Filthy atheists stealing our Christmas

Bannasidhe

Mr_A wrote: »

It's the Messiah!



Lead us oh great one!

Mother says I am not the Messiah - I am a very naughty girl.

Mr_A

You are the Messiah! I should know, I've followed a few!

Mr_A

And only the true Messiah would deny it!

BTW, has anyone noticed that the Bannasidhemas ads seem to come earlier every year?

Paramite Pie

MagicMarker wrote: »

Say Merry Xmas.

Interesting that no one has mentioned that 'Xmas' is a well established Christian term not a secular one.

The common claim by Christians that Xmas is an attempt by secularists to remove 'Christ' from Christmas is not true, as the usage of X as a symbol of Christ first appears over 1000yrs ago and was used alot on Christian Art.

The eponymous 'X' comes from the first letter of the Greek word Χριστός which is the Greek for Christ, pronounced Christos. Terms like X'tianity start appearing by 1634 by well educated people who knew their Greek well. By 1755 the modern X'mas was being used, more commonly than it is now.

So to bring this back to the original post, it really bothers me when Christians lash out at people who use the term Xmas as an attack on "their" holiday.

However, I also enjoy the irony of my fellow Atheists who insist on using Xmas as opposed to Christmas when trying to avoid religious connotations. To those guys I simply say "FAIL!!":P

Sarky

Yellow121 wrote: »

We all celebrate christmas because it's what we grew up doing and it's what everyone else does. It's fun, it's hypocritical but still fun.

Dude, you can let go of the hypocrisy thing. You've nothing to feel guilty about.

davidfitz22

I am an atheist and Chrimbo doesn't bother me, in fact I enjoy it for what it is not for what it represents, a holiday with nice food and gifts. good tv and chocolate...roll on Christmas I say.

Turtwig

Paramite Pie wrote: »

Interesting that no one has mentioned that 'Xmas' is a well established Christian term not a secular one.

The common claim by Christians that Xmas is an attempt by secularists to remove 'Christ' from Christmas is not true, as the usage of X as a symbol of Christ first appears over 1000yrs ago and was used alot on Christian Art.

The eponymous 'X' comes from the first letter of the Greek word Χριστός which is the Greek for Christ, pronounced Christos. Terms like X'tianity start appearing by 1634 by well educated people who knew their Greek well. By 1755 the modern X'mas was being used, more commonly than it is now.

So to bring this back to the original post, it really bothers me when Christians lash out at people who use the term Xmas as an attack on "their" holiday.

However, I also enjoy the irony of my fellow Atheists who insist on using Xmas as opposed to Christmas when trying to avoid religious connotations. To those guys I simply say "FAIL!!":P

They're probably sick of me mentioning it every year. (Although I do it through [latex]LaTeX[/latex])
[latex]Merry\; \chi mas![/latex]

jonerkinsella

:mad:I celebrate the mid winter festival.. that the bloody christians stole

Pherekydes

Paramite Pie wrote: »

However, I also enjoy the irony of my fellow Atheists who insist on using Xmas as opposed to Christmas when trying to avoid religious connotations. To those guys I simply say "FAIL!!":P

The real fail is pronouncing it ecks-mas.

Anyways, shouldn't the thread title be changed to "Filthy Christians stealing our mid-winter festival"?

Sarky

Pherekydes wrote: »

The real fail is pronouncing it ecks-mas.

I like that pronunciation. Sounds sexy, hints of ninjas and explosions. But then again I view everything to do with winter festivities through the lens of Die Hard.

Turtwig

Sarky wrote: »

I like that pronunciation. Sounds sexy, hints of ninjas and explosions. But then again I view everything to do with winter festivities through the lens of Die Hard.

:pac:

Piliger

davidfitz22 wrote: »

I am an atheist and Chrimbo doesn't bother me, in fact I enjoy it for what it is not for what it represents, a holiday with nice food and gifts. good tv and chocolate...roll on Christmas I say.

I agree 100%. Catholics stole Christmas ... so I steal it back. It's a season of goodwill and the best holiday of the year and a time for being with friends and giving a nice present to people that matter.

Atheists have no need to change the name or deny the event. No need at all imho.

ScumLord

I was only thinking about Christmas the other day and how it's really just a great example of humans making the best of a bad situation for probably the last 10,000 years.

It's the hardest time of the year for any living thing and while every other living creature see's it as a tribulation they have to survive through, we've always turned it into a magical time of year that we enjoy even in the face of adversity.

It is very much a human holiday, it's a time of year that every human celebrates regardless of religion or location, the height of winter comes at different times but it seems the reaction is always the same from people. It's basically along the lines of "in your face nature!"

