According to a 2013 study by Pew Research (source) 92% of all Americans celebrate Christmas. Of those that celebrate Christmas only 51% view Christmas as a religious holiday. In fact, 32% of all Americans view Christmas as a cultural holiday. The holiday has become so ubiquitous that 73% of Hindus and 76% of Buddhists observe Christmas in one form or another. 14% of all Americans do not believe any part of the Christmas story including the Virgin Birth, Jesus in a manger, wise men, or the Angel Gabriel announcing the birth of the savior.
Christmas has come to include many traditions that have no relation to the Christian religion in general and Jesus’s birth story in particular. Think about all of the non-christian facets of the holiday. Here are an example of a few:
- Black Friday
- Santa Claus
- Reindeer
- The vast majority of ‘Christmas’ music that does not mention Jesus at all
- Gaudy light displays on the outside of houses
- Christmas trees
- Krampus
- Christmas ham
- Snowmen
- Frosty the Snowman
- Yukon Cornelius
- The Heat Miser
- The Cold Miser
- Rudolph the red nosed reindeer
- Mistletoe
- Yule logs
- Egg nog
- Tacky sweaters
- Large ribbons on new cars on Christmas morning
- Diamond sales
- Darth Vader with Santa hat inflatable yard displays
Somewhere in the last 100 years the celebration of Christmas has changed from primarily a solemn religious observance to an orgy of consumerism and excess. Seems like the secular concerns with the holiday (shopping, presents, decoration) have overshadowed the religious portion of Christmas in many homes. It must be difficult for the pious observer to keep the focus on what they see as the ‘reason for the season’, the birth of Jesus.
To put it simply, the holiday has been hijacked by traditions that are overshadowing what many people believe is the reason for the celebration. Nearly everybody celebrates Christmas but only half of those celebrants believe it is a religious holiday. So, why are these non-believers participating in the most important day on the Christian calendar?
Because the holiday season is fun! Most everyone gets time off of work, we get to spend time with people we love and care about, and we get to participate in the magic of gift giving. There are parties, sweet treats, and the warm embrace of community. Who wouldn’t love that?
The celebration of Newtonmas and the Season of Reason is an acknowledgement of the fact that a large portion of our population does not believe in the religious part of the holiday. The traditions that we all enjoy have nothing to do with the birth of Christ. Newtonmas is an attempt not to take Christ out of Christmas but to take the non-religious aspects out of the holiday and place them in a more appropriate, secular, tradition. It is also a challenge to make Christmas a religious holiday. Keep Christ in Christmas! Let us have all the drinking, eating, gifts, parties, and decorations that have nothing to do with Jesus. You can go to church to celebrate the birth of your savior and we will stay home and party. Don’t you think Jesus would want it that way?
Don’t worry, we will still invite you to our parties and to exchange gifts with loved ones. Newtonmas and the Season of Reason are for everybody regardless of religion, creed, race, gender identity, or sports team affiliation.
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