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Words by: Mark Hunter

Image by: Jessica Chan

I can’t remember exactly when I decided there wasn’t a God, but it may just as well have been on Christmas day as any other.  My grandmother’s Christmas  cards aside, I don’t remember Jesus ever making an appearance at our table, either in the form of an acutely misshapen Brussels sprout or a quick prayer of thanks to someone other than mum for the food.  We didn’t even wish him a happy birthday.  Poor guy – imagine billions of people celebrating your birthday and some of them are so busy stuffing their faces they can’t even be bothered to wish you any happy returns whatsoever.  Talk about rude.
Despite this unintentional rudeness however, and my wholly secularist approach to the holiday season, I really don’t feel that I’m any worse off.  I have had some hugely entertaining Christmases over the years despite my doubts over its origins, and, although of course things would have been done differently had my family been of the religious persuasion, I don’t think this lack of belief has stymied my joy in any way; I can’t say that I’ve ever come away from Christmas feeling that something was missing, like actually believing in it.  Conversely however, the one year Santa Claus didn’t show up (a problem with the reindeers, my parents confidently claimed, and not, as I suspect now, the result of a boozy Christmas Eve party) I was inconsolable – Christmas couldn’t be Christmas without the Father of Christmas.  But Father in Heaven?  Nah, you could keep him.
So is it offensive or derogatory for non-believers to piggyback onto something they don’t believe in, purely for their own gain?  It depends how they do it.  Christmas to me now means a time to enjoy all that I have – my health, my family, my friends and my fiancée – which for me is something worth celebrating.  Okay so technically I’m a non-believer, meaning I should be cast into the fiery depths, but surely enjoying the company of your loved ones is something of a Christian value and I can be cut some slack on this one.  Christians I expect celebrate both their real family and their spiritual family, which is fair enough, but for those who celebrate nothing…they really are missing out.  Some atheists may feel they have the best of both worlds (all of the holidays, none of the guilt for example), but any boasts on this front shouldn’t be met with anger or reproach but with pity, for if the best these people can hope for at Christmas is a few days off work then you can only feel sorry for them.  That really is empty.
So whilst some celebrate Jesus’ birthday and the love they have for him, I’ll be celebrating my family and the love I have for them.  We may be approaching it from different sides, but it’s not a bad common denominator really.

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