A very important question has been posed this week by one of the foremost religious thinkers of our time: What do infidel atheists celebrate during the holiday season?
Manitoba鈥檚 leader of the Opposition, Progressive Conservative Brian Pallister, has been taking some heat for a recent video in which he wishes his constituents a Merry Christmas, a Happy Hanukkah and to 鈥渁ll the infidel atheists out there, I want to wish you the very best also.鈥� He continues: 鈥淚 don鈥檛 know what you celebrate during the holiday season.鈥�
The rest of his statement (which seems to be an off-the-cuff thing, shakily recorded in lo-def) makes it clear that this was intended to be a good-faith gesture, a statement made to convey that he understands that not everyone who celebrates Christmas is a Christian. He wants us to know that he understands and respects that. Unfortunately, he doesn鈥檛 seem to know that 鈥渋nfidel鈥� is not the best word to convey these respects, since the word isn鈥檛 particularly, you know, respectful.
As a political figure, Pallister should know that you just don鈥檛 say stuff like that, and since he鈥檚 a political figure, I get to call him out on it. Because seriously, who says stuff like that?
I鈥檓 perplexed as to why he didn鈥檛 just stick with 鈥渁theist.鈥� It鈥檚 a good, serviceable word, if a tad clinical. (Petition to change our label to the Comfortably Confused? Those Who Have Made Peace With the Absurdity of the Human Condition?) An atheist is a person who does not believe in any gods or deities, clean and simple, and it suits Pallister鈥檚 purpose perfectly, so I鈥檓 not sure what he thought he was doing with 鈥渋nfidel.鈥�
Infidel refers to a person outside the faith, usually Christianity or Islam, depending on context. It has been bopping around since the 15th century, and it has gathered some significantly negative connotations along the way, especially when 鈥渙utside the faith鈥� was code for 鈥渆xtremely dangerous.鈥�
Infidel isn鈥檛 a word that particularly upsets or offends me, but as a white person, I don鈥檛 get to tell people whether or not they are allowed to be offended by a word that has, for most of its life, been used as a dehumanizing tool, often in conjunction with racist dialogue. So, you know, use with caution and all that. And probably don鈥檛 use it if you鈥檙e a politician in a country whose citizens include both Christians and non-Christians.
Besides, what鈥檚 wrong with just 鈥渁theist?鈥� It鈥檚 what we call ourselves. Nobody self-identifies as an infidel, because that鈥檚 a word that鈥檚 used by someone in a group to describe someone outside that group.
Since Christmas has morphed from a Christian celebration using co-opted pagan rituals into a capitalist consumer holiday, it might be appropriate to talk about Christmas as a different entity than CHRISTMAS! They鈥檙e two circles on a Venn diagram. They might overlap perfectly in some people鈥檚 lives, but they probably don鈥檛, and for many of us they don鈥檛 overlap at all. And that鈥檚 OK. All ways are OK.
I hadn鈥檛 planned on diving into the Christmas identity angst so early this year, but I couldn鈥檛 pass up the 鈥渋nfidel鈥� thing, and in any case, I seem to go in cycles: Despite my usual aggressive indifference to the holidays, the Christmas spirit hits me really hard every three or four years, and 2013 is one of those years.
For me, the holidays mean decorating the house, watching Lord of the Rings, drinking too much and arguing fiercely about identity politics, but I understand that your holiday ritual might look different from mine. To each their own. As Pallister says: 鈥淚 myself celebrate the birth of Christ, but it鈥檚 your choice, and I respect your choice. If you wish to celebrate nothing and just get together with friends, that鈥檚 good, too.鈥�
Cool. Now let鈥檚 make this sentiment of mutual respect a reality, which means not casually throwing around labels like 鈥渋nfidel.鈥�
I鈥檓 so excited it鈥檚 December: Let the identity politics begin. Happy Holidays, everybody!
