I like Christmas. All the lights , people in a good mood and paid day off. My boss doesn't expect as much for me and everyone is slacking off. Partying, gifts and decorations. I'm an atheist

OP's argument: I know an atheist who celebrates Christmas so all atheists must celebrate Christmas so they accept a Christian holiday so they must hate Christians so they must be hypocrites.

Don't see my logic? That's the point.

I don't celebrate Christmas, I celebrate holiday.
Somehow I get the feeling you included such people in this.

And atheists don't hate Christians. If I had to guess, it's the other way around more often.

Besides, christianity can't really be considered one religion anymore, can it? Give me any Christian statement and I can probably name a Christian who disagrees. The 2 extremes of Christianity only have a name in common I'd say.

My point: I don't hate any of them. Hating all Christians is like hating all pagans in 4000 B.C.;

You hate pretty much every type of human.

Christianity is just a tradition, no hard feelings to those who were born in the wrong (by lack of a better word, I don't mean to be hostile) place and listened too well (by lack of a better word, see above) and are now Christians.

Xmas day Super-Troll ...... is no day sacresanct ??

+1 steephie: wiser words haven't been spoken in a long time.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P8Aq00yJSxo

"Xmas day Super-Troll ...... is no day sacresanct ??"

Hello, welcome to the Internet...you must be new here...

You know bits Christmas when obi makes a short post

I am an atheist. I do not hate Christians, or anyone of faith for that matter. I do not begrudge anyone their faith. What I do not tolerate, however, is being spoken down to or belittled for my lack of faith. At that point, in my mind, a person ceases to be a Christian, Muslim, Jew, Hindu, Buddhist, etc and is simply an asshole. I have no compunction about hating assholes.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fCNvZqpa-7Q

Tim Minchin says it better than I can.

I will pray for all of you

http://www.fingerlakes1.com/temporary/senecafalls121406.jpg

fleas navidog

I would hardly call Christmas a Christian Holiday. Most of the traditions, and even the date, can easily be traced back to Pagans well before the birth of Christ. The reality is it's just convenient for people to celebrate holidays at the same time, even if they're celebrating slightly different things.

Yep, Abge... and please show me scripture foretelling the coming of the Easter Bunny...

I completely agree with what rojimy said. I actually do tolerate it in a sense though, but I pretty much only treat people on their behaviour towards other people/creatures (I don't care if you pray 100 times a day (although ideally I'd see people actually helping the world or themselves in a good way instead of praying, but hey, it's not the worst quirk out there) as long as you don't keep me waiting when we agreed to meet or something) and treat it as such

Just because OP confuses all christians with assholes doesn't mean I hate christians.

Oh, by the way, I think I'm not even an atheist, but some might disagree. I am deeply religious, but I don't claim to know the truth and I definitely don't claim anyone else knows it.

+1 steephie...thanks for the vote of confidence.

+1 Mendax, my favorite christmas-related song.

This xmas day trololol brought to you by: President Eden.

Why does everyone think Christmas is a christian tradition? It's an ancient Roman sun god feast day Christianity annexed so all the people in Rome wouldn't lose their shit when Christianity started getting bigger and threatened to convert the world. Essentially, the Romans couldn't give a shit which religion was in charge, so long as they could still have their huge parties. Same thing is happening today; Christianity is losing its place as the dominant religion, but everyone wants to keep their yearly party, so they made up some shit about Santa and giving so everyone could enjoy without being Christian.

I can't believe this actually worked.

Who so this atheism? Is he knew?

"I can't believe this actually worked."

Me neither.

good contribution steephie
& shocktrooper raises one of those "inconvenient facts from history"
( Christmas is simply a "rebadged" pagan Roman festival, Saturnalia, as I recall. )

The Atheist in my family attended Christmas lunch and perhaps out of deference to my Mother, (his Mother in Law, & fear of his wife, my sister ha ha ) he sat quietly whilst Mother said a christian grace.

So the wildly innacurate claim of Pres Eden, that Atheists "hate christians" is amply demonstrated to be just that, wildly innacurate
falsum (in) uno, falsum (in) omnibus
please excuse my dodgy Latin

since we are "greedy & decadent rich westerners" this year we gave, via reputable charity organisation, to impoverished, but no doubt spiritually pure persons in Africa
the following:
1 fresh water for a family
2 mosquito nets for two families
( see how we persecute them with our western sciences, technology & wealth.
God will protect them from disease, IF THEY ARE WORTHY--yeah right, after millenia of failing to act, He's sudenly going to come good on that one ho ho ho )
3 a piglet to the family ( a female piglet to rasie to a Sow to then produce more piglets )

I'm responsible for the piglet.

