Page 1 of Should Atheists stop celebrating Christmas?

With recent threads slamming Christianity, I was wondering should these atheists enforce their own beliefs and stop celebrating Christmas, and work through the festive season, not buy presents for the family, no send or receive Christmas cards, or cook/go to Christmas dinner, and not go to the Christmas office parties/dinner?

Or is it okay to be a hypocrite for a few days and join in and celebrate the festive season, and then go back to slamming Christian faith in the new year?

We all know it used to be a Roman/pagan holiday, but none of you can`t really use that excuse to celebrate it because it means you would have to worship another God.

So all you atheists out there, why should you celebrate Christmas when you don`t believe in the Christian faith?

floyd

This item was edited on Wednesday, 12th December 2007, 19:18

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should these atheists enforce their own beliefs

Atheism isn`t really a "belief".

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We all know it used to be a Roman/pagan holiday, but none of you can`t really use that excuse to celebrate it because it means you would have to worship another God.


So.... if you admit that Christmas is really a re-branded Saturnalia or Yule... aren`t you worshipping false gods under the guise of celebrating Jesus` birth, which wasn`t even in December? Isn`t that hypocritical...? :D

Can you tell me the book, chapter, and verse of the Bible where it says Jesus` birth should be celebrated by Christians?




www.soundalikes.com ~*~ glitterkat.stumbleupon.com

I`m a hindu.

We `celebrate` Christmas.

We have a drink or three. Eat turkey on x-mas day. Give presents. Put a tree up. Have a family get-together.

We do pretty much everything apart from go to midnight mass.

What do you expect us to do just because we`re Hindus - be misrable bar-stewards all week and wait for everyone who celebrates it (faith or no faith) to get back to work?

I think your argument is frankly ridiculous.

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This item was edited on Wednesday, 12th December 2007, 20:27

I`m 100% Atheist!

I don`t celebrate `Christmas` at all, I don`t send cards or presents. I do feel awkward when virtually everyone I know does although I would say they do it mostly because of their children. To me this would be a better reason NOT to celebrate `Christmas` because in doing it for your children you are brainwashing the next generation to continue the cycle, but that`s just me!

Linking religion to getting presents once a year is a very strange concept, corrupt the young while they`ve got no defences to resist them. I`d rather buy presents when either they deserve it, not because they expect them, or when I`m feeling so inclined to do so and not through pier pressure.

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We `celebrate` Christmas.

We have a drink or three. Eat turkey on x-mas day. Give presents. Put a tree up. Have a family get-together.

We do pretty much everything apart from go to midnight mass.

Im the same...does that make me a hindu too :D

Christmas for me has never been about the religious `festival` Im not from a religious family, weddings and funerals are the only time I set foot in a church and Im sure Im not alone. Every year folks go on about the true meaning of Christmas being lost, I suppose it is, to me Christmas is just a week off work, I`ll be honest and say the little baby jesus is the last thing on my mind when Im tucking into my dinner. Christmas for me is about spending time with family, exchanging gifts, a few days off work to relax and unwind

As for should I stop celebrating Christmas, I dont `celebrate` it as such so Ive nothing to stop :/

Christmas stopped being a religious celebration YEARS ago, you just have to watch the ad breaks on a saturday morning to see that.

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Or is it okay to be a hypocrite for a few days and join in and celebrate the festive season, and then go back to slamming Christian faith in the new year?
I`m an atheist, but I resent this statement, even though I understand why you said it. Personally, i`ve never berated someone for having faith. I`ve berated people doing f***ing stupid things and citing their faith for the reason they`ve done it (Those little JW kids have no mother this xmas). Those guys in america campaining over every little bloody thing are an embarassment

I see xmas as a time of the year where we exchange gifts, have large family get-togethers, drink and eat too much, and that`s about it for me.

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So.... if you admit that Christmas is really a re-branded Saturnalia or Yule... aren`t you worshipping false gods under the guise of celebrating Jesus` birth, which wasn`t even in December? Isn`t that hypocritical...?

Who said I was a Christian?

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Can you tell me the book, chapter, and verse of the Bible where it says Jesus` birth should be celebrated by Christians?

It doesn`t, but it also doesn`t say that we should not celebrate the birth of Jesus either.

Atheism isn`t really a "belief".

It is when you think about it, because you believe that God doesn`t exist, so therefore it`s a belief :p

floyd

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Who said I was a Christian?

If you aren`t, why do you care if atheists celebrate? :/

You also said
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So all you atheists out there
Implying you aren`t among the "you atheists", so either you`re a Christian, or you aren`t but believe in a god - but like I said if you aren`t a Christian why do you care if non-believers celebrate a "Christian" festival? Did you post a thread about non-Pagans celebrating Hallowe`en? Do you object to the names of the days of the week?

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It is when you think about it, because you believe that God doesn`t exist, so therefore it`s a belief :p


No. I don`t believe in a god. The opposite of believing.

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It doesn`t, but it also doesn`t say that we should not celebrate the birth of Jesus either.

Correct, it doesn`t. But the early Christians didn`t celebrate it. If it was wanted/necessary for followers to celebrate Jesus` birth then the specific date would be given (not just nicked off a Pagan festival) and the details of the way it should be observed would be given: both of these are given for his execution and resurrection. I`m not saying that it`s *wrong* for Christians to celebrate Christmas, but they shouldn`t get mardy about a mid-winter festival being celebrated by non-Christians when there`s no actual Biblical basis for celebrating it.



www.soundalikes.com ~*~ glitterkat.stumbleupon.com

I`m an athiest. I celebrate Christmas, but in no form that is in anyway connected with any religion, organised or otherwise.

Not my fault if some people insist on hijacking this time of year to celebrate some prophet`s birth (which historians say didn`t happen in December anyway). :)

However if getting together with family and friends, enjoying a nice roast dinner, giving presents, and hanging crass decorations up everywhere is somehow deeply connected with Christianity, I might reconsider my position.

I also like to go to fireworks displays on Nov 5th, and enjoy the odd indulgence of a pumpkin and silly costume on Halloween, yet to the best of my knowledge I am not a terrorist or a witch.

And at Easter I eat chocolate eggs, which I believe is a time of year associated with yet another Christian holiday.

I quite happily do all of the above things without celebrating anything to do with religion, so as an athiest I am not celebrating Christmas or Easter. I am however enjoying the national holidays they bring.

Quite how that is hypocritical, beats the heck out of me. If I said we should ban these holidays, and celebrated them myself in some form or another, that would be, but I don`t say that, so I`m not. ;)


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I am just glad to see the word CHRISTMAS written here.

You go to the cinema and you get the american slogan...Happy Holidays.

You go to the shops and they have happy Crimbo.

Whats the matter with saying a celebration of Chrismas, in a County thar is mainly christian,

So I say Merry Chrismas to you all, no matter your religion ot have no faith at all, you should all celibrate these wonderfull holidays and share you happiness with your relatives and friends :D