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Do You Celebrate Christmas?
#1
Do You Celebrate Christmas?
Yesterday, I read about a young atheist woman whose mother did not give her a Christmas present when she found out her daughter was not a Christian. This bewilders me a little, as I know Christians celebrate Christmas because it is supposedly Jesus Christ's birthday. However, it also celebrates the Winter Solstice and you do not have to specifically be a Christian to celebrate it. Christmas is a federal holiday, and it would be unconstitutional if The Federal Government designated a national holiday respecting an establishment of religion.

So that makes me wonder: Since we're not religious, should Atheists celebrate Christmas? Since we don't believe in God(s), maybe we shouldn't? But then again, we can celebrate Christmas without honoring any deity. We could only celebrate the longest night and the shortest day of the year.
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#2
RE: Do You Celebrate Christmas?
Most of the traditions of Christmas aren't Christian in origin. The tree, the time it's celebrated, presents, etc. So screw it.

I like the holiday.
Everything I needed to know about life I learned on Dagobah.
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#3
RE: Do You Celebrate Christmas?
I have not celebrated the holiday for around thirteen years.
"Never trust a fox. Looks like a dog, behaves like a cat."
~ Erin Hunter
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#4
RE: Do You Celebrate Christmas?
As my birthday is a week before Christmas it wouldn't hurt my feelings at all to stop celebrating it in the gift-giving sense since I'm already getting presents that time of year anyway, and already have to wait a whole year to get any presents at all. Otherwise, the only thing I think Christmas is good for is getting the day off.

I would personally prefer to buy people gifts only for their birthdays which would greatly reduce my "Crap, I have to think of something to buy this person again!" anxiety and would spread the gift-giving costs across multiple paychecks rather than concentrating it all into one or requiring that you charge everything on a credit card in order to afford it.
Teenaged X-Files obsession + Bermuda Triangle episode + Self-led school research project = Atheist.
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#5
RE: Do You Celebrate Christmas?
My parents live just up the road, so I really have no choice, even if I dreaded it. That said, I can OD on family time, especially in the holiday season.

I like the mystery of gifts, but each Xmas, I come out of it like a packrat. I donate things, but still, my mother loves t give me gifts throughout the year, thus creating clutter.

So,as I get older, I find less of a need for Christmas, but at the same time, I'd feel weird saying "screw it", and not doing Xmas (or, FTM, Thanksgiving, which is problematic for my stomach issues).
"For me, it is far better to grasp the Universe as it really is than to persist in delusion, however satisfying and reassuring." - Carl Sagan
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#6
RE: Do You Celebrate Christmas?
I've already spoken about my take on this in another thread, but to reiterate: I don't so much celebrate it as observe it; or at least I would in the ideal world it used to be. To me, there is no more a religious aspect to the season and the day than there is to any other day. Food, booze, family, friends, booze, xmas telly, booze, lots of new toys to break, and booze.
At the age of five, Skagra decided emphatically that God did not exist.  This revelation tends to make most people in the universe who have it react in one of two ways - with relief or with despair.  Only Skagra responded to it by thinking, 'Wait a second.  That means there's a situation vacant.'
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#7
RE: Do You Celebrate Christmas?
I fecking LOVE Christmas. Food, drink, pressies, music (side note: as a kid, I honestly thought the line was 'Good King Wence's car backed out / on a piece of Stephen...'), people being a little nicer than normal, and so on.

I truly don't see any conflict between my atheism and celebrating Christmas. It's a symbol, and a symbol has whatever meaning you put into it. Bugger me with a fish-fork if I'll give up a cracking good time at Christmas simply because the day has been co-opted by a load of fatuous nitwits who can't seem to break wind without invoking the name of Jesus.

For the record, I'm also anti-monarchist, but that doesn't stop me spending money with the Queen's face on it.

Boru
‘I can’t be having with this.’ - Esmeralda Weatherwax
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#8
RE: Do You Celebrate Christmas?
I have to something special at christmas... it's my wife's birthday!
Of course, being a grumpy old git she only gets one card! (I can't be too mean, she makes the best roast potatoes in the world!)
The meek shall inherit the Earth, the rest of us will fly to the stars.

Never underestimate the power of very stupid people in large groups

Arguing with an engineer is like wrestling with a pig in mud ..... after a while you realise that the pig likes it!

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#9
RE: Do You Celebrate Christmas?
It doesn't help for me that my little Sam's birthday is on the 21st of December. It was a bit of a problem financially back in the day, but a fun one. Now it's just a reminder.
At the age of five, Skagra decided emphatically that God did not exist.  This revelation tends to make most people in the universe who have it react in one of two ways - with relief or with despair.  Only Skagra responded to it by thinking, 'Wait a second.  That means there's a situation vacant.'
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#10
RE: Do You Celebrate Christmas?
Absolutely! I love Christmas! Besides, my girlfriend is Christian (though not religious at all).
ronedee Wrote:Science doesn't have a good explaination for water

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