How do Atheists celebrate Christmas?

Min

Do you do any Christian stuff like the presents, Santa Claus - St Nicholas with the children, Christmas is about the family, families come together at Christmas and the original Christmas family was the holy family.
Just wondering as some here are very anti Christian and/or very anti Catholic, just wondering if these people would rather be at work rather than having time off for a Christian feast?

Richard Dawkins said he was wrong to allow his daughter believe in Santa Claus, probably when he found out Santa is based on a Catholic bishop from Tyra in Turkey...
So what do the AH Atheists do for Christmas?

Insect Overlord

Presents.
Food.
Family.
Friends.
Music.
Drink.

It's awesome. No need to get up early for mass.

krudler

Eat sweets, get drunk and watch Die Hard.

OctavarIan

Min wrote: »

Do you do any Christian stuff like the presents, Santa Claus - St Nicholas with the children, Christmas is about the family

Pretty much this. It's an end of year holiday when the family gets together and has some craic. Any religious undertones are pretty much irrelevant.

jill_valentine

I eat, drink and be merry with the people I love, without any of the pointless downsides. Win.

downwithpeace

Have a good time with the family or friends.

Da Shins Kelly

Stuff my face and drink myself into a coma. It's wonderful.

krudler

Also many non-Christian cultures do the gift giving thing, I look forward to Annual Gift Man's visit from the moon every year.

Min

krudler wrote: »

Also many non-Christian cultures do the gift giving thing, I look forward to Annual Gift Man's visit from the moon every year.

http://www.whychristmas.com/customs/presents.shtml

It seems the presents are either opened on the feast day of St Nicholas, the birth of Jesus, or when the three wise men brought the gifts to Jesus on the Epiphany.

amorphous

Min wrote: »

Do you do any Christian stuff like the presents, Santa Claus - St Nicholas with the children, Christmas is about the family, families come together at Christmas and the original Christmas family was the holy family.
Just wondering as some here are very anti Christian and/or very anti Catholic, just wondering if these people would rather be at work rather than having time off for a Christian feast?

Richard Dawkins said he was wrong to allow his daughter believe in Santa Claus, probably when he found out Santa is based on a Catholic bishop from Tyra in Turkey...
So what do the AH Atheists do for Christmas?

It's not xmas it's YULETIDE!

shruikan2553

Do the same stuff as any christian except mass. Replace mass with sleeping/eating/drinking or some other fun activity

ElvisChrist6

Despite being an atheist, growing up in a Catholic household and Catholic Ireland has made me a cultural Catholic in a lot of ways. I don't believe in the things they teach and believe (I'm not "pro-life", support the gays and that), but I still have a lot of Catholic tendencies. A semi-respect for priests, sorta celebrate the holidays... not that much though, just because I'm not the type to. And most importantly, the good old Catholic racism!

4zn76tysfajdxp

Min wrote: »

Do you do any Christian stuff like the presents

Christians invented presents.

amorphous

Min wrote: »

Do you do any Christian stuff like the presents, Santa Claus - St Nicholas with the children, Christmas is about the family, families come together at Christmas and the original Christmas family was the holy family.
Just wondering as some here are very anti Christian and/or very anti Catholic, just wondering if these people would rather be at work rather than having time off for a Christian feast?

Richard Dawkins said he was wrong to allow his daughter believe in Santa Claus, probably when he found out Santa is based on a Catholic bishop from Tyra in Turkey...
So what do the AH Atheists do for Christmas?

Santa is based on Odin

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Santa_Claus#Germanic_paganism.2C_Odin.2C_and_Christianization

strobe

Imagine the way your average Christian celebrates Christmas, then subtract the 30 mins they stand in church wishing they weren't there... Boom! Atheist Christmas!

Just Like Heaven

I do exactly what a Christian does except instead of waking up early and going to mass I eat a selection box in bed.

Zomg Okay

I celebrate Christmas like any religious person, minus the mass and the getting up early thing.

CianRyan

God is bollocks, A.G.E.D. (Annual Gift Exchanging Day) Is deadly.

Jackobyte

Min wrote: »

Do you do any Christian stuff like the presents, Santa Claus - St Nicholas with the children, Christmas is about the family, families come together at Christmas and the original Christmas family was the holy family.

just wondering if these people would rather be at work rather than having time off for a Christian feast?

You said it yourself, Christmas is about family. Religion has little significance to it at this stage. It is more of a celebration of consumerism that anything religious imo.

I know I'll be doing the same as pretty much everyone else in the country tomorrow, bar the mass.

LETS BE AVN IT

Xmas is just an event , not many people think of it as a religious thing anymore just a well organised mass advertised event. It's good for humans to have something to look forward to every year regardless if you believe in Jesus.

Holsten

Insect Overlord wrote: »

Presents.
Food.
Family.
Friends.
Music.
Drink.

It's awesome. No need to get up early for mass.

]

Exactly this, well similar enough.

All the fun of Christmas but none of the boring as crap that the religious aspect brings to it.

