Christmas

[mulreay]

Shall we bow down to the masses or shall we except that 'Christmas' is the way forward. I for one will NEVER stop celebrating Christmas.

[ajb]

Shall we bow down to the masses...

 

What masses?

 

or shall we except that 'Christmas' is the way forward. I for one will NEVER stop celebrating Christmas.

 

So, how do you celebrate Christmas? You say prays and go to midnight mass?

 

I personally would be very happy to disassociate a winter festival with Christianity.

[mulreay]

What masses?

 

 

 

So, how do you celebrate Christmas? You say prays and go to midnight mass?

 

I personally would be very happy to disassociate a winter festival with Christianity.

 

Your acting as anyone who is defending a belief would. Be it Christianity or not.

[ydoaPs]

Shall we bow down to the masses or shall we except that 'Christmas' is the way forward. I for one will NEVER stop celebrating Christmas.

The masses are trying to make you top celebrating Christmas?

 

I personally would be very happy to disassociate a winter festival with Christianity.

I don't really care that Christians celebrate pagan holidays.

[ajb]

Your acting as anyone who is defending a belief would. Be it Christianity or not.

 

I am not defending any faith. I am quite anti-religion in truth.

 

Anyway, I still put it to you, who is trying to stop you celebrate Christmas? Who are these masses?

[Sisyphus]

"The way forward?"

[mulreay]

By 'Masses' I meant exactly what it means

'Public celebration of the Eucharist in the Roman Catholic Church and some Protestant churches'. or 'The Eucharist, also called Holy Communion'.

You seem to have mistaken my meaning... I know that Christmas is a pagan holiday and that it is part of the winter festivals. But you seem to have forgotten that this was taken by the 'masses' and made there own.

 

I say I think 'Christmas' should be kept even if religion is not followed. I thought you would all follow that train of thought. But may be not...

[Cap'n Refsmmat]

Which "Christmas" should be kept, the pagan version of the Christian/Catholic version?

[ydoaPs]

Which "Christmas" should be kept, the pagan version of[sic] the Christian/Catholic version?

Perhaps the commercial version instead.

[A Tripolation]

I quite like the commmercialization of it. My room is quite pretty with its lights. And seasonal candles smell amazing.

[ajb]

Here in the UK we get reports of local councils and Muslim groups wanting to "cancel Christmas", rename it "Winterfest" and so on. These reports are almost inevitably vastly blown out of proportion. I see no organised mass revolt over Christmas.

 

If anything the only people that are having a big effect on Christmas this year are the banks and the government via its spending review & cuts. The trees will be smaller and the presents fewer this year

[pioneer]

The Roman Catholic Church was an amalgom of Rome and Christianity. The winter festival becoming Christmas was part of the amalgom, being a little bit of both worlds, so they would merge.

 

A winter festival is one last effort to have a light heart before the needs of old man winter comes. The birth of a child brings added joy and hope to the entire family, to warm the cold winter heart, which will soon be bogged down with winter's needs and worries.

 

I am not sure why the idea of a positive spirit of hope and giving, centered on the birth of a child and extrapolated into the kind old man (winter; north pole) who gives joyfully to all the children, rubs humbugs the wrong way. The Christmas tree is an evergreen, green like spring and summer all the time.

 

It is not religion but the secular that turned the lightness of Christmas into a winter chore.

[Marat]

I think the original proposal has essentially been adopted, though few admit it. Ancient cultures had a midwinter light/greenery/fertility festival (e.g., the Roman Saturnalia) to induce warmth, growth, and life to return to a world which had apparently gone dead from cold and darkness, and the Ancient Christian Church decided that since it couldn't suppress this Pagan holiday it was better to co-opt it, so they decided to declare it also somehow turned ouf to be the birthday of Christ by a remarkable coincidence. So a holiday with one purpose morphed into a holiday at the same time with a different purpose.

 

But now there has been yet another transformation in which the religious celebration of the birth of some redeemer who reopens the gates of Heaven to the faithful has become just a new Saturnalia, only this time it is not an orgy of lust but of commercialism. The Christian aspect is increasingly neglected, and now even some Jewish families have adopted parts of the religiously neutralized Christmas festival, such as gift-giving, Santa Claus rituals, and even the traditional tree in the house.

[Mr Skeptic]

I find it rather interesting that a lot of people decide to celebrate the birth of one probably imaginary being who cares whether you are naughty or nice, by lying to their kids about another imaginary being who can fly around at close to the speed of light and fit through chimneys (which may or may not exist) with a giant sack of presents for kids he magically knows whether they are good or bad. And the gullible kids actually believe it. Nevertheless, despite (or perhaps because of) this being's actual, real-world effects, most kids will quickly abandon him as imaginary. In fact, all they need to do so is quite frequently simply an alternate, simpler explanation (Santa is your parents).

