Do atheists celebrate Christmas?

Question

It's a chritian hoilday I mean the first part of the word is christ which At least I thought atheists didn't believe in.

thanx everyone for the anwsers and have merry christmas no matter how you celebrate it. And btw i kno no one said the jeus was born on the 25th.

soundguy I wouldn't know what chapter or verse in the bible says it i'm not a particularly religous person

Answer 1

Well, I'm an atheist and I "celebrate" Christmas. It doesn't have any religious meaning for me anymore, it's just a time to hang out with family and buy them cool stuff. Oh yeah, and take a vacation too. Even though I strongly object to religion, I'm glad to have some mandatory federal holidays to relax.

Some other atheists want to change the celebration of Christmas into a celebration of the Winter Solstice (c.f. the latest issue of "American Atheist", published by American Atheists Inc.), but I have my doubts that the movement will ever get anywhere.

Another reason I don't vocally object to religion during the holidays is because it would make me seem like some sort of grinch. I mean, already religious people frown on correction (yet expect us to patiently listen to and shape our lives around their fairy tales). I don't care to find out how much more self-conscious correction around the holidays would make them.

Oh yeah, you may find it interesting to know that there is no historical justification for choosing December 25 as the date of Jesus' birth. The same holds for Easter. As it turns out, those happened to be the approximate dates of pagan festivals. The early Church chose those dates to coincide with pagan festivals, in order to draw people away from them. Don't quote me on that. I have selected a couple of promising links for you though.

Have a nice day! Happy holidays!

Answer 2

Perhaps the biggest loss in not attending religious ceremonies at a church and not participating in religion-themed rituals is the loss of joint family activities and the diminishing of a family tradition. If this bothers you and others in your family, you should entertain the possibility of developing some substitute activities and starting some new traditions which might genuinely include all of the family regardless of belief. Perhaps you'll decide to attend religious services anyway as a sign of respect, but finding alternatives may prove to be the best long-term solution.

In some cases, especially among younger nonbelievers, you may find that parents attempt to make use of church services (among other things) as part of an attempt to "bring you back into the fold." It's both unfortunate and unhealthy to try and make family members conform to religious thinking in this manner, but it may be unavoidable.

If you put up too much of a fight, the holidays will likely be filled with rancor - and no one really wants that.

Your best bet is probably to state your position in as calm and mature a fashion as possible, but go along with your parents' wishes in the end, at least until you're old enough to better assert your independence.

However much they might try, they cannot force belief as long as you remain true to yourself. There is no easy way out of such a situation - all you can do is be better than the people around you and show them more respect than they are showing you. Be the sort of person you wish they were.

It is standard during most religious holidays for churches or temples to hold special services in commemoration of that holiday. Often, people attend services as a family as part of a long-running tradition, and even those who rarely or never attend religious services are moved to attend now.

Should an atheist attend such services with their family? On the one hand, it would seem to be an act of hypocrisy for a nonbeliever to attend a religious service as if they were a member of the community of believers. On the other hand, it is a family tradition, one which the atheist may have participated in when they were younger and still a believer.

As with many other things, your decision on this matter will ultimately depend upon where your levels of comfort and offense lie. If the church in question is one where the messages are particularly obnoxious towards free thought, you are probably best off finding some way of avoiding attendance. However, if you find that you particularly enjoy the holiday music, regardless of the actual content, then perhaps it's worth going.

In addition to figuring just where your comfort and offense levels lie, you'll also need to decide what attendance will mean to you. If you can find no meaning, much less pleasure, in attendance, then you should consider finding something else to do and looking for some way to help your family become more comfortable with that.

Answer 3

Yes we do celebrate it. It is a national Holiday just like the others that we celebrate. We buy presents, say Merry Christmas, donate to the Salvation Army. Help out those who are less fortunate and all them things. Never would a thunk it would ya. Heck we even had a huge Christmas party at our house Saturday. And thank all you Christians for getting us the day off work! Oh By the way....In what chapter and verse did Christ instruct us to celebrate his birthday on 12/25 by buying presents for each other? Just curious.

Answer 4

i became into raised Christian. My father and mom (now a million former-xtian and a million Lutheran) have a pair days of the year set aside to savour eachother's organization (often), have a extreme high quality meal, and in specific circumstances replace presents or basically take a seat around the hearth sipping whiskey for some hours. what style of an fool does no longer connect in the festivities? i'm no longer likely to church, hell we not often went on holiday journeys besides- we basically celebrated presently considering that became into custom and it became into exciting. i don't have a faith telling me i'm no longer allowed to the two :) so i will occasion it up any way i prefer to. On Christmas or Easter, i could desire to have fun ANY style of holiday journeys, via fact the dates and a great style of of the traditions from those holiday journeys have been form of borrowed from a number of different cultures. Wanna understand the humorous situation approximately this question? the folk who heavily ask it, under no circumstances take think of roughly Christmas timber, colored eggs, Easter bunnies, Santa or the different holiday mascots and traditions you are able to desire to think of of that originated from before cultures and throughout years of custom have been branded new meanings and given new names and practices. i think of once you're gonna ask something, you will locate extra counsel there. Asking it is tremendously pointless, heresy does no longer prepare and atheists do no longer probably have all people to offend by getting exciting on "somebody else's" holiday. How dare we.

Answer 5

Actually christmas has it's origins in pagan religions and most of the traditions eg the "christmas" tree are pagan in origin.

Santa Claus isn't even particularily christian - it's mostly based on Odin.

It's extremely easy to celebrate christmas and not actually have anything to do with the christs mass part of it ;). which is what I (and I assume many other atheists) do.

Also I wouldn't get too hung up on names - Easter is named after a pagan goddess

Answer 6

No offense here, but correct me if I'm wrong, but Atheists do NOT believe in God, right? Therefore, they don't believe in Jesus, RIGHT?? Well then, I would think that they would have no interest in Christmas. If Atheists celebrate Christmas, that kind of shatters their whole belief system, doesn't it? That would be like, the ultimate hipocrisy, wouldn't it?

Answer 7

I get with my family. But exchanging gifts is something I really don't do. It is a fake holiday. But I am not a grinch to my family and friends that believe, but they know where I stand and respect it. So the answer is yes.

Answer 8

No, it is a religious, Christian celebration. Atheists might join friends or family for Christmas dinner or other celebration.

Answer 9

My dad is athiest and so is my best friend. They both celebrate Christmas, but they don't like Christmas because it's so commercialised(I don't think I spelled that right...).

but they still exchange gifts and look at Christmas lights and everything.

Answer 10

Yes. But we don't celebrate by going ot churches and praying and stuff like that, we get togheter with our families and exchange gifts.