I think you misunderstand what an atheist is we are not organized (that would defeat the propose IMO). Yes, we do not believe in god but that’s were any commonality in beliefs end. The beauty about being an atheist is that you don’t have to conform to any standard religious belief we are free to celebrate what ever we chose. We can separate the religious dogma out of a holiday and make it our own; we celebrate however we see fit.

Maybe I was a bit long winded in my first reply to you question. As an atheist I celebrate Christmas either directly or indirectly for the following reasons;

1. In the US, Christmas is pretty much forced on all of us whether we believe in it or not (unless you hide in a cave for 3 months out of the year). This doesn’t bother me at all, as it is part of American culture, and I am an American.
2. Christmas is a good time to spend with family and friends. Believe it or not family and friends are important to atheists to.
3. The traditions of Christmas and time of year it’s celebrated are traditionally from the pagan celebration of winter solstice. So this celebration is not an exclusive christian thing.
4. I don’t see the problem with non-believers and believers getting together and celebrating a holiday. What’s the big deal? Besides it’s not very Christ like to exclude others based on religion or lack there of is it?
5. Christmas has very little to do with Christ anyway. Just ask corporate America how much they made off of it this year. They should probably change the name to Cashmas.
6. What should we do? Hide in our homes and not have fun with everyone else?

If all of us atheist party crashers really bother you then I would suggest that you pick a time in the spring and celebrate Christ’s birth in private by praying and by giving a gift to someone who really needs it or volunteering in your community.

For such a joyous holiday I spent quite a bit of it in absolute misery. Not the kind where you just dread being where you are but the kind...I was just really sad. i don't think Jesus would have wanted this. I really really don't. So many people are so lonely. I mean a whole bunch of people go to strip clubs just so that they dont sit at home alone

Sorry to hear about your misery ravengirl, that is the dark side of Christmas I guess. I spent many a sad lonely Christmas when I was in the military. I understand the suicide rate goes up at this time of year. Hope things brighten up for you in the New Year.

Thats the million dollar question in todays world everyone is so very worried about doing & saying the right thing. Political correctness in other words.
People are say things like Santa can't say Ho Ho Ho. because it might offend someone, or the the old Sesame street is bad for kids these days. Which is a joke in it's self but in the same breath christians can go around saying that this is their holiday go figure! It's a double standard to be sure. I guess christians are the only ones that the rules don't apply to.

oh it had it's bright moments too. don't get me wrong. I just think the spirit of the holiday has been corrupted by plastic. and also cheeze whiz. and I seriously watched my step brother and sister get MP3 players and not even say thank you. I hate it...you know what we should do instead of presents and wrapping paper....thats right pie fight.

That sounds like an excellent Christmas tradition. I think I will start next year. I would love to get hit with coconut cream myself.

I celebrate the Pagan aspect of this time of year, that it is now called Christmas, I give into the whole presents thing for my family. I tell everyone I don't want anything, but I love giving them things they will enjoy and appreciate. I would much rather celebrate Yule than Christmas, since that was the original meaning behind this holiday IMO.



I think you should check the backgound of Halloween out again, since the whole origin was Pagan, unless I misread what you were trying to get across here.

don't lie...you would love to follow it up with an all out pie fight. how can you get mad when chocolate pie is all over your face?or maybe just cool whip

Of course I would! Clean up would be a hassle....well, it depends on who I had the fight with! Tee Hee!

I so much agree with your posts and they made me think, that I'm actually thinking about starting a new family christmas tradition of just volunteering our time & giving to the needy. i'm serious . You are so right about the perverse & hypocritical way Christmas is celebrated.

Thanks momentarylapseofreason,

That means allot to me, as I agree with most of your posts that I have read, not just in this string but the entire forum.

For the past few years my wife and I have been giving the money we would have spent on Christmas to a local charity that helps homeless families with children. We feel the money is better spent this way, rather than giving it to the already rich merchants and corporations that are partially responsible for families becoming homeless, as they won’t pay them enough to live on.

You know, how someone celebrates a holiday is private, I believe. So, I really think you overstepping the bounds of what others practice in their own private time.

Christmas time seems to be a whole mix of things it seems. Even the holiday itself has many names. Yule time seems to be one of them. It also has many different traditions that not only has the birth of Christ being represented in it. Yeah, commercialism seems to take a bit part of it, but the Santa, and the tree, and the gift giving, I do believe has been around a lot longer than advertising. Also the fact that it's not the exact date of the birth of Christ, but you going to get so dead set on praising it as such. Well, I was born in the summer too, so this must be my birthday too. Wish me a happy birthday dag nabbit!!!

