Do Atheists celebrate Christmas or Easter!?

Question

I know I'll probably get a crap-load of stupid answers, but I am seriously curious...

I am in no way trying to trash-talk, I just want to know if you do celebrate these holidays or not.

Thank you in advance for your responses.

Also.. if you do celebrate, why do you? Are they not religious holidays OR do you see them more as commercialized holidays. Please explain.

Regardless of whether they "used-to-be" pagan holidays or not... I'm talking about right now.

Not what happened hundreds of years ago. But how they are celebrated now. I think now, they are a toss up between religious and being commercial holidays.

Moiraes Fate - My family does not spend the entire day at church, but we do go to church and then we spend the rest of the day with family.

DaveFrehley - There is no need to say that "religion is crap". I was not bashing your beliefs... I was just asking a question.

Answer 1

In my family we do -- but they're totally divorced from the Christian aspects of it.

Christmas is about reuniting with family and showing our love and appreciation through gifts. And of course, the story of Santa, for my son.

Easter is about springtime and renewal, and getting sick on chocolate bunnies and jellybeans. One of these days, we'll try to get tickets for the Easter Egg hunt on the White House lawn.

Answer 2

Christmas and Easter offer many secular delights, independant of religion. It isn't so much a question of them being "commercialized" as them being "secularized."

For example, there is no real religious background to Easter eggs, Christmas trees, poinsettias, chocolate bunnies, candy canes, and so on. These are secular traditions with pagan roots that were co-opted and absorbed by religion. So there's no reason a person of a different religion or no religion at all can't enjoy these secular spectacles.

Remember, Christians don't "own" something just because it's been linked to their religion - you painting Easter eggs doesn't make you a pagan, and an atheist putting up a Christmas tree doesn't make him a Christian. Don't be too eager to separate the world into Christians and everybody else, believers and non-believers - the world is a lot more fun if we can all rock around the Christmas tree together.

Answer 3

i'm useful you are going to take heed to a sort of comments approximately what Christmas and Easter are extremely approximately. For atheists Christmas could be an afternoon of having which includes kin, and Easter is a occasion of Spring/renewal/fertility. Santa suits into Christmas the comparable way Jesus does: that is purely a narrative, a legend, a fantasy. no be counted if he's genuine or not does not substitute the sturdy traits he represents. some human beings relish making a music "Rudolf the pink-Nosed Reindeer" without actually believing in the tale. Many atheists sense the comparable way approximately religious thoughts and songs. and needless to say many atheists do not rejoice Christmas or Easter in any respect. And on Dec. 25 many rejoice the start of somebody who extremely grew to become into born on that day: Sir Isaac Newton.

Answer 4

Yes, many of us do, because for the most part they are secular traditions/cultural holidays more than religious ones.... We also celebrate Halloween which was popularized because it's the day before all saint's day... Cultures take things from each other, both Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny entered Christianity from other cultures, and now they've entered cultures through Christianity, I see nothing particularly strange about this.

I don't think it's so much about them being "commercial" holidays as them becoming pat of the culture, even for non-Christians. The other holidays around this time of year have essentially merged into one holiday celebration, and one would feel alienated without one, so it's simplest to go with the one that is most common.

Answer 5

Christmas and Easter are religious holidays to Christians, but both were celebrates many many centuries before Christ.
The winter solstice was called " the return of light ", because that's the time that the days begin getting longer.
Easter was called " the rebirth ".The time that flowers come up, young birds and animals are born. A real happy time.
All the Pagan symbols like the evergreen trees and mistletoe are used at Christmas time. Young chicks, bunnies, and Spring flowers are used for Easter.
The Christians stole the holidays from the Pagans.
Your question should read, " Do Christians celebrate The Return of Light and The Rebirth "? And why ?

Answer 6

I celebrate them both as a time of togetherness and giving. Those may be "Christian" virtues, but they are not owned by Christians. They are, in fact virtues of nearly every culture in the world. I do not celebrate those holidays as religious days, and I never really did, even when I was in a Christian household. Lights, trees, gifts bunnies, eggs, money, etc. are hardly a way of celebrating the life and death of a figure such as Jesus. Those holidays are nice because nearly everyone gets time off work which they can spend with loved ones (much like Labor Day and Thanksgiving).

