American Atheists Media Alert
POLANSKY ON KDKA RADIO/PITTSBURG AND
INTERNET TOMORROW
(TUESDAY, DEC. 20) TO DISCUSS CHRISTMAS & ATHEISTS
Lorie Polansky, Pennsylvania State Director for American Atheists will
be on KDKA tomorrow to discuss how Atheists deal with Christmas. You
can hear this program on the internet (just click on the LISTEN ON THE
AIR button at http://www.kdkaradio.com), or tune in to 1020 on the
radio dial if you are in the broadcast area.
Ms. Polansky was interviewed recently by the Times newspaper ("Atheists
seek respect at Christmas") reproduced below.
Who: Lorie Polansky, Pennsylvania State Director for American
Atheists
What: Discusses one way that Atheists deal with the winter
holiday season
When: 5:30 PM EST, Tuesday, December 20th
Where: KDKA, AM radio 1020 in Pittsburgh and on the internet at
http://www.kdkaradio.com
(AMERICAN ATHEISTS is a nationwide movement that defends civil rights
for Atheists; works for the total separation of church and state; and
addresses issues of First Amendment public policy.)
http://www.timesonline.com/site/news.cfm?newsid=15778805&BRD=2305&PAG=46
1&dept_id=478569&rfi=6
12/19/2005
Atheists seek respect at Christmas
Larissa Theodore - Times Staff
She doesn't have a Christmas tree in her living room and she refuses to
battle
crowds of people shopping for gifts.
In fact, for the past 35 years, Lorie Polansky hasn't felt pressured to
put up
any decorations or exchange presents. As a longtime atheist, she
doesn't feel
the need because for her, and the millions of others like her,
Christmas isn't
coming.
Polansky, however, can't help showing some concern this time of year
when bell
ringers stand at post office entrances or religious holiday displays
crop up
on tax-supported property. As some religious groups cry out for
Christmas
displays in courthouses, Polansky and others who do not adhere to
religious
convictions want people to realize that there are plenty who hold
different
beliefs, beliefs just as worthy of respect.
"Government buildings and grounds belong to all of us, and they must be
kept
religion-neutral. Churches and private homes are the appropriate venues
for
Nativity sets and other religious symbolism," said Polansky, who lives
in
Altoona, but assists atheists across the state.
As Pennsylvania's director of the American Atheists group, an
organization of
nonbelievers who work to defend civil rights for atheists, Polansky
fights for
what she believes. And until the holidays end, she and other atheists
will
work to keep some legroom between themselves and religious zealots.
An estimated 9 percent of American adults are atheist and agnostic,
according
to Barna Research, a California-based marketing research firm.
For atheist Pat Gunn, a Carnegie Mellon University researcher, much of
the
Christmas hullabaloo goes unnoticed. Gunn said he surrounds himself with
people who share his beliefs, although on the rare occasion that he
ventures
to the supermarket, he does find the bell ringing "intensely
irritating."
"They bother me, but I try not to get too worked up over these things.
There
are a lot of things one can be offended at," said Gunn, who pushed
nearly
three years ago to start the student group PUSH, Pittsburgh Universities
Skeptics and Humanists, a gathering of students from Pitt, CMU and
Chatham
College.
Gunn came from a Christian background, but says a book on comparative
religion
was his eye opener. Polansky, too, came from a Christian background.
She grew
up in an Irish-Catholic home during the 1950s and mid-1960s, which meant
weekly confession, Mass every Sunday and holy day, family rosary
recitation on
Friday nights and attendance to local missions and retreats. She calls
the
split from her religious past a tremendous relief, akin to a slave
breaking
from his shackles. She doesn't believe there is an afterlife, or a God,
or for
that matter a Satan.
"The biggest misconception about atheists seems to be that they are
devil
worshippers," Polansky said. "Believers can't seem to grasp that if we
do not
accept a 'good' supreme being, we also do not swallow the nonsense of an
'evil' supreme being.
"We accept the real world as it presents itself. Science answers our
questions."
Although she doesn't put up a Christmas tree, Polansky likes to keep a
year
round ficus plant festooned with lights, which she says symbolize "the
real
reason for the season." Polansky also sends "Happy Solstice" cards to
people
she calls fellow "freethinkers" or simple "Happy Holiday" greetings to
religious friends.
She believes Christmas is based on pagan traditions, and that secular
symbols
like reindeer, Santa and elves have ancient roots.
Atheists cite the lighting of candles, or fires, as an ancient ritual.
Ceremonies, they say, centered on evergreens, which were considered
symbols of
life and rebirth because they keep their foliage year round. They also
note
the similarity with stories conveyed in other cultures of an infant
born of a
virgin who led a laborious life - Krishna for the Hindus, Osiris for the
Egyptians, Dionysus for the Greeks, Mithras for the Persians.
"Later," Polansky said, "when man began to invent gods to explain the
mysteries of existence, this holiday was appropriated as the birthday
for the
savior gods."
Atheists and other nonbelievers typically celebrate the Winter
solstice, or
Yule, the day of the year with the least sunlight that restarts the
cycle of
seasons. It begins Dec. 21 this year, but was Dec. 25 on ancient
calendars.
Because of pagan or "worldly" underpinnings, some contemporary Christian
religions, such as Jehovah's Witnesses, don't celebrate Christmas,
although
most mainstream Christian religions see the holiday as a cornerstone of
their
faith.
"Atheists are an enigma to so many people. I think we are feared
because we
lack faith and perhaps - if believers associate with us - maybe they
will lose
faith also," Polansky said.
So when it comes to those squabbles, such as the debate over Merry
Christmas
versus Happy Holidays, atheists like Polansky aren't fazed. She
considers the
debate an attempt by religious fundamentalists to stir "a simmering pot
of
cultural tension" in a country that she says is already forgetting its
secular
roots and heading toward theocracy.
"It makes no difference to me what words are used," Polansky said. "If
I'm
asked 'are you ready for Christmas?' I usually respond that I do not
celebrate
that holiday and seize the opportunity to present a different
viewpoint."
--
--
Larry Mundinger (aa#451) American Atheists Internet Representative
<irep @ atheists.org> <http://www.atheists.org/>
<http://www.americanatheist.org/> <http://www.atheistviewpoint.tv/>
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