What about Jevhovna Witnesses, who are Christians, but do not celebrate Christmas and other holidays, including their own birthdays. You should be getting on them for not celebrating. I am not a Christian, but I am also not an Atheist, and I was raised celebrating Christmas, so that is what I am use to. It was probably because it was all over the place. What gets me was there use to be commercials and programs about Hunakah too, and I don't see them anymore. Bottom line though, isn't the celebrating up the privacy of those who celebrate it? So to get on someone on how they believe on how they celebrate with thier family and in their own personal time strikes me as getting too personal and bossy with them. Just my feelings mind you, but I'm mad at this just the same.





Exactly!

Alot of us have too much "stuff" anyways. I swear the more "stuff" (things they don't need nor appreciate) children/even adults have ,the unhappier & bogged down they appear. They have empty eyes. All this useless or short-term "stuff" is bad for the enviroment too.

Screw China & their toxic toys & the people that let them bring it in. Screw Walmart too.


Now trying to convince my kid of this ? I will be Momma Grinch to her..

I"m of no religion.
I"ve had a great Santamas.
The kids are chuffed with their presents, so am i & the Mrs.
We had a brilliant get-together with family, drinks,food,music,dancing,storys to laff about............the works!!! FANTASTIC.
It had nothing to do with anyone called Jesus.
Christians just hi-jacked bits of other religions & pieced together the bits they liked.
Jesus wasnt even born on 25th December, thats b******s!
Christianity STOLE PAGAN FESTIVALS.
Went on "Crusades", ie: MURDERING SPREES, to convert poor innocent decent people.
Were the cause of "the Dark Ages", ie: burnt books to keep people from learning.Burnt "witches" to. SAD b******* !
Celebrate the birth of jesus ? No, thanks.

I LOVE SANTA.

Christiains today , Atleast all the ones I know and I know alot, Do not kill Quite the opposite. We are agaiast killing and murder, I Am just sooo tired of hearng that how about let the past stay there. DON"T keep impling that all christians kill and hi jack your holidays< We simply celebrate Jesus' birth. You don't have to like it thats just the way it is, I have no problem with you epressing your veiws just as I have no problem expressing mine. I am not a historian and dont' care to be What people have done long ago in the name of Christianity are not my cocern and I am tired of people bashing Christians because of things that happened long long ago! Find a new reason if you must but that ones getting quite old, No offence just MY opinion.Always a pleasure.

Ha Sandee I genuinely love how you sign off like that. Especially when I suspect it has not been a pleasure

thank you, I usually do mean it if I don't I tend to skp my sign off, Always a pleasure Belqis.

I guess we all talk about what Christians have done in the past because we fear it might happen again and the truth be known it does happen from time to time. Maybe the question should be "Why do Christians celebrate a Pagan holiday?" , because that is just what you are doing. Hijack Pagan holidays is just what the Christians did.

Exactly! The winter solstice was celebrated long before Christians started celebrating the birth of Christ.

I was taught this as a JW ,obviously it was true.

Why do I celebrate Christmas? Because as has been stated by a few others its one of the few times of the year that I can be sure that everyone I know and love will be near. I love the family aspect. I don't care about presents. Besides, we tend to do more thoughtful gifts that impractical things. Nothing over the top. And I love the food! Mmmmm, turkey.

And of course I am a government employee so I too like to get as many days off as I can! lol!

Easter is the same for us. It's not so much about Jesus or even the Easter bunny, it's about having the family around.

You have a good point and a good reason there Mmmmhmmm...........turkey

Sadly for some families the get-togethers are a nightmare

Yes, I do have some friends who dread the holidays. Thankfully my family is relatively normal. Or maybe just less dysfunctional than some! Now that I've had two turkey dinners and plenty of left overs I think I'm good until Easter when we get to do it all over again!

Really? You were taught that as a JW? My aunt and uncle are JW's, they tell me they don't celebrate it for the same reason the rest of my family doesn't (who aren't JW's) ... Because, every day should be a celebration, not just one day. You're spiritual devotion should be observed the same way throughout the year.

Interesting.

Is Jw a Jew, Or Jehovas Witness?

Love Omnaka

Jehovah's Witness.

Thanks , Glad I asked. If I haden't, I would still be wondering.

Love Omnaka

Yes, we were taught Christmas is in actuality a pagan holiday but that is not the only reason,what you posted above is also correct.

See here>

Portsmouth — He was full of good cheer, but as James Brooks proselytized door to door on Monday morning, the Jehovah’s Witness was sure as can be that Christmas is not a Christian holiday.

