Ayn Rand (author of Atlas Shrugged and The Fountainhead) was asked if even an atheist, such as herself, should celebrate Christmas. Her answer reveals a lot about why today’s unpleasant, nasty and generally unhappy leftist/social justice warriors are so against Christmas. It’s not only because they hate Christianity, although they do. It’s because they hate life, themselves, and pretty much everything — especially happiness:
Rand’s comments:
“Yes, of course [an atheist like myself should celebrate Christmas]. A national holiday, in this country, cannot have an exclusively religious meaning. The secular meaning of the Christmas holiday is wider than the tenets of any particular religion: it is good will toward men—a frame of mind which is not the exclusive property (though it is supposed to be part, but is a largely unobserved part) of the Christian religion.
The charming aspect of Christmas is the fact that it expresses good will in a cheerful, happy, benevolent, non-sacrificial way. One says: “Merry Christmas”—not “Weep and Repent.” And the good will is expressed in a material, earthly form—by giving presents to one’s friends, or by sending them cards in token of remembrance . . . .
The best aspect of Christmas is the aspect usually decried by the mystics: the fact that Christmas has been commercialized. The gift-buying . . . stimulates an enormous outpouring of ingenuity in the creation of products devoted to a single purpose: to give men pleasure. And the street decorations put up by department stores and other institutions—the Christmas trees, the winking lights, the glittering colors—provide the city with a spectacular display, which only “commercial greed” could afford to give us. One would have to be terribly depressed to resist the wonderful gaiety of that spectacle.”
Merry Christmas!
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