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Christmas.God. Atheist.
Isn't Christmas about the birth of Jesus and one of God's biggest miracles? So why do most atheist still celebrate it?
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well actually christmas was a pegan holiday long long ago. The whole tree thing in the house was suppost to be for good luck if it was home grown and you uprooted it, if it lived by the time you wput it back then you're house was blessed with good luck. Also in the bible it was said that jesus was born in augest the time of the harvest.
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Yeah, Christmas day is actually teh winter solstice i think, or really close to it at least.
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basicly because of the free stuff, i guess. idk
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Well, a lot of Atheists were raised in Christian homes, and other members of their families are still Christian. Christmas is a time to spend with family, no matter what you believe.
Or, they might like the celebration of Christmas even if they don't believe in the religion. I knew a Buddhist girl who did this as well.
Also, Christmas has become so commercialized that, to many people, it's all about shopping for presents and "making the children happy".
I was raised Atheist, still am one, and we always celebrated Christmas in my home. For background, my father was raised Catholic and my mother was raised Protestant. They both changed their beliefs. I'll tell you that for us, it wasn't about presents and shopping, it was just for tradition, and to have a nice day that we would spend together, and to see family that we wouldn't ordinarily see. They did not hide the Christian meaning of the holiday from me. In fact, sometimes we would go to church on Christmas Eve. Even if you aren't religious, going to church sometimes can be nice.
History lesson time! I'll try not to rant. The 25th of December was originally a Pagan holiday, which was then made into "Christmas" by Christians trying to convert other people. This happens with all religions, as they spread, they tend to take over smaller religious groups. It is not always done forcefully, sometimes different religions simply integrate and blend their ideas.
So, when people today change their beliefs but still want to keep some things from the religion they were brought up in, it's really just blending of ideas.
I think the most important thing about Christmas is not the god you believe in, but just helping and loving people (though we should all do that year round, not just at Christmas). Yes, it is technically about the birth of Christ, but it also means different things to different people.
Also, there are no widely known Atheist holidays (or unholidays, whichever you prefer). Lately people have made attempts, but it will take a few centuries of tradition to get the ball rolling.
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First bit of advice since forever (I think I used to be a level 2 mod here at one point, way back before we had 3000 columnists). This one intrigues me a bit.
I'm a Christian, and interestingly enough I agree with the aforementioned advice. There's no specific evidence pointing to Christ's birth being on December 25; it is more likely that it was spring or summer. The December 25 date was pretty much set arbitrarily; I'm not recalling any pagan holidays.
Anyway, Christmas has lost so much of the original meaning that even Christians are not quite sure what they're celebrating. Atheists are just mostly caught up in the same commercialism that all the religious people are in, too.
If humans were not so hypocritical, Christians wouldn't be into all the commercialism (rather opting for a strict celebration of Christ's birth and nothing more), and Atheists wouldn't be celebrating it at all. But it's a psychological human tendency to do what everyone else is doing, and I'm guilty of it, as well.
Hope that answers your question on both accounts!
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For the majority of America, Christmas is not a religious holiday. It's about Santa Claus (for kids), baking cookies, having a big dinner, christmas trees and presents. Other cultures may celebrate it in a more religious way but we certainly don't.
And historians have proved that Jesus was actually born in mid-summer. Like most "Christian" holidays, the date was moved to accomodate Pagans in an attempt to win more conversions.
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Yeah I agree with the person below me, I am also an atheist [a skeptical one at most though] and I celebrate Christmas because it is a time to celebrate family and friends through selfless actions, it's just a fun and happy time of year that I would really not want to miss out on just because I don't believe in God, because to me that is not all that Christmas represents.
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I'm atheist and I celebrate it because my family does and its a tradition. And actually Jesus was NOT born on Christmas, it is a pagan holiday. so i really dont feel bad for celebrating it, its more for being with family and such. Its more of a commercial holiday nowadays anyway.
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