On Christmas
The year is almost over. Families are coming together. The world is glowing with lights, decorations, and holiday spirit. But there are those who just can’t seem to get into it. I’m referring to the people who graffiti social media with “Christmas is pagan!” memes and long posts about how Christmas is really a masked demon-palooza. They often allude to things like the winter solstice, Saturnalia, and Sol Invictus, claiming that these morphed over time into what we celebrate today on December 25th (amongst other theories). This article will not be long, however, as one needs only respond to such people in the way I will explain.
After researching this topic and the claims I already listed, there is one common thread that runs through all of the theories: the Sol Invictus theory, the Saturnalia Theory, and the winter solstice theory. The one thing all of these Christmas origin stories all have in common is a lack of any evidence that they are the root of the beloved holiday. No, seriously; there is no manuscript, archaeological, or other evidence to show a cause and effect relationship between any of those ancient holidays and Christmas. “But,” the challenger may respond, “There are so many similarities between them, like they both happen around the same time.” This may be true, but there’s an old saying that I believe applies in this scenario: Correlation is not Causation. Meaning simply, just because there are similarities between two things, those similarities are not proof that those things are related, or that one caused the other.
This article isn’t a long one because there’s no evidence backing the claims I’m defending against. So how do we respond to people when they tell us that Christmas is basically Sol Invictus or Saturnalia? In law, there is a general principle called the “burden of proof.” Basically, the one making the assertion bears the burden of proof. Simply pointing this out to the affirming party is sufficient. When someone says to you, “If you celebrate Christmas, you’re really participating in the pagan rituals of Sol Invictus, because that’s what it was originally,” you can simply reply, “What is your source?” or, “How do you know that?” or perhaps simply, “Prove it.” And they’ll either point out some similarities (which are often fabricated or greatly exaggerated.) or tell you they watched Zeitgeist or Religulous or some other terribly researched documentary. But what they won’t do is cite a clear evolution from one holiday into another using sources from the time periods they allegedly took place.
If you read my article on Halloween, you may have also remembered the point I made about old practices done by pagans and practices today. If you didn’t read that the point was basically that, even if a practice was performed by pagans hundreds of years ago, It doesn’t mean that the practice itself is inherently pagan. In the case of Christmas, even if pagans started Christmas as something else, it does not follow that people celebrating Christ’s birth today are somehow unknowingly worshiping pagan deities. And if you disagree, then you have a problem if you have been baptized, for baptism was performed by ancient Babylonian pagans over a hundred years before Christ was born.
Of course, I could dive deeper into each individual claim and give a thorough treatment of each, but this is an article, not a book, so if you wish to dig deeper, check out the resources I’ve included below.
Recommended Resources:
Christmas is not Pagan (Parts 1&2) by InspiringPhilosophy
1. Christmas is Not Pagan (Scripture) - YouTube
2. Christmas is not Pagan (History) - YouTube