In the paper today—near the back of the Faith and Values Insert of the Lancaster Intelligencer Journal—I read one of the funniest stories I have seen in a while. It is an article about atheist whining during the Christmas Season. Here is the article if you want to read it:
There is a certain quality to the ridiculousness of the article that warms my Christian heart.
It is all about atheists who get steamed by people saying “Merry Christmas” or “Happy Holidays”. They do not want Jesus, God, and the Christ child mixed into everything. They also complain that Christians stole their Winter Solstice Holiday and their indoor evergreen trees. Whine, whine, whine! It is true, but c’mon it’s not news! They have to admit, however, that they do like some things about Christmas—presents, food and seeing family. They are having group meetings with other atheists to discuss coping techniques during the holidays. They actually talk about how to avoid Christmas music at the malls and how to steer the conversation with Aunt Mammie away from mangers. Good luck!
The feel I got from the article is that we should look out for the feelings of atheists who are struggling with our tendency to swoosh church and state together during this time of year. I have a different idea. This one will work particularly well in Lancaster County where Atheists make up a rather small segment of the population—there are at least 26 scattered amongst the 500,000 people in Lancaster County . I think that all of the rest of us should almost inaudibly hum Christmas Carols every time we leave our home. This would flush the 26 atheists out. It would work sort of like a dog whistle if the angst in the article is true. Atheists would hear it. It would bore into their subconscious. Eventually they would bolt. We could then target them for gifts and evangelism. I guess it is a twist on Rousseau, but then we can “force them to be merry.” Anyway, it would be fun.
I guess the deepest comedy in the article is based on the sort of absurdity of the entire experiment of weak-kneed atheism that cries about Christians displaying their faith publically. They hope to win sympathy by making us take their feelings into account. Of course, were we atheists we would never be tempted to be nice. The only reason that someone would or should take their feelings into account is because the love of the true God reaches out to those lost in darkness. How do we know this? He sent His Son into our deep darkness at Christmas! So, the only reason we should be kind to atheists and not mention Christmas to them is because of Christmas.
