Do You Celebrate Christmas?

Re: I have a feeling this is going to make me as popular as walking into a blood bank...

Bullwinkle said:
...and announcing that I have active hepatitis!

I celebrate Christmas as a religious holiday. I'm a Lutheran. A liberal Lutheran, and an active member of several progressive causes -- but an active, practicing Lutheran, nonetheless.


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You being a Lutheran, would it be out of line to assume you owe allegience to the God and Christ alluded to in the Christian Bible?

If that assumption is correct, I would assume you attempt to please those entities.

How did they make it known to you, that it would please them, if you celebrated the occasion of the birth of Christ. ( the hypotheses of how such a celebration became a tradition, notwithstanding .. )
 
Re: I celebrate MWF

Bentspoon said:
It is all about the fun of getting and getting gifts from thoughtful friends. It is all about partying and food and a great time. It is all about watching your kid's eyes light up at the new computer.
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The older I get, the more I love to sit back at Christmas and watch the kids. They have so much fun, it is just a joy to watch them.

Everyone always says that as a parent, this is a great part of christmas. But it isn't just parents who feel that way. Watching any kids have that much excitement is great for me.
 
We celebrate x-mas in our house. The rest of my crew celebrate for the traditional x-ian reasons. My atheistic celebration is aimed more at the more traditional capitalistic end with emphasis on expressing my love for my family and friends. I also prefer to claim that I am celebrating the Solstice and Sir Isaac Newton's birthday instead.

The thing about watching the various x-ian celebrations around x-mas is that it reminds me of just why I abandoned those silly beliefs as a teenager all those years ago. Between the nonsequitors and the paranoia, I really felt a needless burden removed when I finally got out from under the baggage of the superstition of christianity.

Jim.
 
My girlfriend and I celebrate Christmas as a time of family get-togethers and prezzies. My GF's mom is more staunchly atheist than we, so she doesn't... but she sends us solstice presents. Most of my family are Christian to some extent, so my celebration of the holiday also makes the social niceties easier.
 
I celebrate Christmas. Though I dont believe in christ and I dont celebrate it with a mass. It's a convenient time for everyone to get together. (Nearly) Everybody is off work at the same time, making it convenient for family get-togethers. It has it's wonderful secular traditions which can be celebrated by atheists, hindus, muslims, et al. And then there are the nice religious touches for the god-botherers. All in all a good time can be had by all.
Peter
 
Festivus!

...the festival for the rest of us! (liberated from Seinfeld )...

Started out married life loving Xmas, insisting on tree, garland, lights, etc....

now it mostly depresses the hell out of me and gives me another reason to drink...hate the commercialism, hate the 'gimmee' attitude most people & kids seem to thrive on. Dislike the infinite quantity of cheap, ugly and plastic xmas decos, ditto for gifts. Work a season in retail and you'll know what I mean--it makes a Scrooge of you. Stopped sending xmas cards because I felt insincere and I hated getting the mass-produced statement on how the relatives' kids were doing in soccer. Christ has nothing to do with the celebration anymore (like no one's ever heard that before).
That said--

I do like the idea of a festive season full of lights during the darkest season in my hemisphere... I also like giving gifts to people I love, though I usually don't need a manufactured holiday to enjoy that. I love the old R.C. Latin hymns and medieval carols. I love the food and the bonhomie shared with friends over glasses of wine in a cozy room while the weather howls outside. I enjoy the time off work. And I enjoy the promise of a coming new year.

So yeah, I guess I celebrate Christmas :)
 
How I make God happy (from a Lutheran perspective)

Diogenes said:


You being a Lutheran, would it be out of line to assume you owe allegience to the God and Christ alluded to in the Christian Bible?

If that assumption is correct, I would assume you attempt to please those entities.

How did they make it known to you, that it would please them, if you celebrated the occasion of the birth of Christ. ( the hypotheses of how such a celebration became a tradition, notwithstanding .. )
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Actually, as a Lutheran, I try to do all sorts of things to please God.

