Festivus, Atheist Santa, and the Invention of Blasphemy
A Q&A with S. Brent Plate
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What Did the Puritans Have Against Christmas?
Another Christmas, another string of outrages about the supposed “War on Christmas.” In November there…
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Despising the Holidays: When Christians Led the ‘War on Christmas’
In the 1640s, during the years of the English civil wars, a popular broadsheet with…
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How Thanksgiving Became All Dinner, No Worship
Or, why we’re glad American culture settled on “Thanksgiving” over “Fasting and Humiliation.”
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This Halloween, Think of Islam as a Religion of Pieces. Reese’s Pieces.
Will they have gluten-free treats? Is white chocolate structurally racist? Are brown M&M’s offensive? Isn’t…
Read MoreWherein An Elected Official Gets His Holiday Miracles Mixed Up
Here’s a heartwarming holiday story from Springfield, Massachusetts, where city councilor Bud Williams said at a…
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Trick or….Bible: Christians Coping with Halloween
“Halloween gives you a great opportunity to show how Christians celebrate the day that death was defeated, and you can give them Gospel tracts…”
Read MoreWar Is Not “Hell” It’s “Sin”: Jews and Muslims Hunger Strike Against Violence
Five things happened to our ancestors of the 17th of Tammuz and five things happened on…
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Atheist Holiday Display: “A” Does Not Stand for “Art”
News last week that holiday decorations in Chicago’s Daley Plaza will be joined this year by a light-up “A” for atheism served as a reminder that though the anti-religion camp may claim victory over believers on many fronts, iconography is not one of them.
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Thanksgivukkah, With a Side of Christmas Envy
Thanksgivukkah is a way of being out, loud, and proud—We’re here! We’re Jewish! We eat turkey AND latkes!—but can Jews ever compete with the juggernaut of Christmas?
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