Do Atheist's Celebrate Christmas?

[Kryshade]

Since we have a prolific amount of Atheists here, I figured I'd bring this up.

My initial assumption would be yes, they do celebrate Christmas. I saw in another thread where Winnow likes to buy gifts for kids etc and seems rather generous during the Christmas season. I seem to recall him also stating he was an Atheist along with many others. (Not tryng to call you out Winnow, I just remember you arguing the no God/Jesus thing in particular).

So how does that work... obviously if your Atheist you wouldn't celebrate Christmas in the traditional sense. My next guess would be that people would say they celebrate the "Holidays". The problem there is that "Holidays" usually refers to Christmas/Hanukah/Kwanza etc. which are all religious in nature, thus once again excluding Atheists. So if you fall into this catagory, which "Holiday" is it in particular that you celebrate?

I'm partially trying to just stir up some shit, but I'm also genuinely curious as to those admitted Atheists that go around giving gifts to family/friends during Christmas/Hanukah... how do you justify that?

I already expect the " I can celebrate the holiday season and give gifts to family without it being religious" answer, but the problem I have with that is by doing so, your acknowledging and participating in the celebration of something you don't believe in.

Can someone better explain the outlook or viewpoint of this time of year and how you celebrate it from that belief standpoint?

[Fash]

Most Atheists didn't grow up in Atheist households. I was raised Roman Catholic, so Christmas and other holidays were engraved since birth. Still, Christmas to me was never about religion, it's just a day where we eat together and buy stuff for each other.

Now as an Atheist since age 13 or so, I still celebrate the holiday and I love giving gifts to my niece and nephew... but there's no spiritual connection or reverence involved, and there doesn't have to be. I don't need to go to church and I don't need to pray... We get together, eat, and share presents. End of story. Amen.

I can't imagine it being much different for a 2nd generation atheist...

[Sueven]

I already expect the " I can celebrate the holiday season and give gifts to family without it being religious" answer, but the problem I have with that is by doing so, your acknowledging and participating in the celebration of something you don't believe in.

You're viewing this from an obviously religious perspective. Atheists acknowledge and participate in things with religious overtones all the time. Christmas can be as religious or as secular as you like.

I'm half Jewish and half Catholic and my family traditionally celebrated both holidays (despite the fact that myself, my siblings, and my parents are all atheists). It's a cultural thing. When I have my own family, I'm sure we'll celebrate one or both.

I think you're just looking for a 'gotcha' here.

[Kryshade]

I think you're just looking for a 'gotcha' here.

I don't really consider myself a Christian. Agnostic may be the closest thing... I do believe in God, and I do believe in Jesus, but I also believe in Buddha, Allah, the Great Spirit etc.

I wasn't really looking for a "gotcha" so much as an explanation as to how Atheists celebrate a decidedly religious holiday and religious holiday season. I admitted to trying to stir up some debate, but I wasn't actually looking for that "Aha! I got you sucka!" moment.

[Leonaerd]

I already expect the " I can celebrate the holiday season and give gifts to family without it being religious" answer, but the problem I have with that is by doing so, your acknowledging and participating in the celebration of something you don't believe in.

Hehe, grudge much? I'd love to rip into your Holiday!!!!!

Christmas is not a religious holiday, nor has it been since any business with a brain started associating it with the cash cow it really is. Corporations say "happy holidays" instead of "merry christmas" because they're acknowledging, from a non-religious perspective, that they want to get in on a bunch of people spending their bonuses. Religion doesn't have a chokehold on Christmas... Christmas has a chokehold on religion.

Now it's time for some Bible Fun!!!

Deuteronomy 22:28
'If a man happens to meet a virgin woman who is not engaged to be married...'
Deuteronomy 22:28
'...And he seizes her and rapes her...'
Deuteronomy 22:28
'...but is caught in the act...'
Deuteronomy 22:29
'...the rapist must pay the girl's father fifty silver shekels.'
Deuteronomy 22:29
'She must marry the rapist, because he has violated her. And so long as he lives, he may not divorce her.'