[ydoaPs]

I find it rather interesting that a lot of people decide to celebrate the birth of one probably imaginary being who cares whether you are naughty or nice, by lying to their kids about another imaginary being who can fly around at close to the speed of light and fit through chimneys (which may or may not exist) with a giant sack of presents for kids he magically knows whether they are good or bad. And the gullible kids actually believe it. Nevertheless, despite (or perhaps because of) this being's actual, real-world effects, most kids will quickly abandon him as imaginary. In fact, all they need to do so is quite frequently simply an alternate, simpler explanation (Santa is your parents).

St Nick actually existed.

[Marat]

Although St. Nicholas actually existed, he was nothing like the Thomas Nast cartoon figure he is usually presented as being today.

 

I remember my mother once ridiculing me when I was still rather young for continuing to believe in Santa Claus. She said, "How could it be possible for one person to get to every house in the world in one night to deliver presents?" I then countered (though not in so many words), "But he is called Saint Nicholas, so he is part of the world of religious powers, at the pinnacle of which stands a miracle-performing Deity, so why shouldn't Santa Claus similarly be able to perform miracles?" I then naturally continued by reasoning that if Santa Claus didn't exist, then neither did the Easter Bunny, the Tooth Fairy, the Holy Spirit, Christ, or God, but for some reason no one ever managed to explain to my satisfaction, believing in the former set of miraculous beings was a symptom of infantile stupidity, while believing in the latter set was the mark of piety and pre-destination for heavenly rewards.

[mississippichem]

I find it rather interesting that a lot of people decide to celebrate the birth of one probably imaginary being who cares whether you are naughty or nice, by lying to their kids about another imaginary being who can fly around at close to the speed of light and fit through chimneys (which may or may not exist) with a giant sack of presents for kids he magically knows whether they are good or bad. And the gullible kids actually believe it. Nevertheless, despite (or perhaps because of) this being's actual, real-world effects, most kids will quickly abandon him as imaginary. In fact, all they need to do so is quite frequently simply an alternate, simpler explanation (Santa is your parents).

 

Skeptic, you ruined it! Santa Clause is most definitely not bringing you any presents this year . Hey; some people pray to Jesus, but Jesus has never brought me a damn thing on December 25th. I pray to Santa. He's the one giving out the real miracles.

Edited December 3, 2010 by mississippichem

[Incendia]

^^

 

 

I don't understand mulreay's question...

[the tree]

I don't understand mulreay's question...

You are by no means the only one.

[rigney]

You are by no means the only one.

 

Yea!, Me too! But just don't screw around with Christmas. Man I'm glad my parents were ignorant of religion. Heck! I was probably in my thirties 'for I even knew who Jesus was. Hadn't been for that guy "Harry Belafonte" singing about Mary's boy child Jesus Christ being born on christmas Day?, Santa Claus would have probably been my only link to Christmas, which was fine with me. Even bigger than the Easter Bunny, or the Tooth Fairy! for that matter. Hey! Don't mess with Santa Claus guys. Be like steppin' on supermans cape. I've known him for 78 years now and he still brings me presents. Just can't figure how he gets down the chimney though? Edited December 6, 2010 by rigney

[Doc. Josh]

I suppose in life we must take a break from speculation, Hard thinking,problem solving,punctuation war's and theory preperation. And just enjoy life, whatever that really is. Weather it be God, aliens, santa , bunny or myself. Time to sit back not care about anything, eat ham,drink coco, and lighten up. But christmas as commercial as it is makes for a good excuse to do all the above plus some family time. After that let's hit it hard and congratulate our selve's on being the masters of the universe!! And i suppose when my son is born i will play the santa game for pure entertainment!

[rigney]

I suppose in life we must take a break from speculation, Hard thinking,problem solving,punctuation war's and theory preperation. And just enjoy life, whatever that really is. Weather it be God, aliens, santa , bunny or myself. Time to sit back not care about anything, eat ham,drink coco, and lighten up. But christmas as commercial as it is makes for a good excuse to do all the above plus some family time. After that let's hit it hard and congratulate our selve's on being the masters of the universe!! And i suppose when my son is born i will play the santa game for pure entertainment!

 

My best to you Doc. and I wish you every joy in the world. But tranquillity is a special thing that comes seldom in our lives. If you are lucky enough to have it zip by for only for a fleeting moment, savor it; with your family. You're a lucky man!

[dragonstar57]

i was going to start a thread kind of like what i think the op is saying which is "should Christmas be celebrated even by the non-Christians because it is such a awesome holiday.

or another way to say it would be

should atheists retain religious holidays/festivals just because they like them/want to and can they do so without compromising their opinion

Edited January 26, 2011 by dragonstar57

[ydoaPs]

Should Christmas be celebrated even by the non-pagans because it is an awesome holiday?

[dragonstar57]

Should Christmas be celebrated even by the non-pagans because it is an awesome holiday?

ok then Christians/pagans

better now?