December 25 and Secularism: Why I turn off my radio a lot in December

According to the very first amendment to the Constitution of the United States of America, the USA is a secular state. The Supreme Court has always interpreted that as an establishment clause. The government is never supposed to take sides in religious matters. So, the question arises: Why is December 25 a state holiday? December 25 is the date selected by the Roman Catholic church as the birthday of Jesus Christ, an obscure Jewish heretic who was later seized on to found a new religion. Most protestant sects follow that date. Eastern Orthodox churches use a date two weeks later. Therefore, December 25, like Easter (which is not a US holiday), is a purely religious holiday which should be ignored in all official ways by the US government. It is clearly unconstitutional on its face for December 25 to be a government sanctioned holiday. That is my starting point because making that date a holiday sends exactly the wrong message.

As a third generation Jewish atheist (only a small percentage of people belonging to various Jewish ethnicities actually practice the Jewish religion) born and raised in the USA, I have always viewed Xmas as an alien culture which this society tries to impose on me every year. I don't watch Xmas movies (except for "Bad Santa"), and I detest Xmas songs. I listen to the radio a lot, but between Thanksgiving and December 25, I change the station or turn it off a lot. Yesterday, I was listening to one of my favorite music programs on KPFA in Berkeley. The DJ, a friend of mine, played one Xmas song after another, and I turned off the radio. I wish I could get a No Xmas app for my radio, but then it would be silent a lot at this time of year.

What we have here is a conflict between the right of people who want to sing or play Xmas songs, which is guaranteed in the constitution, and my right not to have to listen to them. If there were a completely secular radio station, I could exercise my right and listen to it, but, if such a station exists, I've never heard of it. What do I really want? I want more sensitivity from people celebrating their religious holidays to the fact that not all of us want to share their religion or their holidays. If you are going to do a show of all Xmas songs, say so frequently, and I'll change the station or turn my radio off immediately. Obviously, I cannot completely escape the religious expressions of my religious friends, but I should be able to minimize it and I should have a choice whether to be drenched in it or not. Oddly, I'm not offended in the same way by gospel music, but that is because I know I have the option to listen or not, to sing or not. In December, that option is generally not offered and I find the assumption that December 25 is significant for everyone to be extremely offensive.