![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lunadelcorvoOne rather unexpected benefit of teaching at a small, private, and—most pertinent to my point—Catholic university is that, unlike my large, public, state uni, they are free to put Christmas stuff absolutely everywhere! And I love it!
I'm really all for the whole separation of church and state, and I support 100% atheists and people of other faiths in their efforts to prevent Christian messages from being subsidized by government money, or presented with the weight of government behind them (After all, a manger on the court house lawn says nothing encouraging about justice for the non-Christian). I think "Happy Holidays" is a perfectly appropriate greeting, and I think the "War on Christmas" is hyperbolic, histrionic horse-$hit! However, I have always decorated with gusto for the holidays, and still do.
Though a child of wholly atheist parents, I grew up with the most Christmas-loving family you could ask for. Lights, tree, cookies and goodies; the works. I learned all the carols, secular and religious. Heck, my grandmother's two favorite carols were "O Holy Night" and "It Came Upon a Midnight Clear," and she was the most aggressively non-religious woman I've ever known. We even had the three wisemen on our credenza, and a manger scene (hand-painted by my mom and grandma [oh how I wish I had that now!]) under our tree. And I never thought anything of it; it was no different than pumpkins on halloween, or bunnies on Easter. In fact, I was actually floored when my husband said our neighbors would assume we're Christian because of the lights on the porch! It's not like I have a manger on my lawn (as we do three houses down) - it's just lights and candy canes!
So I find myself, atheist as I am, very happy to be surrounded by lights and trees and holiday frou-frou at my uni. I can count no less than five lit and decorated (indoor) trees I see on my daily rounds of teaching and attending classes.
Granted, I might not be so tickled by this had my small, private, Catholic university ever prevented me from teaching as I saw fit. But my first classes were on the history of Christianity, whereupon I more or less threw the church (specifically Catholic pre-reformation, and in general terms thereafter) under a large, ideological bus. And, characteristically of academia, I know several of the faculty, from adjuncts to higher ups, who are also atheists, and have never had any difficulty for it. So I have to give them large kudos for that. And I get the happy benefit - an open teaching environment, and shiny holiday lights!
I'm really all for the whole separation of church and state, and I support 100% atheists and people of other faiths in their efforts to prevent Christian messages from being subsidized by government money, or presented with the weight of government behind them (After all, a manger on the court house lawn says nothing encouraging about justice for the non-Christian). I think "Happy Holidays" is a perfectly appropriate greeting, and I think the "War on Christmas" is hyperbolic, histrionic horse-$hit! However, I have always decorated with gusto for the holidays, and still do.
Though a child of wholly atheist parents, I grew up with the most Christmas-loving family you could ask for. Lights, tree, cookies and goodies; the works. I learned all the carols, secular and religious. Heck, my grandmother's two favorite carols were "O Holy Night" and "It Came Upon a Midnight Clear," and she was the most aggressively non-religious woman I've ever known. We even had the three wisemen on our credenza, and a manger scene (hand-painted by my mom and grandma [oh how I wish I had that now!]) under our tree. And I never thought anything of it; it was no different than pumpkins on halloween, or bunnies on Easter. In fact, I was actually floored when my husband said our neighbors would assume we're Christian because of the lights on the porch! It's not like I have a manger on my lawn (as we do three houses down) - it's just lights and candy canes!
So I find myself, atheist as I am, very happy to be surrounded by lights and trees and holiday frou-frou at my uni. I can count no less than five lit and decorated (indoor) trees I see on my daily rounds of teaching and attending classes.
Granted, I might not be so tickled by this had my small, private, Catholic university ever prevented me from teaching as I saw fit. But my first classes were on the history of Christianity, whereupon I more or less threw the church (specifically Catholic pre-reformation, and in general terms thereafter) under a large, ideological bus. And, characteristically of academia, I know several of the faculty, from adjuncts to higher ups, who are also atheists, and have never had any difficulty for it. So I have to give them large kudos for that. And I get the happy benefit - an open teaching environment, and shiny holiday lights!
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: December 6th, 2012 05:25 pm (UTC)Not that we're agi'n it you understand, it just doesn't do anything for us.
We'll put up folks's cards and that'll be it.
no subject
Date: December 6th, 2012 05:42 pm (UTC)I wonder too, how much of it is a generational thing (I did grow up with my grandparents, and inherited a slightly more old-fashioned sensibility in some ways) and a cultural - we Americans seem to be way more...OK, I'll say it...gaudy when it comes to all the holidays. My personal preferences (barring enough lights to make an emergency landing strip) are for old-fashioned, simple holiday stuff (heavily influenced by my Wisconsin-German upbringing, of course!)
Speaking of cards - message me with your address, won't you? :D
no subject
Date: December 6th, 2012 06:52 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: December 6th, 2012 07:55 pm (UTC)