Church of No, Thanks Celebrating Personal Liberty since 2008

Hey, guess what! It's Easter... the day when Catholics and Protestant Christians commemorate the resurrection of their Lord and Savior, Jesus Christ, following his crucifixion 2 days before.

How do they celebrate such an awe inspiring event (assuming it actually happened)?! Easter Egg Hunts, baskets filled with candy, fancy clothes, big dinners, and, in some communities, parades. Consumption and showing off, basically.

Assuming for the moment that Jesus existed, was the son of a god, was crucified, and resurrected, do you think this is how he'd want to be "remembered"? Do you think this is what he had in mind when he allegedly said, "They know not what they do"?

In the wintertime, when all the leaves are brown, and the wind blows... so chill.... we frequently see and hear messages that purport, "Jesus is the reason for the season", meaning that the birth of Jesus, who would later become the "King of the Jews", is why we are exhorted to consume, drive our families into debt and fill our landfills. Strangely, there are few, if any, such messages this time of year, when, arguably, Jesus really did something worthy of celebration (I mean, if you buy the whole story). Being born is nothing, really. I don't mean to suggest that carrying and bearing a child is nothing... being born... the one coming out of the babychute... being born is not an achievement. Christmas is the holiday when Christians celebrate the birth of Jesus. Really. On the scale of admirable acts, being born is in the same neighborhood as spacing out on the couch in a darkening room. If the Christian story is to be believed, Lent, Good Friday and Easter make up a much more important "season" with a much more important message.

... but everybody loves birthday presents, and nobody like to think about death... so Christmas gets top billing.

Clearly, the concept of these holidays and their traditions in the minds of the casual lay faithful has been so perverted that nobody really pays attention to them... there's just the commercial aspect, and some empty ritual.

It's times like these that I think it's better to abandon the empty ritual if you can't discern any real benefit from it. It's times like these that make me think that if you're basing your decision on how you choose to celebrate something you claim to be of deep spiritual significance on advertising and merchandising displays, maybe the time has come to frankly re-examine your world view.