Ahhh.... jesus. What was that about people only commiting to certain bible passages? Ah fuck it, too easy.

[Fash]

I already expect the " I can celebrate the holiday season and give gifts to family without it being religious" answer, but the problem I have with that is by doing so, your acknowledging and participating in the celebration of something you don't believe in.

Was this an edit? didn't notice this on my first read... Anyways, I don't see your problem here. at all. To me, it's a completely non-religious holiday, especially since it's all made up to begin with!

Do you have the same issue with going to a bar mitzvah for the son of a Jewish friend?

[Zver]

Since I grew up in USSR (Russia) we only celebrated New Years and nothing else. That’s pretty much is still the case even though I’m Jewish.

[Winnow]

Depends on your definition of celebrating Christmas. I'm not going to be a wanker and call it "Happy Holiday"

Nothing associated with religion takes place during our (my parents extended family) Christmas. It's the same idea that's behind Thanksgiving.

Good food/family = Thanksgiving
Presents/Eggnogg/family = Christmas

While my mother was raised Catholic and my father protestant, no prayers or stuff like that is done before eating meals, etc. I avoid religion but not to an obnoxious degree. If I'm a guest somewhere and they take a moment to say a prayer before eating, I don't stop everything and start debating people about it. I'm respectful of religious beliefs as long as they aren't forced upon me. As a guest in someone else's home, I wouldn't call that being forced upon me.

Having a few times a year that the family gets together isn't a bad thing. At the same time, I'm definitely an introvert and need people around me much less than your average person. I'm in the quality, not quantity corner when it comes to repeated contact with people.

That said, I detest traveling during Thanksgiving or Christmas (hate crowds, hate lines, hate sick people)and would prefer family get togethers be planned for non holidays when things are much more relaxed for travel purposes.

In general, do people really give a shit about the reason behind holidays anymore or are they just happy for a day off from work? There are few that I care about. Veterans Day is one of the few that I stop and think about the reason behind the holiday. A little bit on the 4th of July as well.

[Kryshade]

Well, I personally accept and even practice some tennants of most religions, so I wouldn't have a problem going to a bar mitzvah. I agree that Christmas has lost pretty much any religious undertones so that point is a good one.

I guess in my opinion, Atheists are very staunch in their belief of non-belief, kinda of like how some Christians are so rabid in their beliefs. I wanted to see the reason for the celebration of what was once a relgious holiday from the eyes of someone that does not believe in religious figures. Your point of Christmas being just a cash cow is spot on, and really the reason why pretty much everyone does something this time of year.

I suck at trying to argue stuff/start shit because I generally accept all sides of an arguement.

[Leonaerd]

I guess in my opinion, Atheists are very staunch in their belief of non-belief, kinda of like how some Christians are so rabid in their beliefs.

We're rabid in our non-belief because Christianity is retarded.

[Fairweather Pure]

Christmas is about exchanging presents and getting together with family and eating lots of food. I do not celebrate the birth of Jesus, instead I celebrate when my wife gets me an Xbox 360.

Your original question makes it sound like athiests are a buch of hypocritcal assholes, when in fact, Christmas has absolutely no religious meaning to a great number of people. You might as well ask a similar question of christians who celebrate Halloween. Guess what? Dressing up in costumes and getting candy has fuck all to do with satan. It's about dressing up and getting candy, period. Only the fucking nut jobs take it to the extreme and boycott Halloween because it's advocating evil.

I cannot fathom how anyone could ask this question and be serious.

[cadalano]

EVERYONE HAVE A CHRISTY CHRIST-MAS AND A CHRISTY NEW CHRIST CHRIST

[Funkmasterr]

Christmas is about exchanging presents and getting together with family and eating lots of food. I do not celebrate the birth of Jesus, instead I celebrate when my wife gets me an Xbox 360.

