Last week I got another dozen Christmas catalogs. Or should I say holiday catalogs? In recent years there has been a rising debate about the terminology around the end-of-year celebrations. I am an atheist so I never care what the events, parties or concerts of mid-winter are called, and I celebrate them all. But any name that is inclusive is always preferable.
Apparently I am in the minority. There are those who think that taking the centrality of Christ out of the winter celebrations constitutes some kind of war. In August I read about a culturally diverse school district in New Hyde Park, New York, that was considering changing the name of the Christmas Concert to the Winter Concert; a simple attempt to acknowledge other traditions and holidays that fall in the same month as Jesus’ birthday.
This caused quite an uproar. The atheists among us may be getting bolder and more outspoken, but the believers are getting louder and angrier as well.
Atheism is on the rise. The 2001 American Religious Identification Survey said that 14 percent of the American population has no religion or does not believe in God. The number of that same group from 1990 is only 8 percent. And since 2001 there has been another phenomenon – books written about atheism. Books that sell. Books that remain on the best seller list for weeks, even months.
Along with the rise in numbers of non-believers, and published atheist authors, comes the backlash. Atheists are the most hated of any of the minority groups in our country, according to a 2006 study from the University of Minnesota.
So it is no surprise that the New Hyde Park school district voted to keep Christmas in the name of the concert. The surprise is that the people who embraced the change stayed home. Only three of the 75 people who signed up to speak at the school board meeting spoke in favor of the new name.
The reason why they stayed away was made clear by one woman’s request at the meeting. A pro-Christmas mom asked the school board to provide a list of the children who objected to the Christmas concert.
If I thought my kids were going to be called out and labeled as trouble-makers, I would stay home too.
Children in elementary school like to get dressed up, go on stage and sing for their families. They don’t care what you call the concert, as long as they get juice and cookies at the end.
As a non-religious person I wish that the new name had been adopted. Not because I want to take Christmas away from anyone, but rather because the concert held at a public school should be as open to all members of the community as possible.
Let’s not forget that the point in having the concert in the first place is to join together and have fun. In a public school we are not going to be able to do that around any one religious belief, so why not be open instead of being exclusive. If the name Christmas leaves people out, why is it a war to change it and let people in?
Nica Lalli is an artist, educator and writer. Her first book is a memoir titled "Nothing: Something to Believe In" and was published last spring by Prometheus Books. She lives in Brooklyn, New York.
