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Well-adjusted atheist
Dec. 24th, 2006 01:37 pmThis whole Christmas thing is still a little bit weird to me. It's not just that I'm an atheist, but back home the whole gift-giving portion of the holiday is on December 5th (St Nicholas), not part of the solstice / tree festival. Sure there's a religious element to it (for those that care), but back home Christmas is really a good time with family and friends, too much to eat and drink, with fading religious connotations for the 20-odd percent of those that still care.
Not so in the US, and I'm proud of myself - I'm getting less freaked out by it every year. The commercial part of it I understand - it feels a few weeks late to me, and there's reindeer instead of black helpers, the candies and cookies are different, but all that is just a minor adjustment. It is the absurd religiosity of the country that freaks me out. Weeks and weeks of TV programs, on channels like CNN and the History Channel, about the "real" Jesus and his times - presented largely uncritically, as if any of these Christians myths have any basis in reality. It's just so strange - the country seems to have a huge mental blind spot that they want all comers to admire for 2-3 weeks a year and that you're absolutely forbidden to laugh at.
Anyway - I consider myself well-adjusted to my new country. We have a Christmas tree, I dutifully got my wife and kitten presents, we'll have dinner with good (non-religious) friends, and I haven't sniggered once at the crazy religious shit. Well, not openly.
Not so in the US, and I'm proud of myself - I'm getting less freaked out by it every year. The commercial part of it I understand - it feels a few weeks late to me, and there's reindeer instead of black helpers, the candies and cookies are different, but all that is just a minor adjustment. It is the absurd religiosity of the country that freaks me out. Weeks and weeks of TV programs, on channels like CNN and the History Channel, about the "real" Jesus and his times - presented largely uncritically, as if any of these Christians myths have any basis in reality. It's just so strange - the country seems to have a huge mental blind spot that they want all comers to admire for 2-3 weeks a year and that you're absolutely forbidden to laugh at.
Anyway - I consider myself well-adjusted to my new country. We have a Christmas tree, I dutifully got my wife and kitten presents, we'll have dinner with good (non-religious) friends, and I haven't sniggered once at the crazy religious shit. Well, not openly.
