Should Atheists celebrate Christian holidays?

[Katganistan]

Christmas is totally pagan.

If you ignore the fact that it isn't.
Pagans did not partake in Christ's Mass, and though pagans did continue some of their traditions, those traditions lost their pagan meanings.

Only if you ignore the fact that the church specifically chose pagan celebration times and absorbed the traditions from it to make it more palatable to the pagans and coerce them into celebrating the Christian holidays.

Easter/Eostre is NOT a coincidence.
That Satinalia came at the same time of year and involved gift-giving is NOT a coincidence.

For Christ's sake, every year at these holidays it's explained to the congregation by the pastor of my best friend's church (Lutheran).

[Pandeeria]

Christmas has turned into a corporate commercial tool. You should worry about that before worrying about atheists practicing a holiday.

Instead worry when we get it right.
*nods*

"Yeah, dem at atheists ain't right! They just ain't because they don't love and god or Jebus!"
*nods*

[Katganistan]

Well, this has recently come to mind as the holidays come in: Should atheist celebrate Christian holidays such as Christmas? I am not trying to be biased against other religions, but, the way I see it, I don't think Hanukkah or other religious holidays have been commercialized like Christmas or Easter. I think the reason nearly everyone, atheists and Christians celebrate these holidays is due to their commercializing by modern culture: think about it, Christmas has Santa, Easter has the Easter Bunny, Thanksgiving has turkeys (Well, that one's justified, I guess). People celebrate these religious holidays whether they are Christian or secular, because their commercialization makes it hard to see the religious foundations of it, even for Christians. One solution would be to split said religious holidays into two separate holidays, one Christian and one Secular, but this doesn't seem feasible to me.
I don't mean to offend anyone by this, of course.

Your thoughts, NS?

No, Christimas is a religious festival and atheist have nothing to do there.

Love your neighbor as yourself right here, folks.

[Pandeeria]

No, Christimas is a religious festival and atheist have nothing to do there.

Love your neighbor as yourself right here, folks.

This most definitely. ⬆️

[The Northern United American Republic]

-I am going to take a random guess and say that someone probably said something similar to what I am about to, but I only read through the first page, so I don't really know; I apologize if I rehash someone's earlier point...-

Anyways, these holidays are hardly "Christian." They're part of a culture, now. Christmas itself originated mostly with Christians, yes, but let's not kid ourselves. It's become adopted by others, in, for example, America, because there are many Christians there. To not celebrate is to be excluded from one of the biggest parts of its culture. As others noted, it is heavily commercialized, as is Easter, etc. So, Christians can keep it strictly Christian, if they want, but I better not catch them with lights up on their house and watching Santa Claus 1-3. Then they can tell me I shouldn't celebrate their holiday.

Let's look at another example: saying "Bless you" when someone sneezes. Think for a second. What's the full phrase? "God Bless you." Take a shot in the dark and guess where the phrase's meaning comes from...However, despite the fact I do not believe that one can ever be "blessed," I do say it when people sneeze. I don't hear a single one of them offended then. If everything in culture that came from religion was restricted solely to that religion, then agnostics like myself wouldn't be saying bless you. What should we say then? "May Hawking protect your health"!?! Or maybe adopt the German "Gesundheit" (which is pretty much short for "to your health")? No. Of course not. "Bless you" is rooted into English speaking culture, and that's just how it is. I have yet to have any of my Christian friends ever demand I stop saying "bless you" when they sneeze; in fact, they'd be annoyed if I didn't. So, I don't see why I can't celebrate a cultural holiday. If I don't, I would seem weird, no?

Furthermore, until I stop seeing "In God We Trust" on my money and stop hearing "...Under God," in the pledge of allegiance (and the pledge is another weird concept that is a discussion for another day, I apologize), then I will continue celebrating holidays Christians claim to be theirs.

[Ifreann]

For Christ's sake, every year at these holidays it's explained to the congregation by the pastor of my best friend's church (Lutheran).

And by teenagers on the internet. Everywhere on the internet. Every year. As though the rest of us couldn't possibly have learned about it before them. Which raises some questions about where they would have learned about it...

[Norcroft]

Only if they want to.

/thread

[Katganistan]

Oh, it did.

You'd actually be closer arguing it the other way around....

We do not burn the Yule log, we eat a food called the Yule log. The chocolatey desert has nothing to do with pagans except it's name.

Oh yes, absolutely.

[Vazdania]

Well I mean they did so.

Well then why call it CHRISTmas...why not Snowy Winter Family Day or some shit?

What would be the point?

family togetherness?

[Conscentia]

If you ignore the fact that it isn't.
Pagans did not partake in Christ's Mass, and though pagans did continue some of their traditions, those traditions lost their pagan meanings.

Only if you ignore the fact that the church specifically chose pagan celebration times and absorbed the traditions from it to make it more palatable to the pagans and coerce them into celebrating the Christian holidays.

Exactly - the plan was to suppress paganism.
Additional, the origin is irrelevant. Any residual pagan meaning has been completely lost.

Easter/Eostre is NOT a coincidence.
That Satinalia came at the same time of year and involved gift-giving is NOT a coincidence.

For Christ's sake, every year at these holidays it's explained to the congregation by the pastor of my best friend's church (Lutheran).

The Church called it the Paschal month, not Easter. The word Easter lost it's pagan connotations and took over as the name of the Paschal month.

[Ifreann]

What would be the point?

family togetherness?

I mean, what would be the point of making up another name instead of calling it Christmas?

[Katganistan]

So, I'm not allowed to go to my grandparents house(and they are pretty religious) to celebrate Christmas simply to make my family happy and be with them?

You will be hypocritical in that case. Christmas is the celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ. You dont believe in Him, why would you celebrate Christmas?

