Atheists who celebrate X-mas
- Thread starter akibawall95
- Start date
In my experience Christians have been the cooler of the two groups. And when I was an Atheist I certainly was not one because I considered it cool to be so. Some might become Atheist's for that reason, but I think you'll find that a lot of non-religious people have become non-religious as a result of a lot of deep thought and consideration about all sides of the issue of religion. I certainly know I have. Others, of course, don't care. But that's their prerogative.Alexander Cron said:
#Sightless Wisdom said:
Can't really find much to add to this statement, bar my agreement.
It's not like it's odd for the non-religious to celebrate a materialistic holiday totally devoid of overt ritual. I mean, we're not so dour that we avoid fun altogether.
Theres zombie crawls going on occationally where i live, which is mroe or less pub crawls by a horde of people dresse das zombies.jaeger138 said:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zombie_Pub_Crawl
I'v ebeen wondering how fun it would be to come dressed as zombie slayers to a thing like that.
"the names helsing, van helsing, but since you're prolly just gonna call me braaaaains, i'd liek you to meet my friend mr. trench-spike."
While the second half is true, ummm...wow. No atheist can actually be an atheist, I guess?Alexander Cron said:
And maybe it's cool to be an atheist where ever you are, but in most of the US, it's not:
http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/story?id=1786422&page=1
This,also did you know that the real santa costume didn't have any red,it was Green and white later they changed it to red for commercial purposesSightless Wisdom said:
I am atheist and I celebrate a modern version of Saturnalia. I actually get a secular magazine with an article about Christmas and it seems many atheists do the same. Saturnalia is about giving gifts, feasting, and equality. Unfortunately it got messed up when some guys added "and Jesus" to the end of it. The date for Christmas was made on December 25 because that was when Saturnalia was already celebrated and they thought (correctly) that they could add Jesus into it. Even many Christians I know don't believe Jesus was actually born on that day. Saturnalia is essentially Christmas - Christ.
Christmas has got nothing to do with religion in any time of my life and my family's Christmas customs. My atheism has not and will not affect it at all.
I don't like those people who complain about Christianity or commercialism of Christmas. You don't need to have any of them if you don't want.
I don't like those people who complain about Christianity or commercialism of Christmas. You don't need to have any of them if you don't want.
Christmas was always really a cultural holiday anyway. Christianity just co-opted it from other sources and put their own brand of marketing on it. Seriously, Santa Claus and Reindeer? Does this sound like something from the bible to you?akibawall95 said:
Careface? That isn't the point of this thread.boradis said:You're in denial about something too.El Poncho said:One of my friends is an atheist who says he doesn't celebrate Christmas yet he gets presents and has christmas dinner so I think he's in denial about christmas
When is the last time, atheist or not, anybody celebrated Christmas from just the religious side. A long damn time. I wasn't atheist until about 2 years ago and before that we never EVER acknowleged the existence of Jesus during Christmas. After I turned atheist, literally nothing changed. Christmas is and always will be about presents because humans are greedy bastards. And I don't want some hardcore religious fuck quoting this because you are wrong.
It makes no sense to say Christmas isn't a Christian holiday because December 25th isn't Christ's birthday. The early church didn't know when exactly he was born (we still don't), so they chose 12/25 because that was the date of a Pagan festival and would make conversion easier.
What it represents is important, at least for a religious person like me. For the record, I don't have a problem with non-believers celebrating it, though the consumerism and commercialization bothers me to the extreme.
What it represents is important, at least for a religious person like me. For the record, I don't have a problem with non-believers celebrating it, though the consumerism and commercialization bothers me to the extreme.
I hate to bring up the cliché but it really is a repurposed Pagan holiday. You will note that there is no mention of it in the bible because as far as we know the first mention of it was around 1000 AD.akibawall95 said:
Irrespective, who are Christians to tell us what we should and shouldn't do? What happened to free will and not judging people? I would have thought they would enjoy people recognising the holiday and that they would enjoy sharing goodwill with non-believers.
The only argument that I believe they are following is that Christmas is awesome and everyone enjoys it but it's not primarily about Jesus or God for a lot of people. Therefore, these people shouldn't be having fun by celebrating something that Christians invented. It's a strange type of envy at people getting to enjoy something that these lot believe should be an exclusive club. They're being selfish which is not only against a Christian way of life but also rather ironically, against the spirit of Christmas
I am shocked by the number of people who don't realize that outside the name "Christmas" the holiday has NOTHING to do with Christianity!
