Neo-Pagans

We can entertain the fantasy that, had the church not taken over the pagan winter solstice holiday, the pre-Christian observance would have survived intact into the present day in some form or other. This makes for wonderful party themes and ancient culture reenactments. Beyond this it's unrealistic to think we can turn back the clock and pretend to be pagan again.
We've known for too long that we don't have to enact rituals to make the sun return or to make nature work. There are pockets today where people still believe in nature spirits but they aren't part of our modern world. If there were real pagans in our world they would  have to be leading lives that respected nature - fossil fuel-free and chemical-free. But there is no precept that neo pagans must turn back the clock and use, for example, environmentally friendly horse and buggy like the Amish.

Madalyn Murray O'Hair, the renowned and outspoken atheist, who mysteriously disappeared in the early 1990's and who founded The American Atheist Center, advocated celebrating December 21 as Solstice Day.

Organizations such as her's and the America Humanist Association try to pierce centuries of Christian tradition in order to return to the pre-Christian foundation of Christmas. What they aren't taking into account is that, as atheists, they're barking up the wrong Solstice/Christmas tree. The Solstice celebrations, though pagan, were  part of polytheistic religions.

We incorrectly  or prejudicially think of them as non-religious because we don't worship nature deities in the modern world. These atheists are exchanging  one Christian God for many nature gods. It's hard to invest much credence in the plan to try to adopt pre-Christian rites and beliefs on the basis of having no beliefs or rituals, a sort of "observance by default". I don't think this is the way real holidays happen.