Christmas banned by the no-fun people

It might come as a surprise, but today’s secularists are very much in line with the religious Puritans of the 17th century on the subject of Christmas.

Both consider the holiday not Christian.

The Puritans considered it an example of the “trappings of popery,” a sentiment that could draw an indulgent chuckle from secularists today.

The secularists today consider Christmas an act of government, not religion.

Neither the Puritans nor the secularists are wrong, but they aren’t right either.

Pope Julius I did establish The Feast of the Nativity in 336 A.D., the popery the Puritans so hated. On the other hand, Christmas and every other major Christian holiday all had been established by the Roman popes by the end of the fourth century, even the ones celebrated (without fun) by Puritans.

The claim of the secularists that Christmas is governmental is because, on June 26, 1870, the U.S. government did declare Christmas a federal holiday, meaning you won’t get mail delivered.

But in the time between the Puritans and the secularists, governments were no friends of Christmas.

The English government in the 1600s didn’t like Christmas one little bit. English Puritans, led by Oliver Cromwell, didn’t like shiny things or fun, so they outlawed “carnal and sensual delights,” which included Christmas. They would have agreed with today’s secularists that Christmas wasn’t religious. In fact, they banned Christmas worship.

In America, the English separatist Puritans who arrived in 1620 actually outlawed the holiday in Boston from 1659 to 1681. You could be fined five shillings for the horrific ‘satanical practices’ of exchanging gifts, greetings, dressing in fine clothing, and feasting.

But still, Christmas was an idea that kept coming back.

In Louisiana, where fun and Christianity have long been at home, Christmas was officially established for the first time in the U.S. in 1830 — by the state government.

Today, whether your Christmas is 1,685 years old and a day of faith and fun, or whether it is 151 years old and a day when mail doesn’t get delivered, people still enjoy Christmas as the shiniest holiday of the year.