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So, do you believe that atheists should celebrate Christmas?

I don't think that they should because although it may not seem like it as much now, but Christmas is still a religious holiday. To me it doesn't make sense to celebrate the birthday of someone that you don't believe in.

So what is your opinion?

I'm atheist, and I celebrate Christmas. Christmas is still a time to celebrate the birth of Christ, but it's also now a time to give gifts to loved ones and be with family. I don't see a problem with it.

By the way, just because I'm not Christian doesn't mean i don't believe in Christ. He was definitely an important and influential man.

Christmas is fun, and it gives people an excuse to spend loads of money on each other. It has more meaning than just a religious holiday, it's a major part of our culture. Heck, some Christmas traditions aren't even of Christian origin, like mistletoe.

Even if one doesn't believe in the divinity of Christ, they can still believe in the general spirit and good nature of Christmas.

Well, if they don't believe in him I don't think they should celebrate Christmas.

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Does it matter?

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My opinion is you shouldn't tell people what holidays they should and shouldn't celebrate.

Quite possibly the most intelligent thing you've ever said COLA..
*feels forehead* You feeling OK, kid?

Seriously, it doesn't matter. I have no problem with Atheists celebrating Christmas. It's become so secular that the celebration of Christmas has become completely abstracted from the birth of Christ (or the celebration of Yule, for the pagans out there).

Unless it something that can hurt others (like drunk driving), I have no problem with any person celebrating Christmas. Hey, it's Christmas, after all!

Atheists, you're all welcome to celebrate the birth of my Lord and Saviour, provided you bring me a present (or a peanut butter pie).

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If you can't fix it with a hammer, you have an electrical problem.

No, not really, we were just talking about this in Astronomy today and I was just curious about you guys' opinions.

I'm an atheist, and I see Christmas more as a tradition rather than something to do with religion. Here in Scandinavia we celebrated Blot during the winter solstice before the christians had us converted. We still use some words from that time, like "Jul" from "Julblot" instead of "Christmas".

I'll bring the PB Pie, SR.

yeah it's pretty secularized. plus the phrase "believe in" is awkward. i, personally so not believe in sweatpants. not that they don't exist, i simply cannot agree with their use in public. however, i think that jesus was a real guy, and even if you only want to read his words as a philosophy, he's pretty influential.

so yes, presents all around.

It doesn't matter if they do or not. I celebrate it, even though I'm not Christian. Christmas ain't just for the Christians now.

I don't know why I celebrate Easter though...

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You love sitting on the Easter Bunny's lap at the mall.


I agree that Christmas should be open to anyone who wants to celebrate it.

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The thing that doesn't make sense with that though is that you don't celebrate Easter because it's about Jesus' resurrection, right? Christmas is about, or is supposed to be about, his birth. It's just that it's become so commercialized that now it's almost like it's an excuse to give and receive presents.

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My family really just celebrates the holiday season. We say Christmas because that's the most common holiday at that time.

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<(* ) THRUSTER DUCK
( << )<~~~ WANTS
O O YOUR SOUL

Why not? For me and a lot of other people, Christmas (day) is about celebrating peacefully with your family.



Even the Japanese have Christmas, even though there aren't many christians. Banning Christmas from non-christians sounds just dumb, the holiday's become quite common for all sorts of people.

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My music
My LJ

Hey! You denyin' mah right to Super Mario Galaxy this holiday season? YOU SHALL BE DESSTTTTRRRRRROOOOOOOYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYEEEEEEEEEEEEEDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDD!!!
But all joking/almost-page-streaching aside, I do think aiethiests should be able to celibrate Christmas. For the same basic reasons as all 'dose other guys.

I have no association's with any Christ-centered faith, but I still give and receive Christmas gifts. To me its more of "National Celebration of Capitalism and Materialism"
White kids still get off of school for Martin Luther King Day right?

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TIRES TIRES TIRES

You know, it's kinda scary... When I first saw this thread, that's the first thing that popped into my head.
I'm just glad someone else said it.

