If athiests don't believe in a god why do some get caught up in the christmas dance with giving gifts and going to christmas parties and appearing to christians that they support christmas? If you are a athiest do you put a christmas tree up in your home?
2007-07-09 02:48:11 · 51 answers · asked by Anonymous in Society & Culture ➔ Religion & Spirituality
Very interesting answers so far. Athiests don't believe in christinanity but wan't to be part of it for 1 month or should I say day for a year! Maybe deep down you are not really athiests?
2007-07-09 02:54:25 · update #1
I am fully aware of that christmas is of pagan origin. I think the question why christians celebrate it is another question to be asked but this question is about athiests
2007-07-09 02:58:48 · update #2
If I had to say such silly, desperate things to support my religious beliefs, I'd have at least an inkling that there was something seriously wrong with me.
Celebrating christmas has nothing to do with Christianity. Wake up and face reality, kid.
2007-07-09 02:57:19 · answer #1 · answered by Anonymous · 4⤊ 1⤋
for the same reason a lot of other ppl do it ?
cuz it's 'pretty' , and they like the presents ? ...
and, on a less frivolous note,
it's a good time for families to re-connect with each other ,no matter what your beliefs are.
that's what i'd think, anyway.
besides, christmas ,isn't just for GodFollowers.
they just happen to be the most predominant ,in current culture
"Christmas"Time has origins that go back for centuries.
ChristMasTime Is for EveryOne,who cares to celebrate it..
And it's a time for bringing together Community and embracing All Cultures and All People.
It's about creating Inner Warmth when it is becoming Colder and darker on the outside.
It's about having faith that TheDarkness and TheCold will not be here forever , and that we will all be able to care for and comfort each other thru this time ,and reach the next season,The "Rebirthing of Earth's Bounty" season unscathed.
Christmas Time is a Time Of Hope for EveryOne.
Athiests, included.
2007-07-09 03:01:47 · answer #2 · answered by Anonymous · 3⤊ 0⤋
You're picking and choosing your logic. Christmas has become quite the Consumer Holiday, as has Valentine's Day and Halloween...
Furthermore, Christmas has many different meanings for many different people. For Christians, yes - they celebrate the birth of Jesus, some on Dec.25, and some from Dec.25 all the way until Jan.6, the 'real' date of his birth. These people who believe that "Jesus is the Reason for the Season" also put up the Pagan Christmas Tree with various ornaments, and many still give their children gifts in the name of Santa Claus - not to celebrate Paganism or folklore, but because it's simply tradition.
Some celebrate the Winter Solstice, or Christmas, with the Pagan Christmas Tree decorated traditionally in fruits, or more modernly with ornaments, burn the yule log, burn red candles to symbolize the fire and heat of the returning sun as the days begin to lengthen, hang mistletoe, give money to charity, or volunteer for a charitable event, etc etc etc. None of these things are 'Christian'. They also generally exchange gifts, not to celebrate Christianity, but because Christmas has become a season of giving in general, and it has become tradition to exchange gifts.
One can't possibly be so closed-minded as to assume the world will ignore all pre-Christian influence to current Christmas traditions, and blindly insist that they are now solely Christian acts/behaviors.... can they?
I put up a Christmas tree, I fill a stocking and buy my daughter a few gifts from Santa, and we spent the rest of our Christmas money on gifts for local children and seniors in our area (Angel Tree Program and things like that). We play 'Christian' and other Christmas music, because they are beautiful, just as I assume you do - a little Silent Night as well as a little Up On The Rooftop, no? We celebrate the winter season by playing in the snow, building fires, etc, just as you do, no? We feel the cheer and the giving feeling of the season just as you do, no? So what's the difference? Does it really matter?
2007-07-11 04:49:54 · answer #3 · answered by ~Biz~ 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Well, tou know... Christmas REALLY isn't Jesus' birthday. They figure Jesus was REALLY born some time in April. But the early christians, trying to convert pagans at the point of the sword... tried to make conversion a LITTLE easier by adopting certain pagan holidays as part of christianity. In this case, christians cockroacked the Winter Solstace celebration... complete with decorated tree, yule log, holly, mistletoe, wreaths... and all the trimmings.
