As much of our discussion this week has been centered around the legitimacy and authenticity of religious practices and beliefs, I'm here to pose the question: does Christmas have more legitimacy as a religious holiday than Festivus? As I'm sure many of you know, Christmas is a holiday that is centered around the birth of Jesus Christ who Christians believe is the savior for their sins; Festivus on the other hand is a religious tradition that was popularized by the sitcom Seinfeld. Festivus was "created" on the show as a response to the increased commercialization of Christmas and replaces a Christmas tree and presents with an aluminum pole, an airing of grievances, and feats of strengths. While many people just saw the comedic elements of Festivus, in actuality it possesses the ability to be considered a legitimate religious practice. According to Professor Rodriguez-Plate, the celebration of Festivus has actually gained a following and is practiced by a substantial amount of people. To those who argue that a legitimate religious holiday can't simply be "made-up,"the celebration of Christmas actually began almost three hundred years after the death of Jesus and the date is not actually accurate to his birth, so couldn't it be said that Christmas was just "made-up"?
Another example of "making-up" religious practices was shown in the documentary Kumare. In this documentary, it proved that newly created religious practices could be followed as devoutly as established long standing ones. Kumare's students devoted themselves to his teachings in a similar fashion to how a Christian may devote him or herself to the teachings of Jesus Christ.
So in conclusion, just because Festivus was created on a television show doesn't mean that someone couldn't celebrate it the way another person may celebrate Christmas.
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