Is there anything else an atheist can do?
The whole country grinds to a halt for two days in december. Even if you wanted to, you can't have a normal day.
Though, if you want to go into semantics, christmas is seemingly derived from pagan practices, so technically isn't as Christian as first thought.
If thats true or not, why not celebrate christmas anyway? How many people never go to church, pray or read the bible, yet still have christmas presents and trees?
(, Thu 25 Dec 2008, 20:06, Reply)
You're right, it would be silly to suggest having the day as any other
and it does present people with the opportunity to be nice to each other and get together, which is always a good thing.
I'm not attacking any one person or even blaming anyone for having a bit of a knees-up, I'm just saying that it all seems a bit pointless to me if one forgets the reason it's all there. It's just all the extreme commercialisation that gets to me really.
Edit - also, 25th December is never claimed to actually be the exact day of his birth, it was chosen to represent it as there were various other days of celebration around that time from other religions, so it fits in with a generally 'festive' period.
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TIAL Four capital letters, written in gold., Thu 25 Dec 2008, 20:15,
Reply)
Exactly.
You could say "but what do Muslims do on christmas day?".
Well, fucked if I know, but its the principal that counts.
(, Thu 25 Dec 2008, 22:37, Reply)
Except
atheists don't need a special day to be nice to other people. We do it because we want to, not to avoid going to hell.
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coccyx approves this message, Fri 26 Dec 2008, 0:55,
Reply)
That may well be a fair enough point.
if it weren't for the fact that you are implying that all atheists are nice. They aren't.
Exactly the same way that not all Christians are nice people.
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Redsushi! Whoop! Whoop! Yes, that one!, Fri 26 Dec 2008, 1:03,
Reply)
Neither do Christians
Those who follow Jesus' words are likely to be nice to other people all year round too. It's never said that Christians should only be nice to people on Christmas day, more the whole year round. It's only the fucking idiots who take it too far and start being cunts.
I think your view of Christians is rather influenced by the extremities. I'm not one (don't believe in God) but I do think Jesus' teachings set a good example.
Does anyone not think it's a bit off of Dawkins to enjoy singing Carols? I can see why Atheists enjoy Christmas day, but surely singing Carols is a bit off for an atheist?
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TIAL Four capital letters, written in gold., Fri 26 Dec 2008, 3:58,
Reply)
^This kind of
Christmas is a mashup of loads of other celebrations from loads of different religions. It just makes sense to have a party when everything's cold and horrible. It's not particularly Christian, historically Puritans aren't big fans of it.
Grah I read something about Santa coming down the chimney being related to some pagan thing, googled it, and accidentally came up with this, which is very un-Christmassy.
(, Fri 26 Dec 2008, 1:50, Reply)
Culture
As an atheist myself, I think Christmas has some excellent cultural reasons for being such a big festival, and the secular traditions that surround it fulfil an important function. As an example, it's one of the few times in a year that families get together for a formal meal. To ignore it would be as absurd as rushing past the Elgin Marbles as they had non-existent characters on them too.
(, Sat 27 Dec 2008, 0:59, Reply)