The War on Solstice

The Freedom From Religion Foundation has a pretty amusing article up called, "Solstice celebrated long before Christmas."

Long before the star over Bethlehem and the eight days of Chanukah and certainly Festivus, there were solstice celebrations. So why aren't we freethinkers complaining about the War on Solstice and the theft of our winter holiday by religious folks like Bill O'Reilly?

Here's FFRF co-president Dan Barker, referring to the group's controversial solstice signs,

“Most people think December is for Christians and view our solstice signs as an intrusion, when actually it’s the other way around,” ... “People have been celebrating the winter solstice long before Christmas. We see Christianity as the intruder, trying to steal the natural holiday from all of us humans.”

Personally, I think the FFRF's holiday campaigns, especially trying to get harmless nativity scenes removed, are largely pointless and counterproductive. I wrote about one of last year's efforts here. In my opinion Christmas is as much as secular holiday in America -- if not more so -- as it is religious. I view even religious trappings such as nativity scenes as harmless mythological symbols akin to Santa, elves, reindeer and other things we associate with Christmas. But I did find the FFRF's argument about Christians stealing solstice not only essentially correct, but also entertaining. And the solstice cards are pretty nice.