On Reformation Day, we tale a Roman Catholic priest (marinated in his own wine, of course!), sacrifice him on the altar, and have a big parish barbecue. Y'all come, now, y'hear? :wink8:

Then, on Hallowe'en, we take witches, soak them in tar, and burn them on torches! We've found by adding different combinations of powdered metals (boron, calcium, potassium, manganese, copper, etc.) and the resulting colors are SO pretty. Viewed from a mile off, they're just like great big Christmas tree lights! :j1:

Last year, we sponsored a Hell House for Hallowe'en and showed some filthy little godless heathen children from our neighborhood what would happen to them if they engaged in premarital fornication, adultery, homosexuality, or birth control; or started engaging in things of this world things such as EVILution, old earth "theory", or voting for baby-killing DEMONcrats!

On Matthew Shepard's birthday (December 1) , we like to honor God by caroling through the predominantly gay and lesbian neighborhoods carrying signs made by that that nice Fred Phelps from Kansas. It's such a PLEASANT way to begin Advent!

After Christmas, it's slow going until Holy Week. That's the best of all -- we all get together and paint epithets and graffiti on synagogues. Why you'd be amazed -- just add a head to a swastika, and you've got a SHEEP! :wink:

It's not like them Jews don't deserve what they get. After all, the Good Book says their father is the Devil and we all know who it was who killed Christ! We figure once a year it's our God-given duty to remind them Jews that WE remember what THEY did.

:i:

Now that we've got all our stereotypes of Christians out of the way...

I'm perfectly open to discussion. I'm just as open to honest sharing. I'm certainly open to a discussion of beliefs.

My closest friend is a self-confessed atheist -- and that's perfectly OK with me. Actually, I've always appreciated (and counted on) his insights which help cut through layers of accumulated (and occasionally hardened) bullsh*t; and he's probably the most thoroughly moral people I know.

Now, if you really want an answer to the question: well, I would not presume to speak for the Almighty, but I doubt if He/She/It cares one way or the other what holidays we celebrate, be they Christmas, Kwanzaa, the New Year, the equinox, Passover, Good Friday, Easter, the solstice, Yom Kippur, Samhain, or my birthday.

Given that: in the future, could we agree to avoid obvious set-ups such as "How did they make it known to you, that it would please them, if you celebrated the occasion of the birth of Christ." Thanks. (Hug, hug; kiss, kiss.)

:rub:
 
As an Atheist, I celebrate Christmas - Lights, tree, presents, food, family, good cheer.

But my celebration might seem a bit off to some people. Sometimes my Christian friends notice it, sometimes they just feel something isn't right but can't put their finger on it. My Christmas celebration has no religion to it.

The tree has no religious ornaments on it, there is no star or angel on top - just a Santa looking decidely uncomfortable with a tree up his - AHEM.

The lights on my house, (and the occasional snowmen) are complemented by a colorful door flag of a bright yellow sun on a blue background, with the words, "The reason for the season." It's printed in such a way that my Christian friends often mis-remember it.

The Christmas cards I send out have no mention about God, or Jesus, or religion of ANY sort - and no, they don't say 'solstice' either. They usually have colorful pictures of birds in the snow, or sleigh rides, or such.

My Christmas music is often Jazz or Classical music. However, Ossai introduced me to Cthulhu Christmas Music which will definitely be played in my home and office this year, alongside of my old favorites such as, "Grandma got run over by a reindeer" and the music from the animated version of, "How the Grinch stole Christmas."

Shoot, I may even take up caroling again!! I mean, a loud, croaking, untuned voice is actually an asset when you are caroling about Cthulhu!

As for other holidays - I'm a true blue geek, Sci Fi junky and an electronics engineer. I treat Halloween as the world's largest Science Fiction convention. Gadgets and costumes are perfect. Instead of dressing as a witch or devil, I would be more likely to dress as a Star Wars or Star Trek character. If I had the money to make it I would go as a Cylon from Battlestar Galactica.

Easter is a great day to hide plastic eggs full of candy. Good Friday is a great day to go fishing. (That's MY version of GOOD!)

All of my holidays are spent with family, friends, or just me and my wife doing the road trip thing to someplace interesting.
 
Considering it was Yule to begin with, and because it marks the time around days start getting longer again, heck ya.

You have to have some fun in the middle of winter, or it would be too grim. The cold Jan. and Feb. are a little more bearable then.
 