"I'm convinced that Jehovah - God - and his son, Jesus, are not pleased with the traditional Christmas celebration," said Brooks, a former Methodist and retired insurance agent. "It's not his date of birth."

But Dec. 25 is a national holiday, which made Christmas morning a rare occasion for Jehovah's Witnesses to evangelize folk who wouldn't be home on an ordinary weekday.

House-to-house evangelizing is a signature practice of the Jehovah's Witnesses movement, which dates to the 1870s. The denomination counts 1 million members nationwide and about 25,000 in Virginia. There are 31 Jehovah's Witnesses congregations in South Hampton Roads.

Brooks, an elder in the Churchland congregation who evangelizes 70 hours a month, said Witnesses do not seek to be Scrooge on Christmas.

"Nobody is happier than we are that Christ was born, born in a manger," Brooks said. "The big deal is not so much that he was born but that he willingly died for all mankind."

Witnesses consider Christmas a pagan-inspired holiday with no basis in Christian Scripture, said J.R. Brown, a spokesman at the denomination's headquarters in Brooklyn, N.Y.

Brown said the Bible gives neither the date of Jesus' birth nor any command that the event be commemorated.

Witnesses also are aware that Christians began marking Dec. 25 as Christmas only in the fourth century, probably to compete with year-end pagan celebrations in the Roman Empire.

"We try to pattern our worship after first century Christianity when Jesus was on Earth, and he never taught his followers to participate or join in the celebrations," Brown said. "When Jesus was training his disciples, he put more focus on his death rather than his birth."

On Monday morning, about 30 Witnesses in dress clothes mobilized at a Kingdom Hall, or church, on Shoulders Hill Road in Suffolk for a quick spiritual reflection and canvassing assignments.

"We're going to encourage people to think about what the holiday is really about, which is Jesus Christ," said Wilton Evans, an elder. "The reason we are here is our love for God."

He reminded canvassers to roll with the demeanor of those they would meet. "If people want to talk, we'll talk," Evans said. "If not, we want to be very brief and not interrupt any plans they have for this day."

Brooks, 66, and his wife, Judy, were assigned to Armistead Forest, a neighborhood of tall trees and ranch and colonial-style houses in Portsmouth.

"Good morning. We're both Jehovah's Witnesses encouraging people to look in their Bible," Brooks said on their first stop on Two Oaks Road.

Alice Hewitt, the home-owner, listened patiently and assured the evangelists, "I'm active in my church." After chatting a minute or two, the Brooks es thanked her and left.
http://www.rickross.com/reference/jw/jw262.html

My sentiments exactly. I am not Christian, however my family is. I celebrate Christmas with them out of tradition and the desire to be together as a family. Christ was not born on December 25. Those Christians who insist upon this being true are misled. If Christians did not want to share their holiday commemorating their savior's birth, then they should not have co-opted the winter solstice.

A secondary question to the OP. Are you yourself a Christian? Just curious since your screen name has 666 in it. Isn't that the number of the beast and by claiming it, pledging yourself to Satan? At least I think that's the way that is supposed to work. Not starting a fight, just making an observation.

The fact that the Christian religion erroneously celebrate Christmas begs another question. If they got this wrong, what else have they got wrong? It also begs the question of what all the other religions have got wrong, as this proves that religion definitely isn't infallible.

I was taught in catholic highschool that Jesus wasn't born on December the 25th , but that they didn't know exactly when so December 25th was picked.

they left out how Christianity came to that date.

they did however teach that most of the stories weren't 'true' in the bible but existed to convey a lesson. But all in all it didn't get much deeper than that. They barely touched on any other religions , just a name and where the bulk of people were located ( more geography) .

I was the one who always got in trouble for asking too many questions that they couldn't answer.
lmao. somethings never change.

I can so see you getting in trouble for asking too many questions. I can just picture you getting them all riled up with the questions your not supposed to ask , Or know to ask I should say, You emind me so much of myself. I know we got off to a lousy start, but Its only because i think we are so much alike. Religion aside. Always a p,leasure

Ahhh getting in trouble at catholic school for asking questions...good times. I got detention so often it became apart of my course schedule.

Well well, if it ain't riply... I dont care if it is a pagan holiday or not, i celebrate it by the traditional Christian holiday it is normally accepted as nowdays... w00t for modern traditional christian holidays :-D

I think the fact that some people out there today really do believe that christ was born on the 25th is just plain sad. I stick to what I said before about people being sheep why else would people contnue to belieive a lie? These are the same people who believe that this is a christian based nation.