Do Aetheists celebrate Christmas?

[ivan]

My understanding is that Christmas is celebrated at this date because a Christian emperor way back in Roman days wanted to tone down the out of control partying associated with the Winter Solstice. He fixed his "problem" by turning it into a religious holiday.

 

this sorta thang clearly worked well for mardi gras

 

santa vs jesus vs camus

Edited December 19, 2007 by ivan

[minx]

I used to just go on vacation someplace from before Christmas until after New Years. Due to some job changes this hasn’t been possible in recent years so my family insists that we have some big family function. I used to host it the weekend before Christmas but due to people’s work schedules it will be on Christmas this year. I do this out of respect for my mother. We will not say grace or a prayer at my table. We will not observe any religious aspects of the holiday in my home. Everyone is aware of this. If mom wants the whole family to get together for dinner that’s fine but I’d rather do it for a family member’s birthday instead of Jesus’s.

 

There will be a Christmas tree b/c I like the pretty lights.

 

Just b/c I’m an atheist doesn’t mean that I’m evil, incarnate. I still have a family that I like to visit….occasionally.

 

[ryland_moore]

Tvash, that has got to be one of the best posts I've ever read on this board, even if it was sarcastic. Believe me, I don't feel that non-believers are damned. I have faith and it happens to be with a Christian God. Like you said in a previous post, how can someone say that a person who is a saint all their lives but is a non-believer will go to hell but a believer who has repented but also was a serial killer go to heaven. I don't buy it. I singled out aetheists mainly because they do not believe in any god whereas Hindus, Jews, and muslims belive in a god. I guess the use of the word hypocrite was a little strong, but just curious. Even I celebrated the secular Christmas for years until my faith took over, but then again I am still liberal minded, majored in Geology and Forestry and work in the environmental field.

 

Still nothing like a stiff bourbon at the stroke of midnight on Christmas or dirnking mamosas all Christmas morning.

 

 

[kevbone]

If mom wants the whole family to get together for dinner that’s fine but I’d rather do it for a family member’s birthday instead of Jesus’s.

 

Some might say Jesus is in your family and its his birthday.....

[Hugh Conway]

If mom wants the whole family to get together for dinner that’s fine but I’d rather do it for a family member’s birthday instead of Jesus’s.

 

Some might say Jesus is in your family and its his birthday.....

 

I didn't know minx was hispanic. Figures, she's kinda spicy.

[minx]

If mom wants the whole family to get together for dinner that’s fine but I’d rather do it for a family member’s birthday instead of Jesus’s.

 

Some might say Jesus is in your family and its his birthday.....

 

I didn't know minx was hispanic. Figures, she's kinda spicy.

 

Jesus is a really nice guy. His wife makes the best tamales ever!!!!

 

and i'm pretty sure that december 25th isn't his birthday

[tvashtarkatena]

Tvash, that has got to be one of the best posts I've ever read on this board, even if it was sarcastic. Believe me, I don't feel that non-believers are damned. I have faith and it happens to be with a Christian God. Like you said in a previous post, how can someone say that a person who is a saint all their lives but is a non-believer will go to hell but a believer who has repented but also was a serial killer go to heaven. I don't buy it. I singled out aetheists mainly because they do not believe in any god whereas Hindus, Jews, and muslims belive in a god. I guess the use of the word hypocrite was a little strong, but just curious. Even I celebrated the secular Christmas for years until my faith took over, but then again I am still liberal minded, majored in Geology and Forestry and work in the environmental field.

 

Still nothing like a stiff bourbon at the stroke of midnight on Christmas or dirnking mamosas all Christmas morning.

 

 

If these are your beliefs, then you truly walk with God, my son. Unlike that other fucking poser.

[KaskadskyjKozak]

What does Christmas have to do with Christians? I never understood that. If the dude is dies within few days of his birthday, but he dies in April, what are these people doing celebrating his ostensible birthday in the middle of the winter?