Your original question makes it sound like athiests are a buch of hypocritcal assholes, when in fact, Christmas has absolutely no religious meaning to a great number of people. You might as well ask a similar question of christians who celebrate Halloween. Guess what? Dressing up in costumes and getting candy has fuck all to do with satan. It's about dressing up and getting candy, period. Only the fucking nut jobs take it to the extreme and boycott Halloween because it's advocating evil.

I cannot fathom how anyone could ask this question and be serious.

Thanks for saving me some time typing, you hit it.

I don't believe in any of the fairytales you speak of, but I celebrate christmas as a time of giving and time to have fun and relax with your family. A big part of it is habbit, my parents both grew up in catholic households so of course it was rooted in religion originally but that doesn't have to have anything to do with it.

If I want to put a manorah (I know that isn't spelled right) up on my wall and light a fucking candle every night when I get home, I have every right to do that even though I don't believe in the jewish fairytales either.

[rhyae]

The Churchies stole the holiday from the Pagans who were celebrating winter solstice.
A good christian lady I work with asked me if my pagan friends put up christmas trees. She didn't think non-christians should have christmas trees.
I asked her where in the bible it says that you must run out and honor jesus with a sparkly lighted pine tree? Trees were part of the original yule/pagan tradition.

[Kryshade]

Christmas has absolutely no religious meaning to a great number of people. You might as well ask a similar question of christians who celebrate Halloween. Guess what? Dressing up in costumes and getting candy has fuck all to do with satan. It's about dressing up and getting candy, period.

Ok, I'll bite on this one. Christmas started as and to a great many people IS a religious holiday. The word alone CHRIST-mas points to the root of the holiday. Now I'll agree that for a lot of people it has no religious significance, and that really answers my question.

Saying you can celebrate Christmas if you want to and still be Athiest seems a bit contradictory though. You don't celebrate the day, you celebrate the time of year and the tradition behind it. My point being, you don't celebrate the reason the holiday started in the first place, thus in a sense, you DON'T celebrate Christmas. It's kind of akin to celebrating the 4th of July and being Russian... doesn't make much sense.

If I want to put a manorah (I know that isn't spelled right) up on my wall and light a fucking candle every night when I get home, I have every right to do that even though I don't believe in the jewish fairytales either.

Of course you have that freedom, but it would be rather assinine. That would be like me saying I'm not Wiccan, but I celebrate the Summer Solstice. Saying your not a certain religion and then celebrating perhaps one of the most important religious holidays of that religion seems backwards. I understand that many of us use that time of celebration as an excuse to do some celebrating, but in fact it has nothing to do with the holiday it's geared around.

My original question was do Athiests celebrate Christmas... the correct answer would seem to be no, but they do celebrate at the same time of year as others, and they do follow some of the same traditions.

So does the same thing apply for Easter? Do you hunt eggs and do the easter basket thing too? My guess would be yes, but my point remains the same.

Disclaimer: I'm in no way trying to harp on Atheists. I hope no one takes it that way because I'm very accepting of all beliefs. This was just a good time of year to bring this up. I could just as easily have started a thread on how Christianity is so mind-blowingly contradictive to itself.

[Funkmasterr]

Christmas has absolutely no religious meaning to a great number of people. You might as well ask a similar question of christians who celebrate Halloween. Guess what? Dressing up in costumes and getting candy has fuck all to do with satan. It's about dressing up and getting candy, period.

Ok, I'll bite on this one. Christmas started as and to a great many people IS a religious holiday. The word alone CHRIST-mas points to the root of the holiday. Now I'll agree that for a lot of people it has no religious significance, and that really answers my question.

Saying you can celebrate Christmas if you want to and still be Athiest seems a bit contradictory though. You don't celebrate the day, you celebrate the time of year and the tradition behind it. My point being, you don't celebrate the reason the holiday started in the first place, thus in a sense, you DON'T celebrate Christmas. It's kind of akin to celebrating the 4th of July and being Russian... doesn't make much sense.

