Are atheists hypocritical at Christmas?

Question

I have a friend who sent me a Christmas email saying that the day has nothing to do with Jesus, but it is "now, as we all know, the celebration of the Birth of the New Sun." I think he's full of crap. WTF does that even mean?? If it's not about Jesus, then why is it called CHRISTmas? Shall I ask him that?

Did you know the Bible is the best selling book in the world?

Answer 1

It seems you have an issue with ONE atheist (if that person is such), so why are you addressing ALL atheists? Surely you must know by now that christmas has NOTHING to do with some christ. It seems as though your "friend" knows more about this holiday than you do. Rather than getting offended why not research the REAL reason for the season.

Answer 2

As everyone else has pointed out, the Christians co-opted pagan traditions--the Christmas tree, the greenery, the lights, the Yule Log, etc. The calendar was a bit off back then, so they celebrated the Winter Solstice on December 25, when it's really December 21 or 22. The Winter Solstice is the shortest day of the year, and after that, the days get progressively longer until the Summer Solstice around June 21 or 22.

And why don't you ask your friend what he meant by his remark?

Answer 3

It means he is celebrating solstice which is a much older ceremony that is celebrated at this time of year. He is celebrating the fact the days are now getting longer until the Summer Solstice.

Early Christianity knew about the solstice celebrations and they deliberately put their celebration on the calendar to overshadow the pagan one. If you notice, christian christmas has adopted a lot of pagan customs - most churches will have a christmas tree in them, yule logs and mistletoe all of which are pagan in origin.

You celebrate your way, he celebrates his -what's the problem. The world is big enough for both beliefs.

Answer 4

You need to learn a bit about history. The reason it's called christmas is because the pagan holdays related to the winter solstice and the lengthening of days (return of the sun) were coopted by the christians to create converts. This video will tell you about it: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=5216975979627863972&q=greatest+story&total=5210&start=0&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=2

Answer 5

Unfortunately for you, he is right. Christians borrowed the day of the sun god, on the winter solstice, and claimed, 300 years after jesus died that from that day on it would be celebrated as the birthday of jesus. This was done for political reasons. Not that the poor astronomers of the time slightly missed the winter solstice.

Answer 6

*drink*

You do realise that it was the early Xian church that co-opted Xmas from the older Roman festival of Saturnalia. So they rebranded it as Xmas, put Jeebus in as the central figure but kept all the traditions like feasting, decorating trees, caroling and the exchanging of gifts because people really liked those bits. In fact, the people didn't care who it was about provided they had their fun.

And yes, it was a harvest/end of the year/solstice festival. So he's not far off when he says it's the birth of the new sun.

Answer 7

You must be new here.

Christ was not born on Christmas. December 25th was originally the Pagan celebration of the birth of the New Sun. Christ was born in October, honey. Ask him that and you'll just look stupid. Christmas really has nothing to do with Jesus, not now, not ever.

But what does this have to do with Atheists?

Answer 8

www.zeitgeistmovie.com

Happy Winter Solstice, Ma'am~!

Answer 9

Yes - how dare they hijack the pagan festival of Mithras's birth - how hypocritical

Answer 10

Christmas is a stolen pagan holiday. historical fact so get over it you bloody christian. have a HAPPY SATURNALIA