---
title: "Christmas also celebrated by many non-Christians"
description: "About eight-in-ten non-Christians in the U.S. celebrate Christmas."
date: "2013-12-23"
authors:
  - name: "Besheer Mohamed"
    job_title: "Principal Researcher"
    link: "https://www.pewresearch.org/staff/besheer-mohamed/"
url: "https://www.pewresearch.org/short-reads/2013/12/23/christmas-also-celebrated-by-many-non-christians/"
---

# Christmas also celebrated by many non-Christians

Nearly all U.S. Christians (96%) say they celebrate Christmas. No big surprise there. But a new [Pew Research Center survey](https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2013/12/18/celebrating-christmas-and-the-holidays-then-and-now/#religious-observance-of-christmas) also finds that 81% of non-Christians in the United States celebrate Christmas, testifying to the holiday’s wide acceptance – or, at least, its unavoidability – in American society.

Non-Christians are a diverse group. They include Americans who are religiously unaffiliated (atheists, agnostics and people who describe themselves, religiously, as “nothing in particular”), of whom 87% celebrate Christmas.

They also include people of other faiths. A [2012 Pew Research survey](https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2012/07/19/asian-americans-a-mosaic-of-faiths-religious-practices/) found that roughly three-quarters of Asian-American Buddhists (76%) and Hindus (73%) celebrate Christmas. In addition, our [recent survey of U.S. Jews](https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2013/10/01/chapter-4-religious-beliefs-and-practices/#combining-judaism-and-other-faiths) found that about a third (32%) had a Christmas tree in their home last year. And some American Muslims [celebrate both the religious and cultural aspects](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/12/17/muslim-christmas-celebrations_n_1154229.html) of Christmas, [according to news reports](http://articles.latimes.com/2011/dec/24/local/la-me-muslim-christmas-20111224).

Although Christians and non-Christians alike celebrate Christmas, the [new survey](https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2013/12/18/celebrating-christmas-and-the-holidays-then-and-now/#religious-observance-of-christmas) shows they have differing views of the holiday. Two-thirds of Christians (65%) say Christmas is mostly a religious holiday, while most non-Christians see the holiday as more of a “cultural” event than a religious occasion.

Overall, the American religious landscape [has become more diverse](https://www.pewresearch.org/religion/2012/10/09/nones-on-the-rise/#ranks-of-the-religiously-unaffiliated-continue-to-grow) in recent years. Christians have dropped from 78% of U.S. adults in 2007 to 73% in 2012. Over the same five-year period, the proportion of adults who identify with non-Christian faiths has increased by about half (from 4% to 6% of all U.S. adults) and the ranks of the unaffiliated (sometimes called the “nones”) have increased by a third (from 15% to 20% of all adults).