If I want to put a manorah (I know that isn't spelled right) up on my wall and light a fucking candle every night when I get home, I have every right to do that even though I don't believe in the jewish fairytales either.

Of course you have that freedom, but it would be rather assinine. That would be like me saying I'm not Wiccan, but I celebrate the Summer Solstice. Saying your not a certain religion and then celebrating perhaps one of the most important religious holidays of that religion seems backwards. I understand that many of us use that time of celebration as an excuse to do some celebrating, but in fact it has nothing to do with the holiday it's geared around.

My original question was do Athiests celebrate Christmas... the correct answer would seem to be no, but they do celebrate at the same time of year as others, and they do follow some of the same traditions.

So does the same thing apply for Easter? Do you hunt eggs and do the easter basket thing too? My guess would be yes, but my point remains the same.

Disclaimer: I'm in no way trying to harp on Atheists. I hope no one takes it that way because I'm very accepting of all beliefs. This was just a good time of year to bring this up. I could just as easily have started a thread on how Christianity is so mind-blowingly contradictive to itself.

So being as christmas and multiple other "christian" holidays are basically stolen from other "religions", wouldn't that make the christians that celebrate a holiday for reasons that it weren't part of it's original creation just as hypocritical?

[rhyae]

Christmas started as a religious holiday.

OK
But it didn't.

[Boogahz]

Now it's time for some Bible Fun!!!

Deuteronomy 22:28
'If a man happens to meet a virgin woman who is not engaged to be married...'
Deuteronomy 22:28
'...And he seizes her and rapes her...'
Deuteronomy 22:28
'...but is caught in the act...'
Deuteronomy 22:29
'...the rapist must pay the girl's father fifty silver shekels.'
Deuteronomy 22:29
'She must marry the rapist, because he has violated her. And so long as he lives, he may not divorce her.'

Ahhh.... jesus. What was that about people only commiting to certain bible passages? Ah fuck it, too easy.

What does Jesus have to do with what you quoted?

[Truant]

Now it's time for some Bible Fun!!!

Deuteronomy 22:28
'If a man happens to meet a virgin woman who is not engaged to be married...'
Deuteronomy 22:28
'...And he seizes her and rapes her...'
Deuteronomy 22:28
'...but is caught in the act...'
Deuteronomy 22:29
'...the rapist must pay the girl's father fifty silver shekels.'
Deuteronomy 22:29
'She must marry the rapist, because he has violated her. And so long as he lives, he may not divorce her.'

Ahhh.... jesus. What was that about people only commiting to certain bible passages? Ah fuck it, too easy.

What does Jesus have to do with what you quoted?

Just to clarify. Deuteronomy was written by Moses as told to him by God, who is/was also Jesus according to non unitarian christans.

Christmas started as a religious holiday.

OK
But it didn't.

Well, it did...but not a christian holiday. The winter solstice had been celebrated by many religions long before the birth of christ. In fact, many pre-christian religions also have deities born on December 25. It was common place for a new religion to take important holidays from an existing religion it was trying to replace. This occurred multiple times with christianity. Note that christ's actual birthday is never recorded in the bible.


To say that a non christian getting together with their family on december 25 is hypocritical is kinda dumb. It's a national holiday, so it's stupid to expect people to NOT go and see their families. According to your definition, any non-believer who doesn't sit at home alone on december 25 is a contradiction. People getting together for dinner with their families and even exchanging gifts aren't celebrating christmas, and therefore are not contradicting. Because if you're talking about religion...going to church is the only way to celebrate christmas.

[Tyek]

anyone ever seen this website?

http://www.earlychristianwritings.com/

Some interesting reading there. Not a big religious person. Not sure I am an atheist, but bible thumpers bug the crap out of me.

[Leonaerd]

My point being, you don't celebrate the reason the holiday started in the first place, thus in a sense, you DON'T celebrate Christmas.

You're not celebrating anything related to religion when you get Season 3 of Entourage at your "Secret Santa" work gift exchange, either. As stated above, Christmas is celebrated in a religious sense in a church. Other than prayer amongst families and the unfortunate spelling of the holiday itself, religion barely has an impact on Christmas.

