Krismas/Criticisms
From Tetrakatus Productions - The Art of Jacob Walker
What makes you think that you can take Christ away from Christmas!?
First, the truth about Christmas, is that it is derived from a pagan holiday. By the accounts in the bible, it is not likely that Jesus was born in the middle of winter. There is good evidence that Christmas originally came from Pagan Solstice holidays. So the truth is that Jesus is not the “Reason for the Season”.[1]
It is also very well documented about how most of our traditions and mythologies of Santa Claus, Reindeer, Ruldolph, etc are all 19th Century or newer creations. (Some of the mythologies our current ones are based on date back earlier, but for the most part the mythologies are pretty new)
So given all these facts, I don’t see that we have any less of a leg to stand on than the Christian churches that celebrate Christmas, or anyone else who celebrates Christmas.
I am sure this new holiday is going to rile a few feathers of some fundamentalist Christians. All I have to say, is if you don’t like this holiday, don’t celebrate it! Celebrate Christmas like you always have.
Isn't Krismas another attack in the "War on Christmas"?
There is only a battle if people fight. Krismas could help find peace in the "War on Christmas". It allows for common ground between many different people, including Christians who also grew up with Santa Claus as a special mythology in their hearts. It also doesn't take away anything from Christians, and it allows non-Christians to not need to "battle" Christmas. So Krismas is not an attack on Christmas, in fact it is a reconciliation.
But, I am sure that parts of Krismas will be used as part of the evolution of accuracy in human thought. As people look deeper and think more about most of the tenets of Christianity (and other religions), they will likely find that these religions have some highly inaccurate paradigms, and they will change their minds.
There are different methods that can be used to show the inaccuracies of Christianity, one of which is ridicule, and given that ridicule is generally a confrontational method, it could also be viewed as an "attack". In this sense, some of the greeting cards, and products that I have made ridicule certain notions of Christianity. But these are an attack on some of the irrational ideas of Christianity, not on the celebration of Christmas.
Won't separating Krismas from Christmas cause anger from Christians and work against World Peace?
Of all the criticisms I have heard about Krismas, on the surface, this one seems to have validity. But I think if you look deeper, it is not a valid argument. I am sure (and I already have experienced) some Christians will be rather upset over the notion of Krismas. There are also Muslims who were so upset over a Teddy Bear being named Mohamed, that they wanted to kill the teacher who named the bear.
In either of these cases, the name or idea was not the underlying cause, it was simply the spark that ignited the fundamental cause: irrational intolerant belief. Irrational intolerance that causes anger and violence is truly something against world peace. And in many ways, it is only by exposing the irrational intolerance can it be changed. Those Christians who are upset about how I choose to celebrate my holiday, would seem to have an irrational intolerance to me.
Of course, only the future will truly tell whether Krismas benefits the world or not. I of course hope and believe it will benefit the world because it gives people a way of not losing their cherished memories, while still being able to keep a personal integrity of belief. But it is important to understand, that while some of the ideas on this page are presented in a "tongue in cheek" manner, I really believe that for the most part Krismas is a personal (and family) holiday.
I'm not asking Christians to celebrate the holiday. I celebrate Krismas so I can still have some of the "magic" of childhood without being totally disillusioned by the Christian and kommercial part of Christmas.
Now on the other hand, while I'm not asking Christians to celebrate this holiday, I will openly admit that I am "evangelical" in my attempts to spread thinking, questioning, science, inquiry, and logic. And while that inherently does not mean that I am trying to convert any person of any particular religion, it does mean that because of the clear inaccuracies in Christianity and most other religions, I believe that if people truly strive for an accurate understanding of this world using inductive and deductive logic, they will find, on their own, that they generally will no longer be able to believe in many parts of their particular religion. But that would be a personal choice, and not me imposing my beliefs upon them.
(I say "generally", because I will not make the presumption that there aren't some religions, even "Christian" ones, that might not have accurate information. For example, in general I do not have problems with Thomas Jefferson's Bible or his "religious" beliefs.)
Further, I believe that people having a more accurate view of this world is one component that will lead more to world peace. We will realize that the differences in our skin is only a minor change in genetics, and that in fact we, as a human race, are much closer to being the same than most other animals. Further, we will have a systemic view of the world, and look for how we can improve and help the systems. And while I don't think we will ever have complete consensus in thought (Nor would I want that), I would much rather have us intellectually argue our ideas with each other than attempt to kill each other.
What is the difference between celebrating a myth like Kris Kringle and one like Jesus?
People may wonder what makes celebrating the myth of Kris Kringle any different than following that of Jesus Christ. The difference is that as celebrators of Krismas, we know that Kris Kringle is a fictional myth, and what we believe about him is within the spirit of "Yes, Virginia, there is a Santa Claus", believing in the childhood magic of belief in a Kris Kringle.
Most of those who believe Christmas was when Jesus was born, believe truly that Jesus is the savior, and do not recognize the difference between the mystic, romantic appreciation for a myth, and believing the myth to be actual reality.
There are already so many holidays in December, why add another one?
Krismas is really not being added as a holiday, it has already existed for a long time, it is just being given a name.
What about Krismas meaning "Christmas" in other Languages?
It is quite true that several other languages use the word "Krismas" to mean "Christmas". Further, there is some historical writing of Americans who wrote "Krismas" to mean "Christmas". In fact, at this time, if you do a search for "Krismas" you will mostly find these other types of pages.
But, that doesn't mean that "Krismas" can not become a valid word to mean a distinct idea from the Christian concept of Christmas. As more people use the word for the meaning that this website espouses, it will gain more validity.