The tree and other symbols pre-date Christianity by thousands of years, as does the date of its celebration. No one is even sure that the Jesus as described in the Bible was even a real person, much less when his friggin' birthday might have been. (There was probably a real person at the root of the story, but the details are all conjecture - similar to Robin Hood or King Arthur. Also, NONE of the Biblical accounts of his life were written until a hundred years or so after he was supposed to have lived.) If you do take the Bible literally, all indications are that he was probably born in the late summer/early fall.
The Romans decided to throw a Christian name on the Saturnalia and the celebration of the birth of Sol Invictus, to more easily convert the Pagan holdouts to their newly-adopted religion. In the U.S. and Britain the Puritans (you know, like those guys who gave us Thanksgiving, and that we all confuse with the "Founding Fathers") actually condemned the celebration of Christmas. It was actually BANNED in parts of the Colonies at one time.
I know many Christians know the origins of the holiday, but celebrate it anyway, out of a respect for tradition. That's fine. That's the same reason many atheists celebrate. It's tradition. It's the ignorant Evangelical types who actually believe they're celebrating Jesus' birthday that get on my nerves. Most of them don't even really understand their own holy book, to begin with, and just pick and choose the parts that are important to them ... speaking of which: anyone want to point out to me where in the Bible it says to celebrate Jesus' birth? Yeah, I thought not.
There IS one description of decorating a tree in the Bible, but it's only mentioned by way of condemning the practice as offensive to God.
So, anyway, as an atheist, I feel perfectly fine celebrating the solstice, Christmas, whatever. Personally, I call it Festivus (because I loved Seinfeld, and The Strike was one of my favorite episodes) and will be celebrating on December 23rd. Most of my family are some variation of non-denominational Christian, but they know the holiday has no actual Christian meaning, so it's a time for the extended family to get together and enjoy one another's company while we eat and exchange gifts. To us, it's about family togetherness and generosity.
Forget all the "Christ in Christmas" hooey.
May as well start telling Jews to start putting the Han back in Hannukah, or some such. (Maybe that could be somehow related to the Wookiee Life Day?)
Anyway, a Happy Whatever the Hell Holiday You Celebrate to Everyone! ^_^
~Cheers!
The tree and other symbols pre-date Christianity by thousands of years, as does the date of its celebration. No one is even sure that the Jesus as described in the Bible was even a real person, much less when his friggin' birthday might have been. (There was probably a real person at the root of the story, but the details are all conjecture - similar to Robin Hood or King Arthur. Also, NONE of the Biblical accounts of his life were written until a hundred years or so after he was supposed to have lived.) If you do take the Bible literally, all indications are that he was probably born in the late summer/early fall.
The Romans decided to throw a Christian name on the Saturnalia and the celebration of the birth of Sol Invictus, to more easily convert the Pagan holdouts to their newly-adopted religion. In the U.S. and Britain the Puritans (you know, like those guys who gave us Thanksgiving, and that we all confuse with the "Founding Fathers") actually condemned the celebration of Christmas. It was actually BANNED in parts of the Colonies at one time.
I know many Christians know the origins of the holiday, but celebrate it anyway, out of a respect for tradition. That's fine. That's the same reason many atheists celebrate. It's tradition. It's the ignorant Evangelical types who actually believe they're celebrating Jesus' birthday that get on my nerves. Most of them don't even really understand their own holy book, to begin with, and just pick and choose the parts that are important to them ... speaking of which: anyone want to point out to me where in the Bible it says to celebrate Jesus' birth? Yeah, I thought not.
There IS one description of decorating a tree in the Bible, but it's only mentioned by way of condemning the practice as offensive to God.
So, anyway, as an atheist, I feel perfectly fine celebrating the solstice, Christmas, whatever. Personally, I call it Festivus (because I loved Seinfeld, and The Strike was one of my favorite episodes) and will be celebrating on December 23rd. Most of my family are some variation of non-denominational Christian, but they know the holiday has no actual Christian meaning, so it's a time for the extended family to get together and enjoy one another's company while we eat and exchange gifts. To us, it's about family togetherness and generosity.
Forget all the "Christ in Christmas" hooey.
May as well start telling Jews to start putting the Han back in Hannukah, or some such. (Maybe that could be somehow related to the Wookiee Life Day?)
Anyway, a Happy Whatever the Hell Holiday You Celebrate to Everyone! ^_^
~Cheers!