St. Nicholas and the Atheists

Happy St. Nicholas Day!

Today on the Faith & Chelsen blog on Patheos, you can read about St. Nicholas, the Bishop of Myra, and what would he would think of the modern day war on Christmas, or, more precisely, in the words of Dennis Prager, the war on the religious nature of America. The latest skirmish is brought to you by American Atheists. They proudly announced the advent (hah!) of two national (anti)Christmas billboards in their December 1 press release.

It’s Christmas time, so, of course the American Atheists have spread their cheery billboards across the country, urging that we all “celebrate an atheist Christmas” by skipping church.

You can view the 2016 billboards and the organization’s press release on their website. The first billboard shows a text message exchange between two young women in which one laughs at the idea of going to church, saying “I don’t believe that stuff anymore.” She adds that her parents, obviously churchgoers, will “get over it.” The second billboard is a parody on President-elect Donald Trump’s campaign slogan and declares, “Make Christmas Great Again: Skip Church!” The irony of both these denunciations appears to be lost on the American Atheists.

Read the rest here.

I also covered the atheist crusade against Christmas in an article that originally appeared in December 2013, along with excerpts from an article from 2008. Here’s an excerpt:

The American Atheists seem to believe, as did my late father, that using “Xmas” is taking the “Christ” out of Christmas. In reality, the X in “Xmas” comes from the Greek letter Chi, the first letter in the Greek word Χριστός, or Christ. It is combined with P, the Greek letter Rho, as a symbol of Christ both in artistic treasures such as the Book of Kells as well as in the gold glitter-covered Styrofoam Chrismon ornaments for Christmas trees.

But before the Atheists were on billboards urging people not to go to church on Christmas, saying “you hate it, it’s boring; you probably only go because you feel guilty or obligated” (obviously the American Atheists have never visited my church!), the Freedom From Religion Foundation (FFRF) and the American Humanist Association were peppering the skies with secular tidings.

Read the rest here.

So many people agonize over the day when they have to tell their children, or their children learn on the street, that there is no Santa Claus. I avoided that with my daughter by telling her that Santa was actually a Bishop of the Church, who loved children and took care of them, especially the poor and orphaned. I skipped the smacking Arius part for a few years!

But like so much that the secular world would like to debunk, the origin of Santa is real, and true, and clear. And, of course, so is the origin of Christmas.