America is not a Christian nation. It never was. It is a country founded on principles. Not least of these is religious freedom. This is a country where people are free to worship as they please. Or to not worship anything. In this context, the holiday of Christmas deserves further explanation, because, in the U.S., it’s not just a Christian holiday. It’s an American holiday, for all.

Christmas is celebrated on December 25. For some Christians, this date is treated as the birthday of Jesus Christ. This date actually has religious ties to Zoroastrianism that pre-date the existence of the Abrahamic faiths, but the birthday correlation is the reason behind the Christian connection.

And Santa Claus? The history is extensive. But, basically the name is a bastardization of Saint Nicholas of Myra, a Christian figure who lived in Turkey and gave gifts to the poor. The conceptualization of Santa Claus stems from several sources. None of them Christian. The gift giving aspects of Santa Claus, in addition to St. Nicholas’ altruism, come from Germanic pagan traditions. (Paganism is a catch-all phrase that denotes people with an animalistic, naturalistic, or polytheistic spiritual orientation.) Further, the modern imagery of Santa Claus emerged with the American Civil War in the mid-19th century. It wasn’t until Coca-Cola picked up similar images in the 1930s for an advertising campaign, though, that Santa Claus hit it big as an American icon.

What is the purpose of a holiday? Well, it’s a holy day. But, it’s also not. Holidays have a purpose in human civilization. They began soon after we started practicing agriculture 10,000 years ago. They were connected with the lunar cycle, like the Islamic calendar, and used to celebrate harvests or rainy seasons or any significant episode in an important crop’s growing season. Only later did these really have “religious” significance as we define it.

But, America is a capitalist society. Most of the world has many holidays. We have only a few, staggered evenly throughout the year, and always heavily marketed. St. Patrick’s Day. Valentine’s Day. Easter. Sure, these all have some basis in Christian tradition. But, Christian tradition has a basis in earlier pagan traditions tied to agriculture. As do Judaism and Islam. So, the religious heritage of these holidays isn’t why they are significant today. They are brief buying-and-selling seasons. Every holiday in the U.S. with a religious basis is now secularized and associated with a few select commodities.

Christmas is no exception. It is known here in the U.S. as the season for giving. Giving what? Gifts! Presents! Objects of every conceivable sort, from cars, to toys, to skateboards and guitars, right down to the least desirable . . . clothes. But, there’s little altruism here. These presents aren’t for the anonymous poor, like Saint Nicholas used to do in Turkey. They’re for us. To have and hold and enjoy. Sure, some people do charity for anonymous people. Sure, some people attend religious functions. But, that doesn’t preclude them from discovering an iPad under their own tree.

Yes, the traditionalists out there cut down a living tree, place it in their living room, bedeck it with lights and other ornaments, place gifts beneath it, open those gifts on Christmas morning, and then throw that tree away. My own parents did it every year when I was a kid, and they continue to do it now. My family is not Christian, yet Christmas still comes.

This year, I will be celebrating Christmas with my wife. She’s not from the U.S., and hasn’t celebrated Christmas before. So, we’re making our own version. Because traditions also evolve. In America today, Christmas is still a special time of the year. But, the reason why is entirely yours to decide.

About the author

Ethan Lazuk

Born in Montana in 1989, I attended high school in Phoenix, Arizona, and college at The University of Montana, from which I recently earned a Bachelor's degree in Central and Southwest Asian Studies. I currently live in Washington D.C.
Although American English is my first language, I also have an intermediate/advanced knowledge of Modern Standard Arabic, with some Lebanese and Gulf vocabulary, as well as a basic knowledge of Farsi-Persian. My academic areas of interest include Cultural Anthropology, Islamic Studies, and Environmental and Human Geography. In 2010, I was a summer intern with the Department of Defense, working on Ft. McNair Army Base in the Near East South Asia Center for Strategic Studies. Additionally, I have traveled in Istanbul, Turkey, and lived in Tbilisi, Republic of Georgia.


I am a third-generation American of Polish descent. My great-grandparents fled Eastern Europe during the Bolshevik Revolution and entered the United States through Ellis Island. Today, my parents and sister live in Colorado, where they are surrounded by the beautiful Rocky Mountains. I am also happily married to the love of my life named Dania. Originally from al-Madinah, Saudi Arabia, she came to the United States two years ago as an exchange student. She is a practicing Muslim. But I am a searcher who finds beauty in all religions, and therefore I do not belong to any one religion in particular. But her and I having different religious beliefs has not negatively affected our marriage. In fact, it has brought us closer together. We respectfully embrace our differences, while cherishing our infinite similarities. If being in an inter-faith marriage has taught me one thing, it is that religious differences are not a cause for division, but for collaboration.

View the Original article

When reading books of ancient history about the lives of various people, from scientists to philosophers to architects to almost any kind of profession a profound significant factor that can be noticed is that the Prophets and the Messengers sent by God are an excellent role model for us to follow in carrying out our lives. Amongst the other groups of people except the Prophets one of their main objectives nevertheless was for power, fame, reputation and other things like that. However when studying the lifestyles of the Prophets from a knowledgeable Muslim teacher it can be found that these men were focused only on executing God’s command and striving to do so amongst all difficulties that they would have to undergo in the hands of the enemies.

Unlike people such as Caesar, Gandhi and other “Freedom fighters”, the Prophets were not mainly focused on getting back their land or invading other territories because they only wanted to deliver God’s word to the people by having total confidence that even if they die in the process they shall get Paradise!

The presence of many powerful armies and kingdoms from every corner of the world during the past despite the fact that they have given a great deal of effort to establish their ruler ship amongst the people it still boils down to one major objective, i.e. power! Allah says in the Qur’an in Chapter 27 verse 34, “She said, ‘Indeed kings – when they enter a city, they ruin it and render the honored of its people humbled. And thus do they do ” This verse can be proven clearly today by visiting the local museum where they have stored the swords of several so called great kings and emperors! However the pathetic situation here is that most people including Muslim Children tend to admire these people and consider them as role models for their lives as well. The reason for this is because of the lack of proper Muslim teachers and Islamic education in schools nowadays and the brainwashing syllabuses which are developed by the non Muslim countries for the children.

The Qur’an says in Chapter 33 verse 21, “There has certainly been for you in the Messenger of Allah an excellent pattern for anyone whose hope is in Allah and the Last Day and [who] remembers Allah often” This illustrates the fact that the Messenger of Allah, implying the Prophet Muhammad,is the best role model to follow for every single person in the world today because of his generosity, kindness, love and compassion, leadership and all other qualities which are essential for a leader are perfect with no shortcomings whatsoever in order to mold a successful human being to society.  The evidence for this could be examined by reading about his Seerah (biography of the Prophet) and even by reading about the reputation he has been given by the Non Muslims themselves, such as the Time magazine that rated the Prophet Muhammad has the Number One position for the Most Influential people of the century!

View the Original article