Naturally we made NO STIPULATION that our gifts should only be given to persons with spiritual beliefs of which we approved, so tar & feather us for being so careless
& apologies to NO ONE who believes that Charity should ONLY BE GIVEN TO THE DESERVING POOR who hold APPROVED religious beliefs

I might be mistaken,
but going on what the media gives attention to,
in the lead up to Christmas & during the festive season,
and human behaviour during this period it should be obvious
that the "REASON for the SEASON"
is CRASS COMMERCIALISM & CONSUMPTION

I must be losing it in my doddery old age, what the f*** would I know ?
I"m stupid enough to think the purpose of life in this temporal world is found in service to one's global community that includes all living species and the lands, seas rivers & lakes etc. What a heresy to think that self interest or the worship of some illogical but omnipotent & omniescent deity in the form of some gaseous invertebrate with Paternalistic philosophies should be of lesser value than service to others.
Narcissism is the religion of the old & new rightwingers, how dare I fail to worship at that altar ?

I'm starting to think I could make an OP titled "Liberals are all baby-raping nihilist murderers" and get at least one serious response...

@PE
You would get at least two serious responses: one decrying your post and one applauding it.

"Why does everyone think Christmas is a christian tradition? It's an ancient Roman sun god feast day Christianity annexed so all the people in Rome wouldn't lose their shit when Christianity started getting bigger and threatened to convert the world. Essentially, the Romans couldn't give a shit which religion was in charge, so long as they could still have their huge parties. Same thing is happening today; Christianity is losing its place as the dominant religion, but everyone wants to keep their yearly party, so they made up some shit about Santa and giving so everyone could enjoy without being Christian."

When you're right, you're right.

When Christians tell me Christmas is a Christian holiday, I tell them I'll make a deal with them: they can keep the Christian elements, and I'll take the pagan or pre-Christian ones.
I get the tree, presents, lights, Santa Claus, wassailing, and feasting. They get the carols, the name, the church service, and the nativity scene. Sounds like a fair trade.

Actually, the Christians get to keep the presents too as it is an extension fo the Jewish tradition of gift giving at Hannukah.

But I'd just as soon lose the presents and let you keep them. I could take that deal. I wouldn't have to decorate the fucking house or waste money on gifts that people will either exchange or toss in a closet and I could do without dragging that fucking trip up and down from the basement every fucking year...

A single star lit over my roof with a nativity inside the house would do me just fine.

Oh, and wassailing, in most parts of the world, is caroling. So how you are going to wassail without any music, I don't know.

@Draug,
Wassailing *now* is caroling. But wassailing in the Medieval period up through Elizabethan times was an expectation that feudal lords would open up their manors to feasting, drinking, and general destructive merriment. You can have the caroling if I can have a big old kegger.

Did you guys know that Saint Nicholas (the real one) punched a guy in the nose because of a heresy? Go Santa!

What's are "atheisms"? Does that qualify as a serous response?

But we don't have feudal lords...

@ZaZ - It is also rumored he could magically teleport and be nearly everywhere at once. Don't believe everything legend says.

@Draug,
I'd say our bosses are the modern equivalent. So... basically... office Christmas parties.

Hmm. Perhaps I'll re-think volunteering to take that aspect.

My boss doesn't own the company, does yours? Unless we are going to go trash Obama's place or Bill Gate's house, I'd say there is nothing even close to a feudal lord. Maybe I could go crash John Boehner's place around the corner from the house I grew up in, but my mom might disown me seeing as my parents are still good friends with him.

Yeah, Draug. I think it was Bonifacious who saw a picture of the virgin Mary squirt breast milk on his eye. Pervert, spiritual hero, or a legend? We may never know...

And how would you handle the situation, even in a privately owned company, of an owner who was a Christian and therefore no longer obligated under the pagan wassail tradition?

I think you mean St. Bernard of Clairvaux. He is the one of legend receiving Mary's breast milk from a painting in the 12th century.

Jeez, I dunno, man, I'm not proposing this as something we should actually do, just making the point that there's a lot of non-Christian stuff about this ostensibly Christian holiday.

I know. I was just having fun with ya, hecks. :-)

And I've always considered Christmas to be a catch all for the Winter Solstice, where peace on Earth and good will towards man(kind) wasn't something angels said to shepherds, but something we should all strive for every day of the year.

Oh yeah, he started the monastery there in Clairvaux. Now I remember. Is that where we get the word Clairvoyance? I think clairvaux meant light.

Hey, I had to google it and find the wiki on him, so I couldn't say, ZaZ.

Maybe St. Danny of Bonaduce can bless us with a stoner party every Boxing Day.