It may give Christians an increased sense of Christianity in America, hence making them further see it as a Christian nation and boostin their ego.
Choosing to subscribe to this topic will automatically register you for email notifications for comments and updates on this thread.
Email notifications will be sent out daily by default unless specified otherwise on your account which you can edit by going to your userpage here and clicking on the subscriptions tab.
Donating = Loving
Bringing you atheist articles and building active godless communities takes hundreds of hours and resources each month. If you find any joy or stimulation at Atheist Republic, please consider becoming a Supporting Member with a recurring monthly donation of your choosing, between a cup of tea and a good dinner.
Log in or create an account to join the discussions on the Atheist Republic forums.
Donating = Loving
Bringing you atheist articles and building active godless communities takes hundreds of hours and resources each month. If you find any joy or stimulation at Atheist Republic, please consider becoming a Supporting Member with a recurring monthly donation of your choosing, between a cup of tea and a good dinner.
Donating = Loving
Bringing you atheist articles and building active godless communities takes hundreds of hours and resources each month. If you find any joy or stimulation at Atheist Republic, please consider becoming a Supporting Member with a recurring monthly donation of your choosing, between a cup of tea and a good dinner.
FREE E-BOOKS
Get the book "Why There Is No God" and one more book for FREE!
Sign up below for the Atheist Republic Newsletter to get the books.
Record Your Message!
Record your voice here for it to be aired on the Atheist Republic Voicemails Podcast.
Send us your views and opinions, your personal stories, messages of support, comments on recent news, or any comments you would like to share about your part of the world.
Note : By clicking record you are allowing us to broadcast your message on any of our platforms.
Affiliate Disclaimer
Links to atheist related books, shirts and movies and other atheism related products are affiliate links.
All proceeds will go to keeping the Atheist Republic website up and running; providing resources, advocacy, community tools and encouragement to atheists all over the world.
My family and myself do not celebrate Christmas with the traditional things that are christian related. We view the day of "Christmas" as a day of showing appreciation of each other in our family and our other loved affiliates. Though, we do not tie in any religious beliefs because it doesn't have anything to do with how we view it. Nor, does it make us feel any fuller having a prayer before our dinner. It's a day we see as a day of thanking and showing appreciation towards others. A joke we like to say is "Hope you all have a very merry-christ doesn't existmas."
Everybody should celebrate whatever they want, and nobody is obligated to celebrate anything, IMO. I don't celebrate christmas because in my mind, it is celebrating the birth of Jesus, and I don't think that happened. But I do partake in various holiday traditions. Most of them are amalgamations of traditions from various cultures. I just think its important to get people to realize that just because someone celebrates something other than Christmas doesn't mean there is a war on Christmas.
This year we are celebrating Yule. Next year I'm voting for Festivus.
Festivus for the restivus....lol that was a classic Seinfeld moment.
Why does it matter? I mean, Christians already have a mindset that the sun rises and falls because of their god. You stand a poor chance of convincing them otherwise. I say, celebrate the holidays as you want. Half of the "Christian Traditions" are rip offs from other cultures and religions anyway. So celebrate it how you want. Eat too much, drink a bit too much, show a bit too much emotion, whatever. It's your life, if you like anything about the holidays, why forego happiness to make a point to the Christians anyway? They aren't paying much attention, I can assure you.
We should. We should take back the celebration for the winter solstice that the church first outlawed and then co-opted for their own nefarious purposes of christianizing paganism. Christmas is just another thing they stole from other people and claimed for their own, so their protests to anyone else celebrating are and example of how Christian hypocrisy will echo through the ages. One day, the world will look back at Christianity today and laugh at how stupid it all was, until then I will point it out so the future doesn't think we were all that ignorant.
I like this post but feel for various reasons one may keep the christian or even Hanukka charm going for the sake of others trying to have a good day with their kids as they deem fit besides eventually it proves to all christian kids that their parents are liars However that said on the 21st I will be celebrating Soltice. On the 16th in weaker form I will celebrate Hanukka and the 25th Christmas. I think people should take any and all reasons to celebrate and increase cultural awarnesses. the more peopel are exposed to alternative cultures the more reasonable they will become. Personally I do like Soltice because thats when the days start to get longer in terms of daylight. I always wondered why not do an Easter vigil type thing at this time with the candles and all.