 

My understanding is that Christmas is celebrated at this date because a Christian emperor way back in Roman days wanted to tone down the out of control partying associated with the Winter Solstice. He fixed his "problem" by turning it into a religious holiday.

 

Roman Emperor? These Holy Days/Feast days/Saints Days almost all are chosen to coincide with existing pagan celebrations to replace them and make a transition for the local people to Christianity easier.

 

And Christmas was celebrated as a Mardi Gras-style bacchanialan party well into the middle ages and renaissance and beyond. Just saw a program on it tonight in fact. In England for example it was like this into the 1800's, and in the US as well. Made a lot of upper-class folks quite nervous as the partying often turned into riots. The way we celebrate Christmas now is inherited from the Victorian era...

 

[tvashtarkatena]

Speak for yourself.

[Dechristo]

I like cavorting in a conga line with the Eight Maids A-Milking.

[kevbone]

and i'm pretty sure that december 25th isn't his birthday

 

How are you so sure?

[gertlush]

the only holiday worth celebrating:

 

I-wm9N0KiAs

[sobo]

and i'm pretty sure that december 25th isn't his birthday

 

How are you so sure?

Heisenberg told her it wasn't.

[ivan]

the only holiday worth celebrating:

 

I-wm9N0KiAs

ha! the social-studies dept in my last school alwasy celebrated this one on our last day before the break - my fav part was the "airing of the grievances". no one was ever willing to wrestle me.

[minx]

and i'm pretty sure that december 25th isn't his birthday

 

How are you so sure?

Heisenberg told her it wasn't.

 

 

sobo - you're the best!

 

 

[sobo]

Just for you, Honey chil' :kisss:

 

been wanting to use the "kiss" graemlin ever since the upgrade...

[Stefan]

I have always felt sorry for Joseph. Had a wife, but never had fun. Had to think once in while, what if my wife.... Then his kid would always tell him how he sinned...and the kid was ALWAYS right. Oi.

[Clavote]

Happy Holidays!

I hope I pissed off the Christians with that.

 

As for the Atheists, they spend way too much energy caring about god's existence. What has god done lately........there, nothing. You can now stop worrying about god existing or not.

 

I just hope both these groups stay the fuck away from me so I can have some down time, a few beers and my wife handing me my pipe while we watch the fire.

 

The last group I hate are the fucking consumerist asshats who must decorate and buy products. Shit brains who buy diamonds, perfume, cars and shit like that because the ads convinced them their wife would fuck them if they bought that crap. Maybe all they really need to get her is more foreplay. Oh, I guess that is what all that stuff is for in our modern society.

 

Honey, I got you some diamonds......watch her soak her panties.

Brilliant fucking marketing. This year they even added the word

"Monogamy" to diamond ads. So I guess diamonds are like cuckold insurance.

[i_like_sun]

With the topic of Christianity in the mountains, many of the cc.comers have come out and stated that they are aetheists. With the Christmas season upon us, what do the aetheists on this board do on Christmas morning? I would have to assume that if you do not believe in Jesus, then why would you celebrate a day chosen to celebrate his birth? I would also assume that if you celebrate Christmas, then you are a hypocrite? Two recent court cases brought by aetheists to try and get the Christmas holiday revoked using separation of church and state as an argument and that govt. should not support a religious holiday of one religion without providing equal holidays for other religions. Both courts determined that Christmas is a religious holiday and not a secular holiday. So how do aetheists and even agnostics (since you don't associate with any religion) spend December 25th?

 

 

Because buying shit and getting shit is cool! Duh!

 

[i_like_sun]

To give a serious answer for a minute, I'm agnostic, yet I still celebrate the holiday. Basically, its tradition. Its an excuse for my family and I to get together and show each other that we LOVE each other, and that is important.

 

And, you sir, can go suck an egg for calling us "non-christians" hypocrites. Yes, I don't buy the idea that I'm going to hell because I don't take jesus as my personal savior, but I still believe in many of the values stated in the Bible.