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If you can't fix it with a hammer, you have an electrical problem.

haha, oh man i really like that analogy. it's pretty funny to me, too how they call winter break "holiday break" or whatever, even though it is basically always centered directly around xmas. hah, oh well.

To be perfectly politically correct it would be "End of first semester extended break" Its not the end of the year in every calender, and also its not winter for the Australians.

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TIRES TIRES TIRES

i [s]bow[/s] lean over in some manner or another to your infinite ability to not offend any person, place or object.

How are we defining "celebrating" Christmas? Giving gifts? Putting up a tree? Plenty of atheists do those things. You probably won't catch many atheists singing hymns in church on the 25th, though, so are they truly celebrating the religious aspect of the holiday?

I have a question for the few of you who think that atheists shouldn't celebrate Christmas. What should they do with themselves on the 25th? Also, some Christians do not celebrate Christmas (due to its secularization, its ties with various pagan holidays, and so forth). Are they wrong? If atheists shouldn't celebrate the holiday, does that mean that all Christians should?

Mike

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Logical fallacies ahoy! I'd also like to say: graaaaagh!

This may a bit off-topic, but I remember last year, on a talk show of an atheist, making fun of liberals avoiding the term Christmas, by having a guy sing "White Christmas" but there was a censor from NPR, so the song ended up going more like this:

I'm dreaming of a non-color-specific relgious observance in late December, just like the ones I used to know...

And he couldn't say anything for fear of hurting someone's feelings.

Now on topic, I don't think it matters, Christmas wasn't even created as a holiday until like 400 A.D. (or so I saw on the history channel), although it was created as a time to celebrate the birth of our Lord, other people celebrated it, such as the agnostics/atheists that helped write the Constitution, and now is no time to make people that don't believe it's of it's importance stop celebrating it.

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(Man, holiday-time political correctness really reached a pinnacle last year, didn't it? I'm reminded of the SNL skit. )

Some atheists might not celebrate Christmas like some Christians might not celebrate Halloween. Because Christmas is a national holiday in the United States, it's harder for those atheists to go about their daily lives. But in that case, there is religiously neutral greater good to Christmas: it's all about time with family, friends, and giving to those less fortunate. Every human being needs at least one of those days each year, huh?

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dot dot dot

When you say "true religious value" and "original religious meaning," you're referring to the Pagan observance of Yule, correct?

I agree with what others have said about the Secular Humanist points presented by Christmas--how we're supposed to remember to be generous to one another, regardless of any differences, real or perceived.

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The meaning of life is 'bucket.'

FOR PONY!!!

Not really... Yule and Christmas are different hollidays. Some still celebrate Yule and not Christmas today.

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I was referencing how Christianity, in its early days of spreading around cultures, piggy-backed off of popular holidays, festivals, and other such observances of the time in an attempt to ease people into converting to Christianity, hence why Jesus' birth is celebrated around the same time as Yule (the Winter Solstice).

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The meaning of life is 'bucket.'

FOR PONY!!!

You can argue about how the Christians used traditions that were first thought of by pagans all you want, but that doesn't change the fact Christmas is a holiday celebrating Jesus' birth, and Yule isn't (hence the different names). Jesus' birth is the "original religous meaning" of 'Christmas' (which is right in the name of this topic, and what Magna Carta specifically referred to in the post you replied to), whether they took the traditions from Yule or not.

That also reminds me, I've also wondered why many (not all) atheists still call it 'Chistmas'. I wouldn't if I were those people, but whatever.

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Why not? The word "Fantastic" has changed to become synonymous with words like 'great", yet a fantasy is still something that is unrealistic and unbelievable. Words change, Christmas does not necessarily imply Christ anymore.

I'm atheist, and I suppose I "celebrate" it...but I kind of have to. The rest of the family is Christian, and they'd hate my guts if I for some reason decided not to participate, and I like Christmas. It does really irk me how the mayor of the town can say stuff like "God Bless" and still be praised for it...I think our culture has kind of excluded anyone who isn't Christian.