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Show 375: Humanist for the Holidays

Humanist for the Holidays – Call-In Special!

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With the holiday season comes a lot of cognitive (and emotional) dissonance for politically conscious humanists. If you were raised with religion, you might have fond memories called up by holiday decorations that clash with your current understanding of exploitation and consumerism. Meanwhile, you’re visiting family and friends who may not be aware of your “un-believer” status.

So how do humanists maintain integrity during the holidays while still having fun? Call in with your stories, advice, and questions and we’ll sort it all out on Equal Time For Freethought!

We will speak with Greg Epstein, Humanist Chaplain at Harvard University, about humanist celebrations and how humanists and atheists can live full, moral lives without religion, and with Patrick Colucci, Vice Chairman of the HumanLight committee, who will discuss the first ever international humanist winter holiday, now celebrating its 10th year!

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Show 227: Having a Merry Naturalistic Christmas

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No matter how secular or naturalistic you are it’s impossible not to notice that Christmas time is here. To avoid getting a whiff of Douglas Fur should atheists, agnostics, and other non-believers hold their breath until mid January when the sanitation department guides the once noble icons to their transition into wood chips?

Looking beyond its association with faith and beyond the way it has been co-opted by the merchants of crass consumerism, are we left with anything about Christmas worth celebrating? With nine day until Christmas, Equal Time for Freethought will be discussing why “Having a Merry Naturalistic Christmas” is not only possible, it’s desirable.

But what would be the philosophy behind a naturalistic approach to Christmas; and what would activities for a naturalistic Christmas look like?

To facilitate the participation of widely different groups of people that the church wanted to assimilate early church fathers adopted a wide range of local traditions into Christmas. The result is that today’s Christmas celebration is essentially a pan-regional, best of traditions past collection. Rather than denying Christmas, if like the Church fathers of the past, naturalists could find ways to build upon some of the existing holiday traditions and make them their own, it may go a long way to helping establish naturalism as a popular practice.

Hear why, when it comes to Christmas, we shouldn’t throw the baby out with the bathwater.