Every December, a carefully constructed illusion descends upon the world. We call it Christmas, a season supposedly celebrating peace and a sacred birth. But a brief look at history reveals this celebration is largely a fabrication, a clever rebranding of far older pagan traditions. In fact, the Bible offers no date for Jesus’ birth, and the selection of December 25th deliberately overlapped with ancient Roman festivals.
The date itself was not chosen for its historical accuracy but for its strategic value. Early Church leaders deliberately placed the celebration to absorb and replace popular winter solstice festivals like the Roman Saturnalia and Norse Yule. The Christmas tree, the feasting, the gift-giving—these are not Christian inventions but echoes of pagan rituals celebrating the return of light. Christmas is less a holy day and more a masterclass in cultural appropriation, designed to consolidate religious power.
This pattern of control is not an anomaly; it is a defining feature of organized religion’s history. While promising salvation, without any proof of course, religion has delivered centuries of bloodshed and oppression. The Crusades saw holy wars that slaughtered thousands in the name of a loving God. The Spanish Inquisition perfected torture to enforce doctrinal purity. Countless women were burned as witches based on superstitious dogma, and scientific progress was brutally suppressed when it contradicted scripture.
From religious wars to the justification of slavery and the subjugation of women, history shows that faith is a dangerously divisive force. It creates an “us versus them” worldview, where differing beliefs are not just wrong, but evil. By demanding obedience to ancient, unprovable texts, fairy-tales for the feeble minded if you will, it stifles critical thought and fuels conflict.
Perhaps it’s time to look beyond the tinsel and the dogma. True peace and goodwill come from our shared humanity and commitment to reason, not from a rebranded festival with a dark legacy of control.
So, the next time you light up a candle or decorate a tree on Dec 24 or thereabouts perhaps instead of thinking about an imaginary friend in the sky, you should think about all the people who have been killed in his/her/its name in the last 2,000 years. Not to mention all the children who have been sexually abused by pedophile priests in Catholic churches, the very places where love and peace supposed to be celebrated.
I for one would never leave my child alone with a “holly man”, “a servant of god”, but you do you.
Christmas is as fake as the people celebrating it. Alex