I was talking with Brian the other day about the over secularization of Christmas. Where did all of our material desires come from? Why has it come away from being a generally Christian holiday celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ, to a custom in which Atheists and Agnostics and non-practicing Christians alike participate?
He told me it was due to Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol. So I decided to look it up.
Prior to the release of A Christmas Carol in 1843, the spirit of Christmas had been dwindling. In the U.S. Christmas lost popularity in the post -Revolutionary War era because it was thought to be a British custom, and we were all things non-British at that point.
Charles Dickens was a literary stud in his day. You could say he was one of the first celebrity authors. He popularized the "book tour" and many things which are commonplace now in our society. I think pretty much anyone with a high school education could quote you one Dickens line, even if it is only "Bah! Humbug!" The purpose was to revive the Christian spirit in the secular way.
If you notice when reading A Christmas Carol, there is little to no focus on religion. Dickens wanted to highlight the other important parts of Christmas...a general season of good cheer and spirit, excellent food and drink, family gatherings, and goodwill. He was the first, essentially, to take the "Christ" out of modern Christmas, and "made" Christmas a secular tradition for many Atheists, Agnostics, and non-practicing Christians it is today!
At the time Dickens wrote A Christmas Carol, Britain was kinda-sorta still celebrating the 12 Days of Christmas (from December 25th - January 5th, the time thought to be when the Magi brought gifts to the new baby Jesus). Dickens revised that in his novel to be just one day of family and friends and good tidings, much like we have today.
Dickens was very progressive for his time, and this actually helped his "reinvention" of Christmas.
I have nothing against Dickens. In fact, A Tale of Two Cities was quite possibly one of my favorite books read in high school. A Christmas Carol is one of my all time favorite stories (particularly the Muppet adaptation!) :) I think what Charles Dickens did for Christmas is pretty darn amazing, actually. Had he not written A Christmas Carol, Christmas would probably be just another day of the year today. But he revived the festive spirit and the holiday goodwill which was beginning to dwindle. And perhaps due to the revival of these things also came a revival in the Christian celebration of Christmas, although that seems to have dwindled a bit in the past few decades.
However, as I've mentioned I frequent the debate boards, and have found among the countless Christmas threads that Atheists and Agnostics often spite Christians for pretty much consuming December. Christmas is everywhere you look, everywhere you go. It is essentially impossible to escape, and Christians are often the scapegoat for the long shopping lines and mall craziness, the overspending, the tacky decorations, and annoying Christmas music. But what they are seeing in plain sight is 99% of the time not related to the Christian celebration, but the Dickens type celebration of Christmas. And I don't think his idea of using the Christmas holiday to spread holiday cheer, festive spirit, gather with family, and share goodwill is anything to be spiteful of.
Likewise, Christians shouldn't take it so personally if an Atheist, Agnostic, or non-Practicing Christian wants to participate in Christmas traditions. Afterall, we may not even have those traditions if it weren't for Charles Dickens' agnosticism (at least in this case, because it is said he actually was a Christian*), we wouldn't have Christmas as we know it today!
*Note: "Agnostic" wasn't actually a term until 1869, long after the publication of A Christmas Carol.
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