If you want to celebrate every single holy day of every religion, that is your business, nobody can tell you what to do. Don't even get me started on Easter, though, they didn't even bother getting rid of the pagan symbolism for it either. Some people seem to NEED a reason to celebrate, I don't, I celebrate every single day. If someone NEEDS a religious reason to celebrate life, they are missing the point.
"If someone NEEDS a religious reason to celebrate life, they are missing the point." agreed. I don't need a religion I just liked themed parties.
Yeah, Easter was a real bloody ripoff.
"every single day" we should chill. LOL, this reminds me of those just in case you needed a reason to party posters I used to see on campus.
Well, you should celebrate every single day you are alive, for you never really know which is your last.
Damn Right ....
Exactly what Travis Hedglin said...
The title of the OP is "should atheists celebrate christmas"...
Well, I dig santa, and the bunny, and putting on a costume at purim. I like cooking giant meals, having the people I love around. Oh, and presents! And chocolate!
I decorate the heck out of my house at xmas. There are no crèche people or angels, but I do put out about 75 nutcracker dudes (cuz my husband thinks they are creepy as hell). We eat, we sing, we dance, we laugh, we drink, we have a ball! I usually make a big ham dinner (although I don't eat meat)...because as a secular Jew, I think it appropriate to cook pig meat on holidays the xtians stole from others. I put up one of those xmas villages that has about 50 buildings, and all the stuff that goes with it. It includes a whore house (which has a red light in it), a crack house (tin foil on the wee windoes), and a small plastic gorilla (Godzilla) on one of the buildings. It even has a tiny fire hydrant outside of the little fire station. Yes, there is a tiny dog lifting its leg on the tiny fire hydrant.
It's fun.
'Should' an atheist do this? I do. Cuz I like to. Any other atheist will do (or not do) what they see fit. Any xtian walking into my house at this time of year would definitely *not* have their ego boosted by it.
I don't see why not. I know the holiday is currently hijacked by most Christians as THEIR holiday, but the easiest way - and best IMO - is to fight that idea by continuing to celebrate the holiday the way you want. Yes, Christmas technically is a celebration of the birth of Christ. But we all know that before that, it was a pagan holiday. And most cultures around the world mark it as an event because of the winter solstice.
Besides, Christmas isn't even celebrated like a Christian holiday now. Why do you think churches and Christians are always trying to remind people not to forget "the reason for the season"? Hardly anyone goes to church on Christmas. And what the hell does Jesus have to do with presents, decoration, and trees? Or Santa?
It's an afterthought. Eventually, we'll just celebrate it to celebrate it. Maybe because society deserves a break from work and a time to enjoy friends and family.
sounds fun cyber
I do celebrate xmas but not in a religious sense,i find it difficult not to when family and friends are celebrating...when in Rome and all that.
I just celebrate Christmas as a time of showing appreciation and the joys of actually getting to see my family since I don't really get to or whenever I'm actually able to communicate without things getting hostile. I don't really associate Religious beliefs personally. My family however do. But I don't really mind it. In reality, I can celebrate whatever I want and how I want. As far as I'm concerned, its my business
Welcome to the site.
It is indeed your business. Nice to see this wisdom in someone your age. Keep it up :-) you'll go far.
Thank you :)
Celebrate or participate? I don't necessarily celebrate Christmas as I participate. It's a good way to hang with family and friends and sometimes get some kool stuff.
I don't see why not. Its not written in stone that the holidays are owned for a set group. Hell, it even says not to celebrate Christmas in the bible. It was outlawed in the U.S. for a long period of time, but was made legal again once they figured out, "HEY, THERE IS MONEY TO BE MADE!" It can be a tradition without religious roots. Take Thanksgiving for example, its not like we celebrate genocide. LOL
Why not! Holiday season is a very enjoyable time of the year. Atheists can just go with the tradition and embrace all the fun that the holiday can offer.