Dare To Ask Talk And News About Our Differences - This topic has 17 replies, 18 voices, and was last updated 20 years ago by
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I’m not an Athiest, but I am not a Christian either. If I had to classify myself, I would say I am a pagan. I celebrate Christmas, and it is one of my favorite times of year. Christmas isn’t exclusively a Christian holiday. It wasn’t even originally a Christian holiday. Celebrating the Winter Solstice – to be more exact – is an ancient tradition. Many of our Christmas tradition, such as a Christmas tree, wreaths, mistletoe, Yule log, and so on are much older than Christianity. To me, Christmas is a time to celebrate winter, come together with our families, take stock of our lives, and give gifts to those we care most about. To me, that is the meaning of Christmas.
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Name : Lucy22392, Gender : F, Race : Hispanic/Latino (may be any race), Age : 27, City : San Jose, State : CA, Country : United States, Occupation : Engineer, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,Why do people who don’t go to church or believe in God celebrate Christmas? What do they tell their children about the meaning of Christmas?
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Name : Anne, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Catholic, Age : 16, City : Marshalltown, State : IA, Country : United States, Education level : Less than High School Diploma, Social class : Upper middle class,My family isn’t religious, but we celebrate Christmas. We don’t necessarily consider the birth of Jesus to be the reason we celebrate, but having the possibility to be together and preserve different kinds of traditions. Especially now, when lots has happened in the world in such a short period of time, the fact that we can be together just emphasizes. The meaning of Christmas to us is to spend a joyous, festive and peaceful moment together and to try and give the people around us the chance to do the same.
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Name : Miia, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Atheist, Age : 16, City : Helsinki, State : NA, Country : Finland, Education level : Less than High School Diploma,In our society atheists are pretty much forced to participate in many holiday activities, like office gift exchanges, potlucks, etc. Their beliefs are not really treated with respect. If a Jewish person doesn’t participate in Christmas no one bats an eye, but if a non-believer attempts not to participate they get called ‘Scrooge,’ and are looked upon as downright evil. Even if you ask people not to buy you gifts, they often do anyway. Also, besides being a religious holiday, Christmas is a huge secular holiday in this country, things like Santa Claus, Christmas trees, and colored lights having little to do with Jesus’ birth. Many non-believers enjoy many of the traditions of family celebrations and gift-giving.
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Name : Rick29810, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Atheist, City : Springfield, State : OH, Country : United States, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,Most Atheists celebrate Christmas in a fashion – namely, they celebrate the coming together of extended families during the holiday season, without celebrating the pretext that brings them together. Recently, I started sending Thanksgiving cards for the holidays rather than Christmas cards. I like the fact that I can express thanks and appreciation for the important people in my life without availing myself to a deity in whom I do not believe.
As far as what atheists tell their children about the meaning of Christmas, that’s about the same thing we would tell our children about the meaning of any religious holiday of any faith. I would tell my children that it is a celebration of the day on which Christians believe their Messiah was born.
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Name : Ed, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Atheist, Age : 31, City : New York, State : NY, Country : United States, Occupation : Professional, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Upper middle class,Our family is Catholic (pre-Vatican II traditional Latin Rite, erroneously thought of by some as an ‘ultra-conservative splinter group’) and we regard the story of the Puritans at Plymouth Rock to be someone else’s celebration, not ours. We study history from a Catholic perspective and discuss at Thanksgiving the spread of the Catholic Faith in the New World. St. Augustine, Santa Fe and lesser-known places are our equivalent of ‘Plymouth Rock.’ This may sound odd, even to mainstream Catholics who have fully assimilated into the American cultural consensus, but we would feel equally odd celebrating Puritanism. (And what do we eat? Anything we feel like eating! After all, it’s a celebration!)
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Name : Augustine23582, Gender : M, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Catholic, Age : 41, City : Columbia, State : SC, Country : United States, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,When my children have asked I told them that Christmas was originally a day set aside to celebrate the birth of Christ. I discovered through research a few years back that the true birth date of Christ was never recorded. It was the ‘death’ of Christ that used to be considered the holiest day of the year. The date of 12/25 was selected as a day to celebrate Christ’s birthday to distract early christians away from a very popular pagan holiday that took place on that same day. Since the true meaning of Christmas is lost in the modern capitalist society, I now add to my explanation of Christmas as a day set aside every year to get together and spend time with family. I consider that alone enough of a reason to declare a holiday.
