Many Christians today bemoan the debasement of the true meaning of Christmas. They remind others what the real reason for the season is quite often. But is the birth of Christ the reason Christians celebrate this holiday?
Actually, as some of you may know, the most common consensus is that Christmas was a conversion of the pagan holiday of Natalis Invictus, the birthday of the Invincible Sun (the link is from the evangelical magazine Christianity Today-I find Catholic attempts to defend a specifically Christian origin for Christmas unconvincing, though even if they are correct it seems it was a minor Christian holiday set next to Easter). For this reason, I find secular challenges to Christmas based on its religious meaning weak, as Christmas is obviously a holiday that can be re-appropriated with ease. Example? In Japan Christmas is more explicitly commercial.
Posted by razib at 10:58 AM Comments