It's kind of akin to celebrating the 4th of July and being Russian... doesn't make much sense.

Russians escape the 4th of July festives entirely because, uh, they live in Russia. In America, Christmas tends to be a big deal. An atheist that spends the eve of a nationally recognized holiday with friends is not being hypocritical.

[Lynxe]

Getting caught up in the title "Christmas" also seems rather retarded to me. The meaning behind that word has evolved and doesn't have the same religious connotations to it for a large number of people. Q-Tip and Vasoline are brand names that have been around so long that people refer to the product with those names regardless of the manufacturer. The word "Christmas" has fallen into that same category.

To some, Christmas is a time to celebrate religious beliefs.
To others it is time off spent with your friends or family.
To my little boy, it is all about a fat white man in a red suit with magic reindeer and a big bag of toys.

Frankly, arguing over where it started won't change what it means now. Christ should be glad his name got pulled along for the ride - good advertising.

[Spankes]

Note that christ's actual birthday is never recorded in the bible.

His birth was during the census which occured in the spring (I think...maybe summer). It was most certainly not in the winter. The pope himself would tell you that christmas was moved to december in an effort to convert the pagans.

[Winnow]

Found elsewhere:

* Christmas is a PAGAN not a Christian festival.

* The 25th December was celebrated in ancient days as the birthday of the unconquerable SUN god, (variously know as Tammuz, Mithra, Saturn, Adonis or BAAL) centuries before Jesus Christ was born in Bethlehem.

* Nowhere in the Bible are believers in the God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob required to celebrate Christmas.

* The early Christian church did not celebrate Christmas. Instead it celebrated the sacred festivals mentioned in the Bible, in Leviticus chapter 23.

* In order to win Gentile converts to the Christian faith, the Roman Church, centuries after the apostolic era, adopted this ancient pagan winter festival of the SUN god and renamed it 'Christmas' mistakenly thinking that it would honour the SON of God.

* Scholars have for centuries known these facts. They can be confirmed in any reference library.

http://atschool.eduweb.co.uk/sbs777/vital/xmas.html

2. Authoritative Quatations
Now that we know that the Saviour was not born on the 25th December but in the autumn of the year, probably during the Week of Tabernacles, let us consider what various historians say about how the 25th December came to be celebrated as the Saviour's birth.

* "The festivals of Rome are innumerable; but five of the most important may be singled out for elucidation -viz., Christmas-day, Lady-day, Easter, the nativity of St. John, and the Feast of the Assumption. Each and all of these can be proved to be Babylonian." (The Two Babylons, by Alexander Hyslop, page 91)

* "... within the Christian Church no such festival as Christmas was ever heard of till the third century, and that not till the fourth century was far advanced did it gain much observance. How, then, did the Roman Church fix on December 25th as Christmas-day? Why, thus: Long before the fourth century, and long before the Christian era itself, a festival was celebrated among the heathen, at that precise time of the year, in honour of the birth of the son of the Babylonian queen of heaven; and it may fairly be presumed that in order to conciliate the heathen, and to swell the number of the nominal adherents of Christianity, the same festival was adopted by the Roman Church, giving it only the name of Christ. This tendency on the part of the Christians to meet Paganism half-way was very early developed ... Upright men strove to stem the tide, but in spite of all their efforts, the apostasy went on, till the Church, with the exception of a small remnant, was submerged under Pagan superstition. That Christmas was originally a Pagan festival, is beyond all doubt. The time of the year, the ceremonies with which it is still celebrated, prove its origin. In Egypt, the son of Isis, the Egyptian title for the queen of heaven, was born at this very time, 'about the time of the winter solstice.'" (Ibid. page 93)

* "Even where the sun was the favourite object of worship, as in Babylon itself and elsewhere, at this festival he was worshipped not merely as the orb of day, but as God incarnate. It was an essential principle of the Babylonian system, that the Sun or Baal was the one only God. When, therefore Tammuz was worshipped as God incarnate, that implied also that he was an incarnation of the Sun. In the Hindoo mythology, which is admitted to be essentially Babylonian, this comes out very distinctly. There, Surya, or the Sun, is represented as being incarnate, and born for the purpose of subduing the enemies of the gods, who, without such a birth, could not have been subdued.

