Atheism : Love it or Leave it? - Part 2

[DBryan]

Giving and receiving gifts is great.

 

[homina]

^Though majorly hypocritical

 

[redhawk23]

Depends on what way you mean "celebrate." Christmas co-opted the general date of a lot of other holidays. Its hypocritical to celebrate Christ. It is not however hypocritical to enjoy being with family and friends. For me Christmas has always just been a variation of Thanksgiving, just with presents. Easter has always just been thanksgiving in the spring (which once again coincides withe traditional spring celebrations). Or if the whole "Christmas" thing unnerves you, just celebrate Humanlight, which is the 23rd.

 

[DBryan]

You don't have to be a Christian to enjoy giving and receiving gifts. There's no hypocrisy.

 

[Llama_Shepherd]

Only Christian can feel joy at making others happy!

 

[Manic]

Even Youtube's Amazing Atheist celebrates Christmas, and he hates religion with the fiery passion of a billion suns.

It's one of those holidays that everyone celebrates because it's fun, and hardly anybody stakes any real religious beliefs behind it anyway. You decorate, bake some cookies, eat some food, exchange gifts, watch a few TV specials and spend time with people you love (or can't stand but feel obligated to tolerate because of blood relation).

 

[DBryan]

In case there are Christians that didn't know...

Christmas is stolen from the pagans.

So you could say, Christians are the true hypocrites for stealing it and celebrating it.

 

[Manic]

Christians co-opted all their good holidays from other people. It was part of their attempt to convert others without forcing them to give up their festivals.

Easter? Named after the goddess Eostre. She was the one with the bunnies and eggs.

 

[Franklin Richards]

Peace on Earth? Good will towards Men?

 

[8wid]

Aren't the themes of holidays really something that should be practiced everyday of life anyway. Like good will towards men, love and romance, appreciating parents, appreciating independence, honoring the dead etc. Aren't most created by some sort of authority so that the busy masses can have a set day to do it and to be controlled by them?

 

[Manic]

Most holidays come out of some sort of cultural tradition. There's a long winter coming? Time to harvest all the crops and throw a huge party before we all shut ourselves in. Winter's over? Let's have a party for those of us who survived the cold and eventual hunger of those last few weeks.

Values just got tacked on later.

Then, of course, there are holidays that come out of remembering historical days on (or near) their anniversaries.

 

[Mr.Webs]

Easter? Named after the goddess Eostre. She was the one with the bunnies and eggs.

I always wondered about that. Thanks for clearing that up a bit.

 

[hopefuldreamer]

Sorry if this was talked about, but ...Do/Should atheist celebrate christmas?

Probably should call it X-Mas if they do

But I think it's a much bigger thing than a religious holiday now.

It is a huge part of western society. Presents, Christmas tree, Santa, Reindeer, Elves etc... it's all one big silly happy party with hats, songs, food and booze.

It may have started out as a celebration of christ. But it's evolved into something beyond that.

I don't think it's hypocritical to join in the party.

I mean, is it hypocritical to go to a church wedding if your an atheist? Or a funeral?

We can attend without altering the stance of our belief.

Same with christmas.

 

[Dr.]

Probably should call it X-Mas if they do

It's a misconception that the X in "X-Mas" denotes a modern, secularization of "Christmas." From Wiki:

The word "Christ" and its compounds, including "Christmas", have been abbreviated in English for at least the past 1,000 years, long before the modern "Xmas" was commonly used. "Christ" was often written as "XP" or "Xt"; there are references in the Anglo-Saxon Chronicle as far back as AD 1021. This X and P arose as the uppercase forms of the Greek letters χ and ρ used in ancient abbreviations for Χριστος (Greek for "Christ"),[2] and are still widely seen in many Eastern Orthodox icons depicting Jesus Christ. The labarum, an amalgamation of the two Greek letters rendered as ☧, is a symbol often used to represent Christ in Catholic, Protestant, and Orthodox Christian Churches.[18]

The Oxford English Dictionary (OED) and the OED Supplement have cited usages of "X-" or "Xp-" for "Christ-" as early as 1485. The terms "Xpian" and "Xtian" have also been used for "Christian". The dictionary further cites usage of "Xtianity" for "Christianity" from 1634.[2] According to Merriam-Webster's Dictionary of English Usage, most of the evidence for these words comes from "educated Englishmen who knew their Greek".[11]

In ancient Christian art, χ and χρ are abbreviations for Christ's name.[19] In many manuscripts of the New Testament and icons, Χ is an abbreviation for Χριστος[citation needed], as is XC (the first and last letters in Greek, using the lunate sigma);[20] compare IC for Jesus in Greek.

 

[Vile]

Christmas stopped being about religion a LOooOoOoOoOoOONG time ago.

 

[RoughNTumble]

I love any holiday, religious or otherwise

as long as it's fun, and doesn't involve whipping myself or something

 

[Manic]

There is only one worthy of your praise on Christmas!

 

[SuperFerret]

Christmas stopped being about religion a LOooOoOoOoOoOONG time ago.

This is true and untrue, since at it's best, Christmas is a time where all kinds of people, of all faiths even, can come together and celebrate the good in the world and be giving and generous to each other, which is in line with most of the stuff Christ has said. The holiday is less about the stories, and more about the meaning.

Of course, at it's worst, Christmas is a materialistic commercial holiday, but that's generally for secular reasons as well.

 

[Schlosser85]

Christmas is more than just a religious holiday. It's part of our culture.

I don't think it's unusual for someone to celebrate Christmas whether they're personally religious or not.

 

[Nevincer]

Christmas is more than just a religious holiday. It's part of our culture.

This. Just like using expressions such as "Oh my god" isn't hypocritcal for an atheist either, it's something that has just been ingrained in our culture. There shouldn't be an issue with it.

A lot of Atheists bring up excuses like how it was originally a pagan holiday etc. But it really doesn't need to be excused.

Besides, X-Mas is more about commercialism than Christ these days

 

[redhawk23]

This. Just like using expressions such as "Oh my god" isn't hypocritcal for an atheist either, it's something that has just been ingrained in our culture. There shouldn't be an issue with it.

A lot of Atheists bring up excuses like how it was originally a pagan holiday etc. But it really doesn't need to be excused.

Besides, X-Mas is more about commercialism than Christ these days

If you ask George Lucas, they're the same thing.

"Blessings of the State, blessings of the masses. Buy more and be happy!"

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actually I can't remember if the buy more line is in this part of the movie, but the Christ recording says it a few times durring the movie.

 

[Dark Sentinel]

In case there are Christians that didn't know...

Christmas is stolen from the pagans.

So you could say, Christians are the true hypocrites for stealing it and celebrating it.

True, it's widely known that Christ was born likely during the summer, but when Christianity became the official religion of the Roman Empire many of it's holidays became celebrated on Pagan dates so as to acclimate everyone.

I'm a Christian and I freaking know that haha..but it's not about what day the holiday is celebrated on it's about what the holiday represents to me as a believer.

I'll never knock anyone for there religious (or non-religious) beliefs, but I pride myself on being a logical Christian that acknowledges, believes in, and loves my God while at the same time acknowledge the fact that His creations can be the biggest freaking morons at times.

That is all.

 

[Franklin Richards]

If you're a logical Christian, then how do you resolve the fact that at it's core, Christianity condemns all other religions?

 

[Dark Sentinel]

If you're a logical Christian, then how do you resolve the fact that at it's core, Christianity condemns all other religions?

Because I don't condemn other religions.

It's called free will for a reason Franklin

 

[Franklin Richards]

Then you're not a Christian. You're something else.