So... we just continue to celebrate our pagan holiday. Why are YOU celebrating a pagan holiday? Why don't you move your christ's birthday celebration to April, where it belongs?
April Fools Day would probably be a good choice.
Oh... and when you leave, please leave the decorated tree, yule log, holly, mistletoe, wreaths, and all the trimmings behind. Get your OWN danged christ stuff.
2007-07-09 03:03:27 · answer #4 · answered by Anonymous · 4⤊ 0⤋
I celebrate on the day that Christians celebrate Christmas. But obviously my celebration has nothing to do with Christ, so technically I don't really celebrate Christmas. Gifts and parties have nothing to do with Jesus. Nor do trees, which were originally a Pagan symbol.
2007-07-09 02:56:29 · answer #5 · answered by Anonymous · 4⤊ 0⤋
Evergreen trees, mistletoe, gift giving, and celebration at the end of December has been going on for centuries before Christianity has ever been dreamed of.
Atheists did not steal anything from Christianity, it's the other way around.
Get your nose in a history book, you might learn something.
Do I put up a Christmas tree ? You bet I do. I am Celtic by ethnicity. The evergreen perdates Christianity by many centuries. Why do you put up Pagan decorations ?
2007-07-09 02:58:55 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 4⤊ 1⤋
For the same reasons that Christians b***h about Christmas being commercialized and "Remember the Reason for the Season" How about you? Do you go to Mass on Christmas? Why not? Have you forgotten the name of the holiday?? Why do Protestants not go to Mass to remember the holiday? (Yes, I know the reason, but the logic of asking why Atheists celebrate a winter giving holiday that gives everyone a day off in our Christian dominated society is the same.)
After all, Christ was born in summer time (nobody called for travel in winter for a census) and we celebrate Christmas when we do because the Catholic Church wanted to co-opt the pagan winter solstice celebrations.
2007-07-09 02:56:12 · answer #7 · answered by Mike1942f 7 · 3⤊ 1⤋
Christmas as a mid winter festival greatly predates Christianity and has its origins in pagan worship. A mid winter festival is important to most Northern cultures where the nights are long at that time of year (it comes only 4 days after the shortest day - no idle coincidence).
Most of the things done to celebrate Christmas are much more recent - in fact, very few traditions are more than 150 years old. Most also have their origins in the secular or atheist world.
2007-07-09 02:51:52 · answer #8 · answered by Anonymous · 6⤊ 1⤋
Christmas was originally a pagan ceremony introduced by the Romans, and was called Saturnalia.
It was eventually 'taken over' by christianity as the birthday of Jesus.
The christmas tree is a pagan symbol - do you put one up in your house???
The giving of presents at christmas is incorrect if related to the giving of gifts to Jesus by the wise men - this was supposedly done on the 6th January (12th night), which is how a true catholic country such as Spain does it.
2007-07-09 02:59:58 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 5⤊ 0⤋
I don't want to be a part of the religious parts of it - I wouldn't go to a Christmas event that's religiously bent (ie, a Christmas Mass) - but its a fun time for the world.
Its hard not to get caught up in the excitement of the world buried underneath false cheer, Christmas in all the shops and (if we're lucky) snow.
Besides, it doesn't actually have a Christian significance, it was just re-arranged to become the celebration of the birth of Jesus. All evidence in the bible suggests that it was actually in Spring.
2007-07-09 04:17:09 · answer #10 · answered by Devolution 5 · 1⤊ 1⤋
A christmas tree is part of your religious experience of christmas? That is odd, using a old pagan festival symbol for your christian holiday. Face it, christmas is not about the birth of Jesus. Christmas was decided upon as the birth date of Jesus to coincide with a pagan holiday in order to make conversion of the pagans to christianity easier. I do celebrate christmas as a time for family and friends, simple as that. There is no religious relevance for me what-so-ever.
2007-07-09 02:56:50 · answer #11 · answered by ndmagicman 7 · 4⤊ 0⤋