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Name : Douglas25668, Gender : M, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Atheist, Age : 40, City : Pontiac, State : MI, Country : United States, Occupation : Engineer, Education level : Technical School, Social class : Middle class,As an atheist, the reason I ‘celebrate’ Christmas is that’s when I am given time off from work to visit the family and friends I don’t normally get to see. For us, it is a ‘celebration’ of our connections to other people. Because the date of Christmas coincides with the traditional festival for Mithras – and many Christmas traditions are, in fact, based on pagan ritual, I like to share these facts with children so they can see how all people, no matter what background, enjoy the same type of celebration and sharing.
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Name : Lisa, City : Milwaukee, State : WI, Country : United States,My family celebrates the spirit of Santa Claus. We believe it’s a time to be with family and friends. It’s a time to give and share with eachother. The holiday itself was taken from a pagan holiday and many of the rituals used by Christians are, in fact, pagan rituals. The Christmas tree, for instance, is something the Christians borrowed. I see no problem with using the name ‘Christmas’ as my own holiday and traditions because it’s been so commercialized, it’s easier to use it.
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Name : A.R., Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Humanist, Age : 30, City : Astoria, State : NY, Country : United States, Occupation : Actor, Education level : Over 4 Years of College,To some extent, non-religious people don’t have much choice about ‘celebrating’ Christmas, at least in the USA, where it is, in effect, shoved down people’s throats. However, you can bet that even those non-religious people who do use the holiday season as an opportunity to get together with family/friends do not use Dec 25th as an ‘opportunity’ to celebrate the alleged birth of a supernatural being in which they do not believe.
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Name : Edgar, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Gay, Race : White/Caucasian, Age : 56, City : Dayton, State : OH, Country : United States, Education level : 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,What is the meaning of Christmas? To tell you the truth, I don’t know many Christians that go to church on Christmas.
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Name : Dan, Gender : M, Race : White/Caucasian, Age : 28, City : New York, State : NY, Country : United States, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Middle class,There American version of the Christmas holiday is not entirely Christian. Christianity is one of the three major facets, the other two being Pagan and commercial. It can be celebrated by anyone whose believes any of those. Most people believe in commerce.
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Name : Kevin26313, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Pagan, Age : 21, City : Ypsilanti, State : MI, Country : United States, Occupation : Librarians Assistnat, Education level : 2 Years of College, Social class : Lower middle class,If they want to. I mean, as far as I go, my entire family is mostly Christian so if I want a chance to be with them all together, I go at Xmas time to the get together. And I take part in their activities because it’s fun for me. In no way can I imagine a ‘son of god’ or the need to rejoice in his supposed birth. For me It’s just a day where you enjoy a few hours of fun and relaxement with the people you love. It’s almost like celebrating April Fool’s Day (without the endless fight of a crowded store or overpriced items you can buy pretty much all year or next year but for some reason has to be outrageously marked up so corperations can get rich because some kid got born)… ahem.. You don’t have to pull pranks or whatever, unless you think it’s fun so basically what I’m saying is by matter of choice, you do what you like. And if I were to have kids I would teach them about religion(s) versus what I think, and leave a choice up to them whether or not they want to believe. And support their decision.
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Name : R-Martin, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Atheist, Age : 26, City : Jacksonville, State : IL, Country : United States, Occupation : press operator, Education level : Technical School, Social class : Lower middle class,I’m also not a Christian… and therefore, I don’t ‘celebrate’ Christmas as a Christian would. I don’t attend church services, and the gifts I share with friends and family are not shared in the name of Christ. However, I do get together with family and share time and togetherness, just to enjoy being with them. I do the same at Thanksgiving time, as well.
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Name : Sam Foster, Gender : M, Sexual Orientation : Straight, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Spiritual, Not Religious, Age : 23, City : Orlando, State : FL, Country : United States, Occupation : Broadcast Editor, Education level : High School Diploma, Social class : Middle class,I’m usally at my parents house in late December, and they celebrate Christmas (ie: big tree, cookies, presents, annoying music, but no religious meaning to it), so I do when I’m with them. As a kid, I was told me the usual nativity story, but saying the conception was ‘a miracle’, not explicitly saying that Jesus was God’s son, and without saying that Jesus is our savior.
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Name : L K, Gender : F, Sexual Orientation : Bisexual, Race : White/Caucasian, Religion : Atheist, Age : 22, City : Laurel, State : MD, Country : United States, Occupation : student, Education level : Over 4 Years of College, Social class : Upper middle class,
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