Why do Atheists celebrate Christmas?

[This_person]

Inclusion?? Are you serious?

Christians were NOT inclusive.

Unless you consider burning heretics and non-believers at the stake so they could join you in heaven inclusive.


When you look back at history and the advent (good word choice if i do say so myself) of Christmas, inclusiveness was the last thing on any Christians mind. They were battling for the hearts and souls of the pagans, and any and all non-believers, EVEN if it meant killing all of them to convince them of the error of their ways.

Yes, Chrstianity is the religion of Peace.. or pieces, as those that were quartered or ripped apart on the rack would be after the fact.

"Battling for the hearts and souls of the pagans...." by adopting many of their traditions into Christian traditions.


Yes, many Christians were bad and did "wrong" things. Can you ever show me where I suggested something else?

 

[Cowgirl]

I don't know who suggested that to you, but they are wrong, and this false claim has really no bearing on the subject.

And your quote:

Religious people put their diety above such trivial things.

I'm not comparing any such things!

Also your quote:

Now, I'm not Islamic, and I won't suggesting killing anyone who insults Christianity the way a small portion of Muslims suggest killing anyone who insults Islam. But, it's still insulting, disrespectful behavior nonetheless.

 

[This_person]

Because in most of the world, Christmas is not just a Christian Holiday, it is also a secular one, just like 4th of July, St Patty's (another religious turned secular), Valentines Day (ditto) and Halloween (ditto).

What do you celebrate at the End of December? Do you know why Christmas is that time of year? (because its not when Jesus was born).

You know for sure when Jesus was born?

Please, do tell!


But, it's good that you're getting the point of the OP (as I understood it) that turning CHRISTmas into a secular holiday seems to be the goal, and that is what is in question...

 

[Beta84]

All of the holidays that we know of celebrate something. Whether you are celebrating Ground Hog day or Fourth of July, they all have a meaning. Christmas is a christian holiday to celebrate the birth or Christ.

Jews, Muslims, Buddhists, Hindu people do not celebrate Christmas. Why do non-believing Americans celebrate Christmas? Christians don't celebrate other religion's holidays.

What is it that Atheists celebrate at the end of December? It's certainly not Christmas.

Simple. Christmas has become so commercialized and blown up that all of you Christians basically turned it into a national holiday. By having everyone have "Christmas" and "Easter" break, closing EVERYTHING on Christmas besides Asian restaurants and movie theaters (along with numerous other things that are done for Christmas), you virtually made it an American holiday. As a result, many non-Christian Americans celebrate the holiday. It's not only the atheists who celebrate Christmas. I actually know some people from other religions who celebrate it. Obviously they don't do much more than the xmas tree, lights, and presents or dinner...but that's still something.

Actually, even Jews celebrate Christmas. Christmas eve = chinese food, christmas day = movies. It's basically a Christmas tradition. It's not necessarily celebrated the same way, but it's still a family time

 

[PsyOps]

Kinda' like christians celebrating pagan gods/traditions and calling it christmas. That shows great respect for your god.

Well, we stole this land and called it America. I do believe, given your rationale, we should change the name of this country and change the name of Independence Day to <put your new name here>. And we will change the new year from when the Chinese had it thousands of years before us, so our new year will no longer be on 1 Jan, it will be on Jan 26 this coming year and Feb 14 the following year and so on accordingly.

I mean since we are changing things for the sake of change... or does this change thing only apply to Christian "stolen holidays"?

 

[JustinB]

No, thinking angels are pretty is not disrespectful.

Decorating one's home is not disrepectful.

Celebrating, with parties designated as CHRISTmas parties, with decorations designated as CHRISTmas/Christian symbols, etc., a religious holiday when one does not have any belief (in fact, they routinely belittle people who DO have the belief) in that religion is disrespectful.And, those freedoms are indeed great!

I don't really celebrate Easter if that's a little less disrespectful to you.

 

[Cowgirl]

Well, we stole this land and called it America. I do believe, given your rationale, we should change the name of this country and change the name of Independence Day to <put your new name here>. And we will change the new year from when the Chinese had it thousands of years before us, so our new year will no longer be on 1 Jan, it will be on Jan 26 this coming year and Feb 14 the following year and so on accordingly.

I mean since we are changing things for the sake of change... or does this change thing only apply to Christian "stolen holidays"?

OMG. Are you joking? You're joking, right? You're not still stuck on changing the name of the day, right? Nobody is saying they want to do that!

 

[This_person]

Christians are always the victims, aren't they? Christians constantly try to spread their ideals, hand out pamplets, do missionary work. It's ok. But as soon as someone with different beliefs tries to say anything, it's belittling? Nice double standard you got there.

If I were to take your religion (if you had one) and claim that what you hold dear in it wasn't worth holding dear, and then belittled your religion by mocking it's trappings and pretending to celebrate it's holy days just for a day off of work, I'd bet you'd think that was disrespectful.

If a missionary, pamphlet-provider, etc., were to claim your religion is wrong, and then pretended to believe in your religion for no apparent reason, that would be wrong.

But only if you agree with it, right?

Nope, freedom for all is my belief.

 

[Radiant1]

You're such a good child of god. He must be very proud of you.

I try. He may be, He may not be, time will tell.

I'm sorry you don't like it when the tables are turned and you're the one being laughed at but I'm doing it anyway....BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!

Excuse me? Did I say I didn't believe in Jesus? Gee, deja vu. I most definitely believe there was a man named Jesus. This has been covered already in this thread. mAlice has just about the same opinion of it that I do.