Christmas is just the current label we've put on that event.

Piliger

ScumLord wrote: »

Christmas is just the current label we've put on that event.

Yep. Jeez if we didn't have Christmas in the middle of bleak winter I think we would got nuts. It's also so much better than summer holidays. People do too much in summer. The day they get off work they head off on trips .. and then back to work on return. At Christmas most people just chill and visit each other and party.

Us Atheists should chill with the Christmas thing and just sidetrack it away from its religious nonsense for your own pleasure

Brian Shanahan

Piliger wrote: »

Yep. Jeez if we didn't have Christmas in the middle of bleak winter I think we would got nuts.

Or turn Finnish.

Hotblack Desiato

Jernal wrote: »

Although I do it through [latex]LaTeX[/latex]

Most people say they'd enjoy it more not doing it through latex, but you can't be too careful these days eh.

Bannasidhe

ninja900 wrote: »

Most people say they'd enjoy it more not doing it through latex, but you can't be too careful these days eh.

Wear latex too often and it can cause allergies.

J C

ninja900 wrote: »

It's no harm - increasingly disordered states are thermodynamically inevitable.

Quite true ... and that's what makes the Flying Spaghetti Monster such a poor rival concept to God.

J C

Yellow121 wrote: »

I don't believe in jesus but I celebrate Christmas. It is a bit hypocritical if we're being honest.

I don't think it is hypocritical to celebrate with other people ... even if you don't share their beliefs.

lazygal

J C wrote: »

Quite true ... and that's what makes the Flying Spaghetti Monster such a poor rival concept to God.

Meh. They're both fictional characters.

J C

Bannasidhe wrote: »

Mother says I am not the Messiah - I am a very naughty girl.

... and are you actually?:):eek:

Bannasidhe wrote: »

Wear latex too often and it can cause allergies.

Your secret is safe with me!!!;)

Bannasidhe

J C wrote: »

... and are you actually?:):eek:

Your secret is safe with me!!!;)

Yes.

It's hardly a secret - even my mother knows.

J C

Bannasidhe wrote: »

Yes.

It's hardly a secret - even my mother knows.

Fair enough.;)

SpaceTime

Well there are two separate things going on here. Christmas is a christian festival, but it basically was deliberately merged with existing pagan festivals to give us what we now know as 'xmas'.

Christian religions were very adept at borrowing pagan festivals and trying to impose christian meanings on them.

Despite huge effort by various churches, Halloween keeps coming back stronger than ever though lol.

Having a huge feast and decorating pine trees with lights and eating all sorts of rich preserved foods like fruit cakes doesn't really sound very like something that would have originated in the middle east or in christian origins to me ...

It has a very strong whiff of a pagan winter festival to me and it's quite odd that it almost exactly coincides with the winter equinox ... Hmm.. call me suspicious but.. pagans.. festivals.. trees .. bright lights.. alcohol .. singing / dancing at winter equinox ... Not sure if that sounds all that Christian to me.

For most people in reality we're celebrating Santa Claus who was also somewhat christianised as Saint Nicolas when the tradition of an old guy bringing kids presents around the winter equinox time goes back way before that. It existed in many european cultures and continues in the Basque Country as Olentzero to this day - a mythical character comes down from the mountains giving presents...

The main thing is that it's a big festival where everyone's really nice to each other and gives each other presents and socialises in the darkest depths of winter.

Whatever it's meaning to you, the big old pagan (festival of many names) or christian Christmas winter festival serves a very important social purpose and gets us through the darkest part of winter with something fun to look forward to.

It serves a huge human need!

Bannasidhe

SpaceTime wrote: »

It serves a huge human need!

To see Dr Who save London. Again.

SpaceTime

Bannasidhe wrote: »

To see Dr Who save London. Again.

Not to mention Charlie and the Chocolate factory (original version)... Can only be watched with a roaring fire, xmas tree on full bling setting and after several glasses of wine/beer/whatever your tipple is and xmas cake!

Brian Shanahan

SpaceTime wrote: »

Not to mention Charlie and the Chocolate factory (original version)... Can only be watched with a roaring fire, xmas tree on full bling setting and after several glasses of wine/beer/whatever your tipple is and xmas cake!

Or Steve McQueen jumping the fence.

Hotblack Desiato

Or sh1tty titty gang bang Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

Bannasidhe

ninja900 wrote: »

Or sh1tty titty gang bang Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

It's A Wonderful Life




Abandons coat and sprints for door.

Hotblack Desiato

Fur coat and no knickers :pac: