Shoud atheists celebrate Christmas?

[Moonlit_Angel]

People can celebrate whatever the hell they want. I remember back in elementary school, my class had a week where we learned about Kwanzaa and did all the celebrations involved with that holiday (and it's actually a rather neat holiday, for the record). Now, I am not one who regularly celebrates Kwanzaa, yet I did for that week, so am I a hypocrite or something, too?

Angela

[beli]

Originally posted by BrownEyedBoy
Isn't being an atheist all about going against the current and "not following blindly what others swear is true?"

Being an athiest has got buttkiss to do with a desire to go against the current. Why would anyone want to do that? Life is much easier going with the current than against it. It also depends where you live as to whether you are going against the current. Where I grew up any Christians would have been going against the current.

As for "not following blindly" I think every person on this earth, regardles of beliefs, should "not follow blindly' and instead follow whats in their heart.

[Moonlit_Angel]

Originally posted by beli
As for "not following blindly" I think every person on this earth, regardles of beliefs, should "not follow blindly' and instead follow whats in their heart.

. Could not agree more. The "be yourself" idea may be cliched, but it really is the best thing you can ever do.

Angela

[paulrg]

Getting slightly off topic here but regarding non-Christian celebration of Christmas nevertheless... I spent last Christmas in the United Arab Emirates & Oman - two predominantly Moslem countries. Christmas decorations were all around us and speaking to a few moslems, particularly in Dubai, they said that whilst Christmas was not of great religious significance to them they did appreciate the sentiment of the time and in fact several of them sent Christmas cards to their friends. The point being that it is about being friendly to one other, remembering friends and family, and they could relate to that.

[Popmartijn]

Originally posted by Angela Harlem
:cookiemonster:

Wrong forum!

[AcrobatMan]

why not

[AcrobatMan]

Originally posted by Angela Harlem
I'll bite then BrownEyedBoy. If Christ died for our sins, did he die for only some of us or all of us? In other words did he die even for those without faith? Faith doesn't change fact. He either did or he didn't. Nothing will change that. If you believe some people who don't have this faith, don't have the right to celebrate Christmas at all, then you're in your own way denying he died for us all.
I dont know if I am explaining this properly. It's one of those crosseyed points.

..thats what i call non-exclusiveness ( is this a word)

[verte76]

Some people who are not religious like the historical Jesus. One need not believe in the divinity of Christ or whatever to celebrate Christmas and observe the giving traditions of that holiday. Easter is a bit more of a religious holiday, it's a little harder for me to understand why an atheist might want to celebrate it. But to each his own, if they want to celebrate that's fine.

[AcrobatMan]

Originally posted by verte76
why an atheist might want to celebrate it.

if most of his friends are christians and he wants to join in the fun part of it..



OR just for the sake of it.. Just celebrate !!! You get to celebrate and dont need to believe anything to celebrate...isnt that fun...tell me

[JessicaAnn]

Originally posted by A_Wanderer
I disagree, while their origins are definitely pagan the celebrations themselves are not and are entwined with Christianity.

Bear in mind that I am Catholic, but I disagree.

The Christian Church developed their holidays around the dates of pagan celebrations to "counteract" the pagan celebrations. In fact while no one knows exactly when Jesus was born, biblical evidence suggests that it was not December 25.

If I may ... a link for your review. Christianity has co-opted many pagan symbols and re-interpreted their meanings to suit Church teachings.

Pagan Origins of Christmas

[Tania]

My 3-year old's Kindy teacher explained the whole Christmas concept rather well when she said that Christmas time was a birthday party. We have cake, special food, presents, cards, special songs and all our favourite people around us to celebrate Jesus' birthday.

I don't know about anyone else, but at any party I have all of those things listed above are included. I don't think that I would not invite any of my friends to help me celebrate because of a particular belief that they held that was different to mine. Isn't that the main concept of most religions - to be tolerant towards each other and to love one another no matter what (ie, no matter what religion, politics, sexual orientation or whatever a person is)?

Personally, I am not a very religious person, but I love Christmas. I love the fact that people are thinking of each other and that they make the effort to spend time with familyand friends. To question whether people should have the opportunity to celebrate Christmas because of a belief they have doesn't sound very Christian like at all.

[U2Kitten]

I'm sure the stores don't mind what religion (or lack thereof) someone is when they buy a bunch of presents, and I bet no one minds getting a present from someone regardless of their belief system.

[speedracer]

Originally posted by deep
Merry Xmas

and to all the sun whorshipers

a Happy New Year

Remember that the X in Xmas really means the Greek letter Chi, the first letter of "Christos" or Christ.

[Rono]

Originally posted by cardosino


Pity the nail was banging th efoot in your mouth.

MILLIONS celebrate them from a religious perspective.

I thought that celebrating nails and jesus was on another day.

[Rono]

Originally posted by BrownEyedBoy
Christmas Eve is all about the night Christ is born. So if you don't believe in God, then what are you celebrating?



I don't know, I think it's pretty hypocritical of atheists to celebrate it.

I celebrate it because the days are getting longer again and light is on his way and why does cristians say that athiests are hypocrital I know a lot of cristians are hypicritical to, they only go to church on christmas.

[Macfistowannabe]

It doesn't bother me if atheists celebrate Christmas. While I bet they care little about the meaning behind it, it's a time to spend with your family and friends like no other. Completely ignoring all the consumer chaos, people are less selfish, more selfless, more caring and giving. I think we should get all 12 days of Christmas. Wouldn't that be something? (Hey, Hanukkah has been getting 8 days for years, why not?)

[DrTeeth]

It's a rare occasion but I totally agree with Macfistowannabe

[Judah]

While Athiests may not acknowledge the divinity that's at the foundation of Christmas celebrations, i think most would agree with the ideals that come out of the belief system...especially universal ideas of love, peace, charity, piety, etc. These are ideals that most belief systems/religions (even Athiestic) have in common.

[Also, with regard to Islam, Moslems also believe in Christmas, in the sense that they acknowledge Jesus' God-induced miracle virgin birth. They just don't really go all out to celebrate it. They have at least two major festive Christmas-like celebrations.]

[Saracene]

Well, I'm doubly hypocritical then,

Not only I'm not a believer, but Russian Orthodox Christmas takes place on a completely different day (January 7th).

[beli]

Originally posted by Judah
...especially universal ideas of love, peace, charity, piety, etc. These are ideals that most belief systems/religions (even Athiestic) have in common.

There is no code of conduct for atheists. Atheist simply means 'no god". An atheist could believe in love, peace, etc. An atheist could also believe in eating small children for breakfast. There are no rules.

Please, I feel like Im repeating myself endlessly here.