"It was no mere astronomical festival, then, that the Pagans celebrated at the winter solstice. That festival at Rome was called the feast of Saturn, and the mode in which it was celebrated there, showed whence it had been derived. The feast as regulated by Caligula, lasted five days; loose reins were given to drunkenness and revelry, slaves had temporary emancipation and used all manner of freedoms with their masters. This was precisely the way in which, according to Berosus, the drunken festival of the month Thebeth, answering to our December, in other words , the festival of Bacchus, was celebrated in Babylon... The Christmas tree, now so common among us, was equally common in pagan Rome and pagan Egypt. In Egypt that tree was the palm-tree; in Rome it was the fir; the palm tree denoting the pagan Messiah, as Baal-Tamar, the fir referring to him as Baal-Berith." (Ibid. 96-97)

* "Christmas was not among the earliest festivals of the church ... the first evidence of the feast is from Egypt." (Catholic Encyclopaedia 1911 edition)

* "Christmas customs are an evolution from times that long antedated the Christmas period - a descent from seasonal, pagan, religious and national practices, hedged about with legend and tradition... In the beginning many of the earth's inhabitants were sun worshippers because the course of their lives depended on its yearly round in the heavens, and feasts were held at its return from distant wanderings. In the south of Europe, in Egypt and Persia the sun-gods were worshipped with elaborate ceremonies at the season of the winter solstice, as a fitting time to pay tribute to the god of plenty, while in Rome the Saturnalia reigned for a week...The exact day and year of Christ's birth have never been satisfactorily settled, but when the fathers of the church in A.D. 340 chose the day of the winter solstice which was firmly fixed in the minds of the people and which was their most important festival." (Encylopaedia Britannica article Christmas page 642)

* "In a famous letter to Augustine, Pope Gregory directs the great missionary to accommodate the ceremonies of the Christian worship as much as possible to those of the heathen, that the people might not be startled at the change, and in particular the Pope advised Augustine to allow converts to kill and eat at the Christmas festival a great number of oxen to the glory of God, as they had formerly done to the Devil." (The Story of Christmas by Michael Harrison, page 28)

* "It is nevertheless almost certain that the 25th of December cannot be the nativity of the Saviour, for it is then the height of the rainy season in Judaea, and shepherds could hardly be watching their flocks by night in the plains ... Not casually or arbitrarily was the festival of the nativity celebrated on the 25th of December. One of the principal causes that co-operated in fixing this period was that almost all the heathen nations regarded the winter solstice as the turning point of the year - the beginning of the renewed life and activity of the powers of nature, and of the gods who were merely the symbolic personifications of these. In more northern countries this fact must have made itself peculiarly palpable - hence the Celts and Germans, from the oldest times, celebrated the season with the greatest festivities. At the winter solstice the Norsemen held their great Yule-feast in commemoration of the fiery sun-wheel, and believed that during the twelve nights from the 25th December to the 6th January they could trace the personal movements and interferences on earth of their great deities, Odin, Beretha, etc. Many of the beliefs and usages of the old Germans, and also of the Romans, relating to this period, passed over from heathenism to Christianity, and have partly survived to the present day." (Chambers Encyclopaedia 1908 Edition Vol.111 page 222, article Christmas)

* "There is no authoritative tradition as to the day or month of Christ's birth ... The winter solstice was regarded as the birthday of the sun and at Rome a pagan festival of the nativity of 'sol invictus' was introduced by the Emperor Aurelian on 25th December 274. The church, unable to stamp out this popular festival, spiritualised it as the feast of the Nativity of the Sun of Righteousness. When Christianity spread northwards it encountered a similar pagan festival also held at the winter solstice - the great Yule feast of the Norsemen. Once again Christmas absorbed heathen customs. From the various sources came the Yule log, the Christmas tree introduced into England from Germany and first mentioned in 1789." (Chambers Encyclopaedia 1970, page 538, article Christmas)