Answer 7

Yes. But not for religious reasons and the religious don't celebrate it for religious reasons either or they'd spend the whole time in church rather than partying.

We have dinner, we open presents on Christmas, we hunt for chocolate eggs hidden around the house the night before, we talk about Santa and the Easter Bunny, we spend time with family and friends.

In other words.... we do the same things you do but without the religion part.

Its not about religion, its about fun. And thats the most convenient time to do it because the religious have made sure we all have the time off on those dates.

Answer 8

I don't do anything for Easter... (except I used to get annoyed at being woken up early by the "morning mass" going on outside my dorm-room when I was in college)

I give gifts (when I can afford them) and spend time with my family on Christmas... but that's about as much "celebrating" as I do for that particular holiday. Unless you count shopping.

I don't look at them (for me) as religious holidays which are exclusive to followers of the christian faith. Anymore so than I look at Cinco de Mayo as an exclusively Mexican/Latin holiday... St. Patrick's Day as an Irish/Scottish holiday... or Halloween as a celebration of the fall solstice for the pagans. I *do* however, like to celebrate the 4th of July with a little patriotism.

Answer 9

I celebrate them because they are family traditions, and I enjoy getting together with the family.

Do you have to be native american or a pilgrim to celebrate thanksgiving? Do you have to be a family member of a lost soldier to recognize memorial day? And why is it that all kids get out of school for jewish holidays rather than only the jewish kids getting out?

The messages behind the holidays are not what the religions have turned them into. according to most biblical scholars they believe that the fictional birth of jesus would've taken place in the summer months and not december.... So why celebrate in december? Easy, they stole the holiday from the pagans so they could more easily "adapt" the pagans to the christian ways. It's the same with easter. What do baby chickens, eggs, and bunnies have to do with the resurrection of a fictional savior? Absolutely nothing! They are all symbols taken from pagan holidays that were "adopted" by christians to make the pagan's conversion all the simpler.

It's gotten to the point where the holidays do not even have their meanings anymore even for the religious people. christmas to them is no longer about their supposed beliefs.... it is about storming the local toys r us to get spoiled little billy the brand new power ranger, or ninja turtle or whatever new fad toy that the kid will die if santa doesn't bring it to him for xmas.....

To me they are all just holidays to bring family closer together. These few days a year we get to stop what we're doing and enjoy the company of our loved ones. It's not about religion, it's not about commercialism and buying tons of useless crap for people...... it's just about coming together and enjoying what we have.

religion is crap, god is imaginary, and the human race is on a decline because it can't get it's act together and move past the fantasy and lies.... Who cares if atheists celebrate xmas? we get the days off from work just like christians do.... if we want to get into the "holiday spirit" and buy some gifts for loved ones and spend time with them, who can say that it is wrong?

Answer 10

Well, this is my first Christmas as an Athiest and I think I will celebrate. I love the fact that I get together with my family and get to eat yummy food. As a Christian I never really agreed with the holidays and never celebrated Easter. They are commercial holidays because even if you do believe in Jesus how do you know he was born on Christmas and died on Easter? You don't!

Answer 11

The question is why do Christians celebrate them.

Christmas is the pagan midwinter festival.

Giving presents is a pagan ritual.
Putting up a tree is a pagan ritual.
Putting up lights is a pagan ritual.
Having a feast is a pagan ritual.

The tacky nativity scene on the lawn if Christian.

Easter still bears the name of one of the fertility goddesses.
Exactly what do eggs and rabbits have to do with the death and resurrection? They do have a lot to do with pagan spring and fertility celebrations. Why is it that the date is based on a lunar calendar?

Face it, if Jesus did exist, then based on scripture, he was not born in late December and he did not die on a Friday in April. All that has happened is that the Christians usurped two of the big pagan festival dates to try to make them their own.

http://www.new-life.net/chrtms10.htm

http://www.tbm.org/did_jesus_die_on_good_friday.htm