidays are increasingly without religion
Christmas has been losing its supernatural component in recent times.
Increasingly, it’s more about Santa and Rudolph and Frosty the Snowman — plus billions in spending for gifts and gatherings that build family closeness.
The Christmas season has psychological power to induce feelings of kindness and human togetherness — needed more so than ever this year. It’s a cultural phenomenon affecting even scientific people who don’t swallow magic tales.
A 2017 Pew Research survey found that 90 percent of Americans celebrate Christmas — but an ever-smaller share of them think it’s about a virgin miraculously giving birth to a god. “There has been a noticeable decline in the percentage of U.S. adults who say they believe that biblical elements of the Christmas story — that Jesus was born to a virgin, for example — reflect historical events that actually occurred,” Pew reported.
Conservative politicians often rant about a “war on Christmas,” a secular plot to diminish the season — by saying “happy holidays,” for instance, instead of “merry Christmas.”
Actually, nature itself — the Winter Solstice — provides a more profound meaning for this season. For millennia, prehistoric people in the Northern Hemisphere dreaded the worsening cold and dark as the sun sank lower each day and nights grew longer. Then, joyfully, the sun began returning in late December, and daylight lengthened. Happy celebrations and sun god worship erupted. Life had hope again.
Early Christians didn’t know a date for the birth of Jesus and observed it at various times. But in the fourth century, Pope Julius I pulled a clever ploy: He decreed that Jesus was born on Dec. 25, which allowed Christianity to co-opt the merry festival period, taking it away from previous gods.
Happy holidays, everyone!
This column is adapted and updated from a piece originally published at Patheos / Daylight Atheism on Dec. 26, 2018.
Bibliography
None
Footnotes
None
Citations
American Medical Association (AMA 11th Edition): Haught J. Why religious holidays are increasingly without religion. April 2024; 12(2). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/haught-religious-holidays
American Psychological Association (APA 7th Edition): Haught, J. (2024, April 8). Why religious holidays are increasingly without religion. In-Sight Publishing. 12(2).
Brazilian National Standards (ABNT): HAUGHT, S. Why religious holidays are increasingly without religion. In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, Fort Langley, v. 12, n. 2, 2024.
Chicago/Turabian, Author-Date (17th Edition): Haught, James. 2024. “Why religious holidays are increasingly without religion.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal 12, no. 2 (Spring). http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/haught-religious-holidays.
Chicago/Turabian, Notes & Bibliography (17th Edition): Haught, J “Why religious holidays are increasingly without religion.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal 12, no. 2 (April 2024).http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/haught-religious-holidays.
Harvard: Haught, J. (2024) ‘Why religious holidays are increasingly without religion’, In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, 12(2). <http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/haught-religious-holidays>.
Harvard (Australian): Haught, J 2024, ‘Why religious holidays are increasingly without religion’, In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, vol. 12, no. 2, <http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/haught-religious-holidays>.
Modern Language Association (MLA, 9th Edition): Haught, James. “Why religious holidays are increasingly without religion.” In-Sight: Independent Interview-Based Journal, vo.12, no. 2, 2024, http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/haught-religious-holidays.
Vancouver/ICMJE: James H. Why religious holidays are increasingly without religion [Internet]. 2024 Apr; 12(2). Available from: http://www.in-sightpublishing.com/haught-religious-holidays.
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