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I am comfortable in celebrating Christmas in a completely secular way. I make a nice meal, spend time with family and friends, enjoy a day or two off from work, avoid cloying Christmas music, all that good stuff.
Some people give me religious greetings, I respond in kind because they appreciate it. I say happy holidays as a default, because I think it is more inclusive. If I know people are Jewish, I acknowledge Hanukkah. It’s all fine by me, I see no reason to make a big deal about it.
I send small gifts to a few people, my Holiday spending is under $200/year.
Some people I know go to church, I don’t, even if visiting family. That is their thing, not mind.
I don’t understand the angst and baggage that comes with the holidays. It appears to me that people spend a lot of time creating unrealistic expectations and being miserable by falling sort.
I am comfortable in celebrating Christmas in a completely secular way. I make a nice meal, spend time with family and friends, enjoy a day or two off from work, avoid cloying Christmas music, all that good stuff.
Some people give me religious greetings, I respond in kind because they appreciate it. I say happy holidays as a default, because I think it is more inclusive. If I know people are Jewish, I acknowledge Hanukkah. It’s all fine by me, I see no reason to make a big deal about it.
I send small gifts to a few people, my Holiday spending is under $200/year.
Some people I know go to church, I don’t, even if visiting family. That is their thing, not mind.
I don’t understand the angst and baggage that comes with the holidays. It appears to me that people spend a lot of time creating unrealistic expectations and being miserable by falling sort.
In fact, that angst that christians feel when everyone doesn't accept the religious holiday theme -- the constant and ignorant belief that there is a "war on christmas" is counter to the philosophy of the holiday.
In fact, that angst that christians feel when everyone doesn't accept the religious holiday theme -- the constant and ignorant belief that there is a "war on christmas" is counter to the philosophy of the holiday.
Welp, that's political and we're supposed to avoid that here, but yeah. I find it and everything associated with it so retarded I can hardly consider it with any patience.
Most people have a few weird gears, some of us more than others. The enlightened view is to see more deeply into what is happening under the hood (to extend the metaphor), but it helps to have models of this more enlightened behavior. Not all of us are that lucky.
I am curious how other atheists deal with the holidays. We've already discussed elsewhere how being atheist does not preclude enjoyment of sacred music, but what other cultural events are pertinent?
This last week I gave all my students bags of candy. I tell everyone not to give me anything, but promise to practice over the two week break. When I lived in larger cities it was not unusual to perform in a dozen or more Messiahs, in venues from string quartet to full orchestra, and even to do a bit of conducting.
Praying is awkward, when that comes up, and I have had people remark on me not bowing my head, even going so far as to tell me to do so, as if I were a child needing direction.
We just have the Holidays. They are just cultural relics that we celebrate. We do not pray, although when we are guests at a religious event such as a marriage, we keep quiet and still when others pray.
"Gondor has no king. Gondor needs no king." Atheism needs no festivals. I don't bother with them as every day for me is a festival.
I may be quite wrong here as we already have Darwin's day. I always thought that was a mistake, becasue atheism is not based on evolution -theory.
And yet I am probably wrong about that, too as I can see that Darwin was fundamental in providing an explanation for evolution (which had already been accepted in his day, based on the evidence) which had a natural mechanism and did not require a god to have done it. It actually (in hindsight) saw the end of Deism as the furthest in disbelief that skeptics could go and made atheism logically tenable.
As for the rest of the festivals, hang on.... Hmmm. Galileo day between January and February, which isn't the best time for all true Unbelievers to go out and do some astronomy. But we could move Nov 5th (Guy Fawkes day) and burn the Pope in effigy. I'm rather ambivalent about the man who wanted to blow King James to smithereens.
Russell's birthday is in May so that's ok for babyqueues, maypole -dancing, rolling in the long grass and other innocent pastimes.
We can keep 'Yuletide' of course with all the merry commercialism. No change there. The Tree is pagan enough and we can even have a Nativity: "Bethlehem" on one side of the street and "Nazareth" on the other and a luminous star running back and forth on an elevated wire between them.
Hawkinsnday? "God -delusion" day? "KitzmillerversusDover" day? Any other suggestions?
A celebration of the first atheist president would of course be a national holiday with an effigy of Kim Davis put in chains...and if it never happens, we won't need to worry about it.
Last edited by TRANSPONDER; 12-18-2019 at 03:56 AM..
Welp, that's political and we're supposed to avoid that here, but yeah. I find it and everything associated with it so retarded I can hardly consider it with any patience.
Most people have a few weird gears, some of us more than others. The enlightened view is to see more deeply into what is happening under the hood (to extend the metaphor), but it helps to have models of this more enlightened behavior. Not all of us are that lucky.
enlightened is not only the ability to see more deeply to me. To me its understanding the deep connections. And often, enlightened seems to more about understanding what one doesn't know and the ability to incorporate that into their final conclusions/claims.
Christmas decadents is a great example of it. Christmas has become a debacle of capitalism and demonstrates the the inconsistency' within Christianity.
But like you pointed out. The weird gears in us all ...
enlightened is not only the ability to see more deeply to me. To me its understanding the deep connections. And often, enlightened seems to more about understanding what one doesn't know and the ability to incorporate that into their final conclusions/claims.
Christmas decadents is a great example of it. Christmas has become a debacle of capitalism and demonstrates the the inconsistency' within Christianity.
But like you pointed out. The weird gears in us all ...
I absolutely love lights.
I like lights, too, and I love the opportunity to provide new sweaters, coats, gloves and other needed items to loved ones every year. Hankies and gloves are always welcome. We don't need a God to approve; we just have to love each other.
I've noticed that the same Christians who serve up the whole "How DARE you atheists do anything Christmas-related. That's OUR holiday!" spiel are the same bunch who will descend into a rage if an atheists writes '2019 CE' rather than '2019 AD'.
They can't seem to settle on whether culture related to Christianity is absolutely off-limits to atheists, or whether they want to compel atheists to adhere to cultural aspects of Christianity. But then, logical consistency was never that crowd's strong point.
I ceased observing Christmas as a religious holiday circa 1960, at which time I separated from the R.C. church. When I went back to the parental home I went through the motions as it was painless and to do otherwise would have aroused volcanic fury from two parents inclined to the my-way-or-no-way school of social relations.
A widowed aunt had been a surrogate parent and best friend. Christmas after the death of her husband was a sad event for her, and I gave her very personal presents that catered to her interests (rather than "stuff") and a surprise present of music or an unusual book. And if I were not there I called and wrote. But, in fact, aside from the wrapping paper, it could have been a birthday.
In the 80s I was able to have the holiday as mine, and what I do is prepare a stack of books I want to delve into again and haul out some music that I have not heard in a long time to listen to. No special meal. I love spending the day this way. Back in the 80's I did have a friend who wanted to go out for dinner on the day once in awhile, but once he moved I have kept the day as mine.
I have enjoyed the day very much for years once it became a kind of personal holiday. And where I live the public decorations and music are kept in much, much more reasonable bounds than in the U.S., and this has made enjoying specifically Christmas related things pleasant once again. No outrageous mountain of overkill.
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