Why do non-Christians celebrate Christmas?

Question

Christmas celebrates the day that Jesus was born so why do non-believers celebrate it?

By the way, I am not judging non-Christians. I love you all just as Jesus loves you. I just can't see the point in celebrating the birthday of someone you do not believe in, especially when every other day of the year you criticise Christianity. How can you do that after celebrating Christmas. Also, Christmas IS about Jesus, not paganism, hence the word CHRISTmas. God Bless and Merry Christmas to You all.

Answer 1

That's true. But remember, we have to be PC now --- it's Xmas, not Christmas. God forbid we say the word "Christ". Someone might be offended. Poor, poor non-Christians. They might even get saved!

Answer 2

Non Christians Celebrate the Commercialized aspect of Christmas, with santa claus, the christiamas tree, giving gifts to one another, etc. Even most religious homes, at least in the United States, are more into the commercialized part of Christmas, more than they are celebrating the birth of Jesus.
I am not saying it is right or wrong for anyone, religious or not, to celebrate either one or both aspects of Christmas
It it just a fact of life, that this is the way it is. We all must simply accept it. Some only have an understanding of Chirstmas from the commerized viewpoiint as well. That is the way they were brought up. While some religious people do not celebrate christmas, neither aspect, J.W.'s and some other non-christian faiths as well. This is simply the way it is in life. There is no right or wrong concerning celebrating or not celebrating Christmas. Really there is not a single commandment in the entire bible that tells a person to celebrate Christmas, it is simply done out of appreciation and gratitude toward God.
Try not to be so hard on others, and judgemental toward those that are not Christian, and those who do not celebrate either aspect of Christmas. When poeple hear your words, and observe your behavior, do they see Jesus ? I ask myself this all the time !! Look within yourself, judge your own self. Or go to the Word and let the Word, the bible, do this. The Word of God will judge the thoughts and intents of your heart(your thought-life).

Jesus said, "Judge Not." One must take ALL the many many logs out of their own eye(which would take a lifetime) before they are fit to take the mere speck out of anothers eye. Please read all Jesus had to say about this in the Gospel of Matthew 7.

Merry Christmas and Happy holidays.

Answer 3

Why don't Christians celebrate the birth of Christ the actual month he was born?

The answer to both questions goes back way before celebrating that time of year was a religious occasion. Imagine it's a time before technology, before Christianity, it's deep winter and you've been stuck in the same house with the same people for two months now snowed in. You would need some sort of celebration to lighten the mood and keep spirits up. The holidays at this time of year didn't originate as religious celebrations but rather as just family parties. Over the centuries different religions have taken this simple celebration to maintain sanity and made them religious. But to question someone celebrating and partying this time of year because they aren't of a certain religion, means that you have to question your own celebration.

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Back when the Church was attempting to get people to change from Pagan to Christian they created celebrations to coincide with pagan celebration. Hence Christmas. They even tried to do it with Halloween, but that didn't succeed. So Christmas is NOT a Christian holiday only, it's a celebration at the same time of year that everyone in the world celebrates, it's just that Christmas is the popular word for the seasonal celebration at the moment. Over time the name will change, the intent will change but the celebration will stay the same.

Answer 4

Oy...ok. I got a best answer on this same question before, so I'm literally cutting and pasting here.

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker

I use Christmas as a time to be with my family. I don't celebrate it by going to church, or lighting candles, or any of that. I simply go shopping, wrap presents, stuff my face, laugh, open presents, then go home and go to bed.

Just because I don't believe in God or Jesus, doesn't mean I can't enjoy a day off work when my family gets together. Some of my extended family goes to church. I stay at my Grandmother's or my parents or my in-laws and either eat or sleep. It's very rare to get my whole family together at one time. I won't skip it simply because the literal point of Christmas is something I don't believe in.

I also send out Season's Greetings cards, and I don't own a single cross, jesus, or any of the religious symbols of the holiday.

Answer 5

I'm A Buddhist I celebrate Christmas, Why not enjoy a good birthday party? I don't believe he was the son of god but he was certainly an enlightened guy a Bodhisattva! What kind of miserable geek would not want to celebrate with their Christian friends just because they have a different belief?

Answer 6

Christmas originated with the Pagans. Yule, Saturnalia, etc. Jesus was not born on Dec 25th... this is "church tradition" handed down thru the ages from the time when the Church and the Christians were worshipping next to Pagans during the 1st century. Christianity really has no holidays of it's own... they mainly ended up with revised versions of Pagan holidays. Most scholars believe that Jesus was most likely born in Sept or Oct... not Dec.

Look up Osiris, Apollo, Mithra... as all of these were God-men born on Dec 25th.

So, most of us Non-Christians celebrate it in our way, as many of you Christians celebrate it in yours. Atheists celebrate mainly because it is a family event. Personally, I exchange gifts and make the dinner on Yule (the first day of Winter) with my hub and son. Then on Christmas Eve I go to my parents house, as my mother is Christian, and we celebrate there. Christmas day is the day we sleep in, eat leftovers and basically be lazy.

Answer 7

Christmas has nothing to do with so called Christianity, it is a pagan festival that was stolen by the Christians for their own use. As there is no proof that such a person as Jesus was ever born it is a pretty useless festival for so called Christians to celebrate

Answer 8

cause it is a commercial holiday about giving gifts and it is vey much a part of our society, christmas parties are a social norm at work and at others homes, sometimes it is just easier to follow tradition rather than being treated in a hostile manner as a social outcast, and this does happen the poor non christian kids get treated very badly by other kids and some teachers do not provide alternative activites in a way that does not call attention to the child as a social misfit, it is because of this ugly reality that others conform to this hallmark holiday which is really a pagan holiday and Jesus was born in April not December

Answer 9

I do not celebrate Christmas. I work at our local shelter that day.
I celebrate the Winter Solstice. The shortest day/longest night.
I decorate a tree with lots of white lights, stags, stars, suns and red balls. For me this represents the birth of the Sun/Son. We exchange gifts as a way of sharing our abundance that has lasted us through the darkest part of the year.
By the way, I am non-Christian not a non-believer.

Answer 10

Actually, it was technically a Pagan holiday first. The celebration of the winter solstice, the birth of Mithras, and Saturnalia all fell on the last 10 days of December long before the Christians claimed the 25th as Jesus' birthday. The Christian church did that (put their holidays around the pagan ones) to get the pagans to convert to Christianity. "Oh yeah, we celebrate that, we just call it xxxxx."

Answer 11

I celebrate Christmas, because I don't celebrate Jesus's birth. Christmas is just an ordinary celebration.