ShooterSF

Op's next thread - How does a largely Catholic country have such low birthrates and such high sales of contraceptives?

fearcruach

Considering Christmas is founded on a pagan holiday then maybe the question is how Christians celebrate a pagan festival? Or we could all just enjoy a great time of year irrespective of the background reasons.

kneemos

Don't know which I hate more,atheists or catholicism.

IceFjoem

Chicken and jam.

BorisBecker

we cry about the fact that if we pray we are doing it ironically. then often i think about going on the internet and telling ppl how much better i am than them, only sometimes though. also, we do the aethiest dance.. its pretty much safety dance but nowhere near as funky

Pilotdude5

I wish religionists took off their stabilizers and balance their bike of life themselves. At the end of the day Religion is just mollycoddling.

BorisBecker

Pilotdude5 wrote: »

I wish religionists took off their stabilizers and balance their bike of life themselves. At the end of the day Religion is just mollycoddling.

BIG WORDS. BIG OPINIONS. THERE IS A DEARTH OF GUFF IN THIS POST. LIFE - ITS A FACKIN BIKE

Lyaiera

My whole family is atheist but we still go to mass for some reason. I think my mother kept up the pretense until her mother died. Yet Christmas day is the only non-funeral/wedding/etc day we all go to mass. I think my father goes for it on a very strong cultural catholic thing. Not that he's in agreement with many of the Catholic fundamentals, but that it's historically significant for much of the western world (at least Christianity is.) We usually just sit in the church waiting until it reaches tipping point and whoever drove is willing to drive us all home again. And that's generally after Jesus does his stuff and feeds himself to everyone else.

DEFTLEFTHAND

Richard Dawkins casted doubt on Jesus Christ's existence in the God Delusion. Professor John Lennox corrected him on early recorded history and Dawkins himself admitted that Christ did most likely exist.

What I find on here is that too many young people take Dawkins or that guy who killed himself by chain smoking too seriously. Free up your mind and be open.

BorisBecker

DEFTLEFTHAND wrote: »

Richard Dawkins casted doubt on Jesus Christ's existence in the God Delusion. Professor John Lennox corrected him on early recorded history and Dawkins himself admitted that Christ did most likely exist.

What I find on here is that too many young people take Dawkins or that guy who killed himself by chain smoking too seriously. Free up your mind and be open.

yeppers. also use logic and facts and science to help guide yourself. also nature.

Christianity is a faith based on lies. if you dont like that, fine, but you will literally get smothered by facts that will completely squash any grounding in reality that your belief has.

Namlub

DEFTLEFTHAND wrote: »

Richard Dawkins casted doubt on Jesus Christ's existence in the God Delusion. Professor John Lennox corrected him on early recorded history and Dawkins himself admitted that Christ did most likely exist.

Are you a bit confused on the difference between Jesus and God?

I'm guessing most of us still posting here at this stage aren't particularly Christian, so we know how to do it best.

Namlub

Namlub wrote: »

Are you a bit confused on the difference between Jesus and God?

They're the same thing no? Them and the Holy Ghost.

DEFTLEFTHAND

Namlub wrote: »

Are you a bit confused on the difference between Jesus and God?

No I'm just pointing out that most historians agree that this Jesus character did most likely exist. Dawkins tried to deny this in is book.

BorisBecker

Min wrote: »

families come together at Christmas and the original Christmas family was the holy family.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Winter_Solstice_Celebrations

its been going on for ages would you believe. how dare you disrespect all the people that existed and celebrated this event before the time of christianity. their lives meant just as much as yours

BorisBecker

DEFTLEFTHAND wrote: »

No I'm just pointing out that most historians agree that this Jesus character did most likely exist. Dawkins tried to deny this in is book.

and dawkins is the leader of aethiesm, just as much as Jesse Jackson is the leader of black people

im invisible

kneemos wrote: »

Don't know which I hate more,atheists or catholicism.

<xkcd>

Tipsy McSwagger

BorisBecker wrote: »

and dawkins is the leader of aethiesm, just as much as Jesse Jackson is the leader of black people

And Jackie Chan is the leader of Chinese people
And Arnold Schwarzenegger is the leader of bodybuilders
And Gok Wan is the leader of gays

BorisBecker

Tipsy McSwagger wrote: »

And Jackie Chan is the leader of Chinese people
And Arnold Schwarzenegger is the leader of bodybuilders
And Gok Wan is the leader of gays

and He-Man is our leader

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eh7lp9umG2I

IM0

how do atheists celebrate christmas

theres a christmas cracker joke in there somewhere..

Why do Christians celebrate his birth on the wrong day? Even the pope said he was born in BC. Hardly on the same date.

Wabbit Ears

and I say hay yey yea.. do di do.. stuck in my tiny frickin mind...

I is athiest and celebrate St Nicholas day on the 6th, Christmas eve with fish and barszcz and christmass with turkey... all awesomes. None require any christian belief at all..(in fact the irony of the OP's lack of knowledge of these festivals origins is funny)

Micky Dolenz

There is a whole Atheist forum.

Go ask there.