If you could, would you enact laws excluding atheists from celebrating Christmas,?

Question

spending money ("In God We Trust"), getting married ("Biblical" convention), using a calendar, or any of the other things that may be "god"related? How about owning property? Basic rights of citizenship? What are your thoughts?

I know all of these things are ludicrous, but I see Christians asking a lot of questions on "Why should atheists do this" "or be allowed to do this?" and was just trying to get at how people really think about it.

Answer 1

Come on! Christmas is God's biggest hook! Nothing else makes people feel as good about being in the herd or as bad about being outside of it. "Join in celebrating our latest religious icon...Jesus! Fun, toys, warm fuzzy's for the whole damn family! Or just go get drunk and cry."

Answer 2

lol, there is such a thing as a non-religious Christmas. Unless you have a manger scene in your house, none of the decorations are religious. The tree, the gifts, not even Santa is religious anymore.

As for the other things, if Athiests don't want to use money because it has the word God on it, then let them enact that policy. I won't be the one to take it from them because they don't want it. They can do that themselves.

How is owning property and basic rights of citizenship have ANYTHING to do with religion? Last time I checked, those were governmental matters and even though some might disagree, there is a seperation of church and state in this country.

Finally, let me talk about the calander. Have you ever heard of the ananotion B.C.E or D.C.E? Problably not because you would not have brought it up otherwise. So let me enlighten you. Some Athiests do use a seperate calander. All the dates are the same and the year 0 still falls around 2006 years ago. The only difference is that instead of staying "Before/After Christ" they use "Before the Common Era" and "During the Current Era".

Hope that helps.

Answer 3

I think that any law made with a religious back ground is a bad law. Marriage is a legal action. Calendars are based on the earths rotation around the sun and not religion. Money only added the phrase under god in 1956, Basic rights of citizenship are granted under the Constitution that is not a religious document. So the only argument here is is valid is the Christmas argument. And while I see your point, I would also point out that I am in favor of less laws and rules. I think limited government would be best, not more. Besides are you really ready for the problems that would arrise trying to legislate religion. Making laws restricting religion. I could swear I read somewhere that we can't do that in the States.
B

Answer 4

My first thought is that it's a stupid question. I don't care if my money says in god we trust,that's temporary and will be gone in time. I love having Christmas,so it's based on a myth,so what so are most holidays. Like the 4th of July based on the myth that we still have the freedom that our ancestors fought for. We killed thousands of brits over a tax burden that was about 25% of what we now bear. Many other religions have unions like marriage it's not a uniquely Christian idea,in fact with so much borrowed from previous religions how do you know it wasn't started by the the worshippers of Baal,who were one of the first religions with the ressurection myth,thousands of years before Christ's birth. NEXT!

AD

Answer 5

My classmates in the Master's Commission, which is a one year discipleship school, believe that this question is a bit ridiculous. We believe this because if it were enacted then the majority of the United States would not be celebrating Christmas. God tells us to love everyone and enacting a law such as this would not be showing very much love. Read 1st Corinthians 13 :) This is not love because it as if we are saying...."This is Jesus' birth and therefore it is our holiday...and you don't belive so you can't celebrate." People have a hard time eccepting God's love and believing in Him but all we can do in return is love :D

Answer 6

I cannot conceive of a single even remotely rational reason for trying to do any of those things. It would be bad for the economy, absolutely contrary to the Constitution of the U.S., and otherwise generally stupid. And I have to second the question, what do calendars have to do with "God"? The calendar we use in the U.S. is based off of the Julian calendar developed by the romans. So unless you want to exclude things having to do with gods (as in Greek and Roman) and emperors as well, you would likely have to leave the calendar off of that list.

Answer 7

Hell no. Because Christmas was derived from Pagan holy days and thus not of Christ at all except for the name. The calendar that we use was made by Julius Caesar, and the word God doesnt just mean the Christian God, it can be Allah or Nature also.

Should we ban Christians from doing things that arent a direct form of Christianity? Like going to public schools, to casinos, bars, restrict them to one city named for thier faith? Ban them from speaking to those who arent Christian, force them into marriage, ?

Stupid question.

Answer 8

Absolutely not. Christmas has also become a tradition in the United States. It is not simply about celebrating the birth of Jesus Christ. The holiday itself is a conglomeration of pagan holidays and rituals, anyway, so everybody has a right to celebrate the peace and good will and spirit of the day.

Answer 9

Thinking like this once caused the death of thousands of people, there was once a man named Adolph Hitler, who decided that he would eradicate all of the Jews through policy changes in the beginning and later adopting more harsh methods.

Is that the kind of world you'd like? Segration of individuals based solely upon their beliefs or disbeliefs in God?

It's depressing to think that after all of the trials which man has enacted upon man throughout history, that there is still thinking like this prevalent in society today.

Answer 10

This is America, Why would you want to exclude any group of people? Remember poll taxes, Jim Crow Laws, Separate but Equal Education, Women's suffrage, no school for the disabled?