“Religion is Just a Myth” Placard placed Next to Nativity Scene

The War on Christmas is raging.

An atheist group has unveiled an anti-religion placard in the state Capitol, joining a Christian Nativity scene and “holiday tree” on display during December.

The atheists’ sign was installed Monday by Washington members of the Freedom From Religion Foundation, a national group based in Madison, Wis.

With a nod to the winter solstice – the year’s shortest day, occurring in late December – the placard reads, in part, “There is only our natural world. Religion is but myth and superstition that hardens hearts and enslaves minds.”

The foundation’s co-president, Dan Barker, said it was important for atheists to offer their viewpoint alongside the overtly religious Nativity scene and Christmas-style holiday tree.

This goes beyond ordinary attempts to secularize the sacred. Rather than turning “Christmas” into “Holiday” time, these indiviuals have opted to go nasty. Even looking at Christmas from a secular point of view, we have a tradition that has existed well before the onset of modern Christianity. Scholars (for whatever they are worth) can’t place the date of the birth of Christ. Many believe he was born six weeks after the end of Passover, probably in September. We celebrate Christmas on December 25 to coincide with the Roman Holiday of the Feast of the Son of Isis, the Goddess of Nature, which took place in Ancient times on December 25 and included such events as gift-giving and a celebration of food and drink. The tree was a Druid tradition from northern Europe. Druids sat around big evergreens and worshipped them.

The point of the above history recap is that these atheists seek to deny a historical tradition as well as a religious one by putting up this offensive placard. The biggest problem with atheists is that it seems that their purpose is not to encourage free speech but to stifle religious expression. As the story goes, the first European Americans came to America to seek refuge from religious oppression. You can’t just ignore the building blocks on which this country was founded to suit your own needs through “free speech.”

-Yossarian