Pause a while and consider the stunning truths you have just read. Here are famous scholars and historians revealing amazing facts:

* That each year on the 25th December the pagans held a festival in honour of the SUN god.
* And that centuries after the Saviour's birth in Bethlehem this selfsame festival of the SUN god was adopted by the Christian Church, given the name Christmas and thereafter celebrated as the birthday of the SON OF GOD!

These are truly eye-opening facts. Remember them.

No animal shelter cats were sacrificed while posting this.

[rhyae]

No animal shelter cats were sacrificed while posting this.

[Arborealus]

Remember the reason for the season...

Annual Retail Profit Margins!

[rhyae]

Great song by Emerald Rose
goes with this topic

Oh, Santa Claus is Pagan too, just like all the rest
And if you are a merry witch he`ll bring you all the best
So get that star up on the roof, and bake those cookies, too
For Christmas-time is really Yule, and Santa`s Pagan too!

Hes got that Buddha belly and his top`s the Holly King
You dressed him in that British coat, the cap`s a Nordic thing
You took the horns right off his head and stuck them on his deer
But he still flies high like Jupiter with a belly-full of beer!

Oh, Santa Claus is Pagan too, just like all the rest
And if you are a merry witch he`ll bring you all the best
So get that star up on the roof, and bake those cookies, too
For Christmas-time is really Yule, and Santa`s Pagan too!

Now history says Christ was likely not a Capricorn
But if you want to share the Yule, we don`t care when he's born
Come join the celebration of the Sun King`s bright rebirth
And if you practice what you preach, we`ll all have peace on Earth!

Oh, Santa Claus is Pagan too, just like all the rest
And if you are a merry witch he`ll bring you all the best
So get that star up on the roof, and bake those cookies, too
For Christmas-time is really Yule, and Santa`s Pagan too!

Now Santa`s way more jolly than most Christians might require
And if he weren`t so busy he'd be dancing `round the fire
Yeah, you can call it Christmas `cause you got us way out-gunned
But just you wait till Beltane, then we`ll see who`s having fun!

Oh, Santa Claus is Pagan too, just like all the rest
And if you are a merry witch he`ll bring you all the best
So get that star up on the roof, and bake those cookies, too
For Christmas-time is really Yule, and Santa`s Pagan too!

[Lalanae]

I'm an atheist and I celebrate Christmas. Just like the celebration's early pagan origins were lost by Christians, its Christian "revampings" have been now also been lost. All the activities we do for Christmas have nothing to do with Christ.

[Thess]

I'm an athiest who celebrates Christmas as well. It's more about tradition as well as giving and receiving gifts. We also spend a night celebrating Chanukah! My parents were both brought up christians, but are now athiests, and they raised all their kids to decide for themselves, I'm relatively sure all my brothers and sisters are athiests.

[Noysyrump]

Christmas?

Im putting up my Festivas pole right now!

[Forthe]

I do not believe in God but I believe in Santa Claus!

[Nick]

I've never believed in god, my family is atheist, christmas is a time for eating a big fuck off meal and giving each other presents. It has, for me, precisely fuck all to do with religion.

The winter solstice celebration was around a long time before christianity decided to muscle in on the event.

[cadalano]

there we go.

[Xouqoa]

I think Christmas has devolved into a commercial holiday more than anything else. That may have been said already, I didn't RTFT. I'm Agnostic, but I think Christmas is swell.

[Jarori Bloodletter]

Christmas?

Im putting up my Festivas pole right now!

Festivas for the rest of us!

Now who wants to do the feats of strengh?

[Spang]

Do Atheist's Celebrate Christmas?

Not in the middle of fucking February.