<\/font><\/font><\/p>\n
<\/font><\/font><\/p>\nChristians think it’s hard at Christmastime. Jews think it’s hard too. Atheists are lonely. I can only imagine that the remainder of the religious spectrum shares a similar response to the hubbub of December. Funny. Might Christmas be a season that opens up dialogue among religious groups–Christians included–who feel alienated by American culture? Perhaps the fact that many Americans have lost sight of the “reason for the season” will actually inspire conversation and connection. Perhaps our response to Christmas will bring together a surprisingly diverse range of people. Perhaps it will remind us of a baby born in a manger, welcomed by both the shepherds and the kings. <\/font><\/font><\/p>\n<\/span><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
A few years ago, a Jewish student in the boarding school where we lived came to my apartment in tears. Her dormitory was filled, top to bottom, with Christmas. Wreaths. Lights. Bows. Secret Santas. She just didn’t want to feel so different, so excluded, so… Jewish. She came to my apartment with a friend, a…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":88,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-471","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-faith"],"yoast_head":"\n
Is it Hard to be a Christian at Christmas? - Thin Places<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/2010\/12\/is-it-hard-to-be-a-christian-at-christmas.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Is it Hard to be a Christian at Christmas? - Thin Places\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"A few years ago, a Jewish student in the boarding school where we lived came to my apartment in tears. Her dormitory was filled, top to bottom, with Christmas. Wreaths. Lights. Bows. Secret Santas. She just didn’t want to feel so different, so excluded, so… Jewish. 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Her dormitory was filled, top to bottom, with Christmas. Wreaths. Lights. Bows. Secret Santas. She just didn’t want to feel so different, so excluded, so… Jewish. 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Her essays have appeared in First Things, The Philadelphia Inquirer, The Christian Century, ChristianityToday.com, and Bloom, among other online venues.","sameAs":["http:\/\/amyjuliabecker.com"],"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/author\/amyjuliabecker"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/471","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/88"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=471"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/471\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=471"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=471"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/thinplaces\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=471"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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<\/a><\/span>I’ve also come across a few articles related to an advertising campaign by various atheist groups who want to debunk the myth of Christmas. In case you can’t read the print on the photo, this one reads: “You KNOW it’s a Myth. This Season, Celebrate REASON.” As James McKinley <\/font><\/font>reports<\/font><\/font><\/span><\/a> for the New York Times, similar ads have shown up on the sides of busses, with taglines such as “Millions of people are good without God.” One atheist in support of the ads said, “”It can be pretty lonely for a nonbeliever at Christmastime around here. There is so much religion,” Mr. McDonald said. “We thought, ‘What the heck? Nobody owns December.’ “<\/font><\/font><\/span><\/p>\n