I believe he answered that -- because it's a time to be with family.

[Immoren]

Why shouldn't I take part in making sure that the Sol rises again next year?

[Czechanada]

I try to live my life like SpongeBob SquarePants: "Everyday is a holiday for SpongeBob; Even if he has to make one up."

Therefore, I'll celebrate Christmas regardless of any religious meaning.

[Anonymous Islands]

well you know its true.

Well if you want a more direct example, Christians here celebrate midsummer - a decisively pagan holiday that hasn't even been hijacked by the church. I doubt they'd be happy if some pagans showed up and told them they can't celebrate midsummer anymore because they don't believe in Frej.

[Conscentia]

We do not burn the Yule log, we eat a food called the Yule log. The chocolatey desert has nothing to do with pagans except it's name.

Oh yes, absolutely.

Americans are weird.

"The Yule log was originally an entire tree, that was carefully chosen and brought into the house with great ceremony with the purpose being to provide maximum warmth and endurance."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yule_log

Being warm is pagan now?

[Astrolinium]

Christmas isn't really a Christian holiday anymore and hasn't been for quite a few years.
It's a Western cultural holiday, just like Halloween.

[Neoconstantius]

If they want to, sure, why not. Not anyone's place to dictate how people should live their lives.

[Vazdania]

Oh yes, absolutely.

Americans are weird.

"The Yule log was originally an entire tree, that was carefully chosen and brought into the house with great ceremony with the purpose being to provide maximum warmth and endurance."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yule_log

Being warm is pagan now?

PAGANNNNNN! Warmth is paganism!!!! THE GREAT FREEZE IS FACT!

[Katganistan]

Also, one plantation celebrating it in a religious way does not automatically make it a religious holiday. That's like saying if I say grace on the Fourth of July that makes it religious.

Thanksgiving was founded as a religious observance for all the members of the community to give thanks to God for a common purpose. Historic reasons for community thanksgivings are: the 1541 thanksgiving mass after the expedition of Francisco Vásquez de Coronado safely crossing the high plains of Texas and finding game,[8][38] and the 1777 thanksgiving after the victory in the Revolutionary War Battle of Saratoga.[8] In his 1789 Proclamation, President Washington gave many noble reasons for a national Thanksgiving, including "for the civil and religious liberty", for "useful knowledge", and for God’s "kind care" and "His Providence".[39] The only presidents to express a specifically Christian perspective in their proclamation have been Grover Cleveland in 1896,[39] and William McKinley in 1900.[39] Several other presidents have cited the Judeo-Christian tradition.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thanksgivi ... ted_States)

I disagree.

You can all you want. There is no special church services on Thanksgiving day. Try watching the Macy's Parade or the Disney Parade and tell me about all the religious symbolism there. The afternoon football games.... the lying around in a food coma and the prep for Black Friday.

Seriously, "ohhhh, some people mentioned God a couple times, the last of which was 113 years ago, so it's TOTES religious" is pretty silly.

[Vladovaskia]

As many have said before me, it doesn't matter what religion you are, you should be able to celebrate any holiday if you want to as long as it doesn't physically hurt anyone.

I'm an Atheist and I celebrate almost all major Christian holidays. Christmas is a day about giving and being generous. I don't care if that's not what it means to you, that's how I'll celebrate it. I celebrate it because I think it's a good thing. Holidays can help relieve stress from the rest of the year and it's a time where people can be happier. They even promote certain virtues like generosity. Easter is a time where you can just be joyful and nice to others. Thanksgiving is a time to be thankful, it doesn't have to have anything to do with religion. I even celebrate certain Muslim holidays, or even holidays from other religions. You know why? Because they all (for the most part) promote good virtues, which in turn can make you a better person. And you don't have to be a diehard believer to be a good person.

[Benuty]

Thanksgiving was founded as a religious observance for all the members of the community to give thanks to God for a common purpose. Historic reasons for community thanksgivings are: the 1541 thanksgiving mass after the expedition of Francisco Vásquez de Coronado safely crossing the high plains of Texas and finding game,[8][38] and the 1777 thanksgiving after the victory in the Revolutionary War Battle of Saratoga.[8] In his 1789 Proclamation, President Washington gave many noble reasons for a national Thanksgiving, including "for the civil and religious liberty", for "useful knowledge", and for God’s "kind care" and "His Providence".[39] The only presidents to express a specifically Christian perspective in their proclamation have been Grover Cleveland in 1896,[39] and William McKinley in 1900.[39] Several other presidents have cited the Judeo-Christian tradition.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thanksgivi ... ted_States)

I disagree.

You can all you want. There is no special church services on Thanksgiving day. Try watching the Macy's Parade or the Disney Parade and tell me about all the religious symbolism there. The afternoon football games.... the lying around in a food coma and the prep for Black Friday.

Seriously, "ohhhh, some people mentioned God a couple times, the last of which was 113 years ago, so it's TOTES religious" is pretty silly.

1963 wasn't 113 years ago.

[Katganistan]

Socially acceptable drunkenness and gluttony.

The gifts are fun too.

And the general "This is a time to enjoy other people's company. "Peace on Earth, Goodwill towards Man" and all that.

BTW, anyone want to explain to our friends where the mistletoe comes from?

[Katganistan]

that's what I do. I find the secular aspects of easter annoying so I don't mess with any of them. (we did do the candy thing when my son was little but there was no "going to the mall to get a photo with the easter bunny" abominations)

but easter being always on sunday there is no long weekend.

You guys don't get Good Friday and Easter Monday as bank holidays?

*shrugs* Schools in the NE of the US get a week off for it.

[Katganistan]

3. As said before, America was created as a christian nation.

TREATY OF TRIPOLI
THE BLOODY FIRST AMENDMENT OF THE CONSTITUTION.