I think that you nailed it, Eons. No matter WHAT you call it, there are more celebrative rituals at this time of year for a reason much removed from Christianity. This is the Winter Solstice, the shortest day of the year and the progressive lengthening thereafter. The season is usually cold and dismal, such that the cyclic inversion of day lengths signals something of a new hope - new year - new life - return of the Sun. Celebrations on solstices have been ongoing for millenia; Christians don't have a trademark on any of them. They borrowed several traditions that eventually became Christmas, for some odd reason denoting Dec. 25th (or whatever it was with the Gregorian Calendar) as J's B'day.

I celebrate Christmas in a traditional, secular way. No references to Christianity - which allows the inclusion of the Yule tree. Personally, I tend to put emphasis on the Winter Solstice instead, since it embodies an actually phenomenon of interesting significance.
 
I'm an atheist, I celebrate Christmas.

I dont see Christmas as having any religious significance. Sometimes I even forget that Christmas is supposed to be a religious holiday. Its the drive through the neighborhood and small Nativity scene that keeps me vaguely reminded that Dec. 25 is J-man's birthday.

As an atheist, I feel I have absolutely no restrictions or limitations preventing me to from celebrating any holiday I want. Sometimes I celebrate Jewish Holidays (because I was born into a Southern Baptist household and I feel celebrating Jewish Holidays is the most effective way of disappointing my parents...).

I also enjoy Easter because I enjoy all Pagan holidays. Apparently Easter is more than the end of Lent, it celebrates the rebirth of the human soul (eggs are a symbol of reincarnation) and fertility (rabbits... durk!).
 
I hate christmas celebrations. It is just hipocricy in the highest level, it makes me vomit.

However, there are different levels depending on where we live. For example. I am living right now in the UK and last year I really have a very nice time because here people don't become crazy with Christmas. They don't transform their houses in a circus and don't sell so much christmas rubbish.

I know it sounds boring, but let's face it, to an atheist these celebrations are meaningless and are based on lies and self delusion.
 
Q-Source said:
I hate christmas celebrations. It is just hipocricy in the highest level, it makes me vomit.

However, there are different levels depending on where we live. For example. I am living right now in the UK and last year I really have a very nice time because here people don't become crazy with Christmas. They don't transform their houses in a circus and don't sell so much christmas rubbish.

I know it sounds boring, but let's face it, to an atheist these celebrations are meaningless and are based on lies and self delusion.
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I hate the commercialization and religiousness myself. Celebrations around that time, though, can be directed towards Winter Solstice and New Year's. So, you can still celebrate as you like, but without dependency upon Christmas.

As an atheist, it can be fun to wish Christian friends and family a "Happy Mithra's Birthday!" and watch the puzzlement wash across their faces. ;)
 
I know it sounds boring, but let's face it, to an atheist these celebrations are meaningless and are based on lies and self delusion
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I know, I used to look at it that way until I started learning the real origins of most holidays. The winter solstice is one of many. You can attach your own meaning and enjoy it any way you want. That can mean rejecting all the frivolities and just enjoying a cup of cocoa. Whatever you want. Then at least you can look forward to the days you have free to do whatever you want to. I used to work. Now I have kids, and I don't want to depress the little munsters :)
 
Q-Source said:
I hate christmas celebrations. It is just hipocricy in the highest level, it makes me vomit.
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What! What about presents! And decorations! And christmas trees. And food. And presents... and... Santa... *weeping*

to an atheist these celebrations are meaningless and are based on lies and self delusion.
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I'm dont think many people celebrate Christmas as a religious holiday anymore (thank God/Yahweh for reckless abuse of commercialization). It has the same religious significance as Independence Day.
 
Tony said:
As an atheist/agnostic, do you have any qualms with celebrating Christmas?
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Well, we're glad to celibrate a holiday on the darkest day of the year. That does sometimes put us 3-4 days early, but so it goes. Sometimes we stick to the one on the calendar because the school system insists on memorializing the non-birthday of an alleged prophet instead of something based on orbital mechanics.

Please understand, just because we don't choose to celibrate an artificial holiday placed on 12/25 just so the previous religion's holiday on 12/21 or 12/22 would be converted from a feast day to a fasting day, doesn't mean we don't approve of having a great big party in the middle of the winter.

Parties (in some moderation, not too much moderation) are good for people, so why not?
 
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