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Christmas is a very secular holiday. There is still mass, but in American culture the religious aspect of Christmas is minuscule in comparison to the secular an

Christmas is a very secular holiday. There is still mass, but in American culture the religious aspect of Christmas is minuscule in comparison to the secular and consumerism aspects. "Most of the songs are very religious" is just not true for most mainstream Americans. For most Americans Christmas is about family, Santa (Coke's version), Reindeers, Elves, Trees, and Gifts. And then local or family traditions which may include mass, but for most, it does not. If you'd like some stats - 90% of Americans celebrate Christmas. Fewer than half of Americans consider Christmas primarily a religious holiday. Among younger generations that is much lower (30% of Millennials consider it a primarily religious holiday). A majority of Americans say that Christmas is less of a religious holiday than it was in the past. Only about half of Americans will go to church on Christmas (compared to 82% that will spend time with family).[1] https://www.pewforum.org/2017/12/12/americans-say-religious-aspects-of-christmas-are-declining-in-public-life/ https://www.pewforum.org/2017/12/12/americans-say-religious-...

whimsicalism 5y ago
> If you'd like some stats - 90% of Americans celebrate Christmas. Fewer than half of Americans consider Christmas primarily a religious holiday. Maybe we're looking at different stats. I'm looking at the ones you linked from Pew, which show that 61% of Americans who celebrate Xmas consider it to be Christian, down from 64% in 2014. That's supposed to convince me that it is a secular holiday?
- throwaway894345 5y ago
  That seems like strong evidence that there is a “secular Christmas” that is distinct from “Christian Christmas”. Certainly it suffices to disprove the original claim that “celebrating Christmas identifies someone as Christian”.
DerekL 5y ago
> Santa (Coke's version) “The image of Santa Claus as a jolly large man in a red-and-white suit was the standard long before Coca-Cola co-opted it for their advertising.” https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/the-claus-that-refreshes/ https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/the-claus-that-refreshes/
- throwaway894345 5y ago
  That only indicates that Christmas was secularized long before Coke borrowed the Santa imagery.

whimsicalism 5y ago

> If you'd like some stats - 90% of Americans celebrate Christmas. Fewer than half of Americans consider Christmas primarily a religious holiday. Maybe we're looking at different stats. I'm looking at the ones you linked from Pew, which show that 61% of Americans who celebrate Xmas consider it to be Christian, down from 64% in 2014. That's supposed to convince me that it is a secular holiday?

throwaway894345 5y ago
That seems like strong evidence that there is a “secular Christmas” that is distinct from “Christian Christmas”. Certainly it suffices to disprove the original claim that “celebrating Christmas identifies someone as Christian”.

DerekL 5y ago

> Santa (Coke's version) “The image of Santa Claus as a jolly large man in a red-and-white suit was the standard long before Coca-Cola co-opted it for their advertising.” https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/the-claus-that-refreshes/ https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/the-claus-that-refreshes/

throwaway894345 5y ago
That only indicates that Christmas was secularized long before Coke borrowed the Santa imagery.