I'm not talking about the historical Jesus, I said CHRIST for a reason but yourself not being a Christian that would be over your head, so uh yeah just go on with your non-Christ believing Christmas celebrating self, it's all good. That sweet spirit of Christmas tradition that you feel is Christ's whether you want to believe it or not.

 

[mAlice]

Well, we stole this land and called it America. I do believe, given your rationale, we should change the name of this country and change the name of Independence Day to <put your new name here>. And we will change the new year from when the Chinese had it thousands of years before us, so our new year will no longer be on 1 Jan, it will be on Jan 26 this coming year and Feb 14 the following year and so on accordingly.

I mean since we are changing things for the sake of change... or does this change thing only apply to Christian "stolen holidays"?

Wtf are you talkin' about?

 

[This_person]

And your quote:




Also your quote:

How did any of those things suggest that ALL Christians are morally superior?

 

[mAlice]

I try. He may be, He may not be, time will tell.

I'm sorry you don't like it when the tables are turned and you're the one being laughed at but I'm doing it anyway....BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!



I'm not talking about the historical Jesus, I said CHRIST for a reason but yourself not being a Christian that would be over your head, so uh yeah just go on with your non-Christ believing Christmas celebrating self, it's all good. That sweet spirit of Christmas tradition that you feel is Christ's whether you want to believe it or not.

Your god must be so proud of you. Way to attract the masses.

 

[itsbob]

You know for sure when Jesus was born?

Please, do tell!

It's not too hard for someone with an open mind and not a polluted mind to figure out.

Why were they traveling with her in her condition? Do you know?

What time of year did this require them to travel?

NOT over the winter, NOT in December..

So the question should be not why do the atheists celebrate Christmas, but why do the Christian?

 

[This_person]

Simple. Christmas has become so commercialized and blown up that all of you Christians basically turned it into a national holiday. By having everyone have "Christmas" and "Easter" break, closing EVERYTHING on Christmas besides Asian restaurants and movie theaters (along with numerous other things that are done for Christmas), you virtually made it an American holiday. As a result, many non-Christian Americans celebrate the holiday. It's not only the atheists who celebrate Christmas. I actually know some people from other religions who celebrate it. Obviously they don't do much more than the xmas tree, lights, and presents or dinner...but that's still something.

Actually, even Jews celebrate Christmas. Christmas eve = chinese food, christmas day = movies. It's basically a Christmas tradition. It's not necessarily celebrated the same way, but it's still a family time

Do you see the difference between traditions done at Christmas time and actually celebrating Christmas?

 

[PsyOps]

How many religions can say the exact same thing about Christians, and their theft of their religious holy days (Easter, Christmas, Valentines)?

I don't know, you tell me.

You seem to be unable to differentiate between adopting and theft. Christians adopted the traditions of some of these ancient celebrations. Atheists aim to remove the very name in which this Holiday is now defined. As I've said before, have at it and good luck with that one.

 

[This_person]

It's not too hard for someone with an open mind and not a polluted mind to figure out.

Why were they traveling with her in her condition? Do you know?

What time of year did this require them to travel?

NOT over the winter, NOT in December..

I agree it wasn't probably December to go for the census, it was probably more like April or so.

I thought you KNEW, not you presumed.

See, we don't know exactly when, so a date was chosen to celebrate the occurance, and that date adopted some other traditions to include and help bring others to the Truth. I can accept that, because the actual date is really not that important. The occurance is, but whether it was April 25th or May 3rd is trivial details.

 

[Cowgirl]

If I were to take your religion (if you had one) and claim that what you hold dear in it wasn't worth holding dear, and then belittled your religion by mocking it's trappings and pretending to celebrate it's holy days just for a day off of work, I'd bet you'd think that was disrespectful.

If a missionary, pamphlet-provider, etc., were to claim your religion is wrong, and then pretended to believe in your religion for no apparent reason, that would be wrong.Nope, freedom for all is my belief.

Gee, how about religious people trying to convert me? It's the same thing. Saying athiests are bad people with no morals is indeed disrespecful. I think people handing me their religious paraphanalia is disrespectful. And, we're not just celebrating for days off work. I think that's been explained several times in this thread. For you to continue to say that is disrespectful.

I'm not talking about the historical Jesus, I said CHRIST for a reason but yourself not being a Christian that would be over your head, so uh yeah just go on with your non-Christ believing Christmas celebrating self, it's all good. That sweet spirit of Christmas tradition that you feel is Christ's whether you want to believe it or not.

You're the one with the problem. Not us. :shrug: I don't have any issues with it.

 

[toppick08]

 

[Cowgirl]

I don't know, you tell me.

You seem to be unable to differentiate between adopting and theft. Christians adopted the traditions of some of these ancient celebrations. Atheists aim to remove the very name in which this Holiday is now defined. As I've said before, have at it and good luck with that one.

Ok, either you're doing this on purpose, or you have no reading comprehension skills whatsoever. The ONLY poeple talking about changing the name of the holiday are the christians.


Oh yeah, and it's not adopting when you turn around and tell everyone else the right and wrong ways to celebrate.

 

[vraiblonde]

I'm certainly not trying to stop you. I was just curious what you are celebrating. The history as to why CHRISTMAS is celebrated when it is, is irrelevant. It is still a celebration of the birth of CHRIST. Somewhere in the word CHRISTmas, this should be obvious.

I am celebrating my family, my friends and the good things that have happened to me over the year. We exchange gifts with each other, not with Jesus. It's just a tradition like any other.

Curious why some of you are quibbling over this and why you care that heathens are celebrating "your" holiday?