Another unoriginal, angry atheist...

... with yet another silly mockery of Christmas: the "Godless Holiday Tree":

From a distance, the scene on the lawn of the old Chester County Courthouse in West Chester seemed a Christmas classic.

Ornaments in hand, a red-clad woman stood high on a stepladder, smiling merrily at a 12-foot evergreen. "A little forward," Margaret Downey called down to a young man holding the rungs.

Grasping the tree, she attached a yellow sheet of paper to a branch. Along with dozens of other facsimiles of book covers, A Portable Atheist by Christopher Hitchens fluttered in the December breeze.

Downey, founder of the Freethought Society of Greater Philadelphia, declared it "Good!" and reached for the cover of Gospel Fictions by Randel Helms.

The society's "Godless Holiday Tree" - decorated entirely with book covers about atheism, religious skepticism and secular philosophy - took its provocative place yesterday alongside West Chester's Nativity creche and the Chamber of Commerce's towering artificial Christmas tree. A Hanukkah menorah soon will join the tableau.

"This helps to balance and shows the diversity of the community," Downey said of what her group also calls the "Tree of Knowledge."

Named so, I presume, as a reference to the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. It is, admittedly, a very apt connection. One also presumes that the descriptive "godless holiday tree" is also meant in jest, as it's hard to figure how those denying the existence of God or a transcendent, sacred reality would bother with a "holy day." The "Atheism is Dead" blog notes:

It is rather interesting that Margaret Downey is promoting her own brand of prejudicial cheer and stated “We’d love to see Kwanza candles and a Buddha statue, too.” Yet, in 2001 she “sued the county to remove its large [81 years old], bronze Ten Commandments plaque from the face of the stately courthouse.”

Perhaps next year Ms. Downer—er, Downey, can find a way to present a "Godless Hanukkah Menorah" and a "Allahless Ramadan Fast." By the way, my description of Downey as an angry atheist is not an insult on my part; I took it from her own website:

Downey, 57, was brought up by her Puerto Rican mom in a dirt-poor quarter of Baton Rouge, La., and later Los Angeles. Her Irish dad left home when she was 3. She got angry about injustice and intolerance early on—“I could never figure out why my mother was belittled for her accent and why my half-sister Martha, a person of color, had to sit at the back of the bus.” And she stayed angry.

I believe it. And this, from another bio page, is rather humorous:

Free from the constraints of religious dogma and patriarchal systems, Margaret became involved with the feminist movement. She fought for basic rights such as freedom of expression, freedom of choice, personal family leave for working parents, equal pay and promotion opportunities for women.

Due to concerns with children's health, Margaret was also involved in anti-smoking issues.  Being an activist for such controversial issues nearly cost Margaret her job twenty-five years ago, however, these initiatives are commonplace today. Even as a single mother Margaret was willing to jeopardize her income to demand respect for women, freedom of choice, freedom of expression and freedom from religious intrusion.

Freedom of Choice! Freedom of Expression! Unless, of course, such freedom involves smoking...

Comments

[walter]

It is telling that that her driving force is anger whereas Catholics ours should be Love. I understand her as that was my driving force at one time. Anger at the very same persecution and injustice. But, thanks to Christ touching my heart, it is now Love. Love for God's creation and creatures. Love as the Love of a Father who sent his only begotten Son.

[MMajor Fan]

Did you notice a woman in very bright red rushed the Pope at the end of Midnight Mass and had to be grabbed by the guards? Flight time from Chester to Rome? Hmmmm....

Well, Merry Christmas!

[Sandra Miesel]

To me the oddest element in this sad story is the presence of a book by Randel Helms, who was a perceptive critic of Tolkien in the first wave of JRRT enthusiasm.

[joanne]

I don't understand why this type of display is billed popularly as a show of "tolerance". Dec. 25th, on the calendar, is Christmas Day. To put up an atheistic display on public ground is to protest the holiday, and is disrespectful. There are no such displays on Martin Luther King Day (If there were, there'd be an uproar), no one is permitted to display torn or burnt flags near public Memorial Day displays, etc.
It is not as if anyone is being forced to celebrate Christmas in a particularly religious manner, or to celebrate it at all--the day is simply acknowledged and celebrated by those who find it cause for celebration. I think these "counter-celebrations" should be called what they are: rude and disorderly.