I have some atheist friends that celebrate christmas, and I go to a catholic school and my religion teacher said that its a christian holiday, if so why do atheists celebrate it, I mean whats the difference between a atheist celebrating Hanukkah or Ramadan. And y would they celebrate it if they hate christians in the first place?
Christmas is nothing to do with either Christianity or Islam but it does have it’s origins in the midwinter festival and many other basically pagan rites but since much of it is a celebration of nature rather than religion everyone should be able to enjoy it and be happy together despite religion!!
The ancient European pagans celebrated the midwinter festival and a number of other festivals long before Christianity ever existed!
Babylonians celebrated the feast of the Son of Isis with gluttonous eating and drinking, and gift giving and the goddess of fertility, love, and war.
The Romans held a festival on 25 December called “Dies Natalis Solis Invicti, celebrating their own god Sol Invictas – PAGAN.
The Persian god Mithras, the Syrian sun god Elah Gabal, the German Sol, the Greek Helios and the Mesopotamian Shamash. But also Saturnalia, honouring Saturn, the God of Agriculture. The law courts and schools were closed. No public business could be transacted an this is where the holidays originated – ALL PAGAN!!!
Wax tapers were given by the more humble to their superiors. The origin of the Christmas candle – PAGAN!!
In Rome groups of costumed went from house to house entertaining their people. And this was where the carolling Christmas tradition originated PAGAN!!
Statues of the Mother and lover or Mother and son were paraded through the streets not only in Italy but also in Africa, Spain, Portugal, France, Germany and Bulgaria. Thus, the symbolism of the Heavenly Virgin and the infant child paraded on a yearly basis are not of Christian origin. They stem from the Mother-goddess religion, which is very ancient ENTIRELY PAGAN!!.
Scandinavian countries celebrated Yule honouring Thor – PAGAN.
In Germania (not Germany) they celebrated midwinter night followed by 12 wild nights of eating and drinking. The 12 days of Christmas PAGAN!!
The church under Pope Julius I declared that Christ’s birth would be celebrated on December 25 in 350 AD in order to try to hijack the PAGAN festivals but it was largely ignored. Christians did not really celebrate Christmas until 378 but it was then dropped in 381 and not resurrected until 400.
The Christmas tree stems from pagan tradition and ritual surrounding the Winter Solstice, which included the use of holly boughs ivy and other foliage as an adaptation of pagan tree worship. Holly and ivy represented male and female. Mistletoe was considered a sacred plant, and the custom of kissing under the mistletoe began as a fertility ritual – all PAGAN!!
Santa Claus came from the Dutch “Sinterklaas” and was a tall figure riding a white horse through the air and usually accompanied by Black Peter, an elf who punished disobedient children. Also the origin of the reindeer, sleigh and the elves ALL PAGAN!!
The modern red coated Santa was brought about by coca cola!!
America actually banned Christmas several times and is the originator of the expression “Happy Holidays” which came about because of the pagan origins of Christmas to include all religions and traditions!!
The Venerable Bede, an early Christian writer pointed out that the Christian church absorbed Pagan practices when it found the population unwilling to give up the festivals. Thus a lot of what Christians now see as Christians practices are in fact pagan!!!
Christmas is the time of year christians strive to prove just how pagan they have become!!!
January 12th, 2010 at 3:16 pm
A. Atheists don’t hate Christians. That’s false propaganda spread by the leaders at your church.
B. Christmas has become more of a tradition than a religious holiday. We that celebrate use it as an excuse to get the family together and exchange gifts.
C. Christmas does not originate from Christianity. It was originally a Pagan festival celebrating the solstice. Christians co-opted it in an attempt to convert more pagans. Jesus was not born on the 25th of December.
References :
http://www.thercg.org/books/ttooc.html
January 12th, 2010 at 4:04 pm
The belief that a cosmic Jewish Zombie who was his own father can make you live forever if you symbolically eat his flesh and telepathically tell him you accept him as your master, so he can remove an evil force from your soul that is present in humanity because a rib-woman was convinced by a talking snake to eat from a magical tree.
I don’t really celebrate the reason for the holidays just go to see family friends get piss drunk you get what im saying. It’s like a once a year party.
As far back as 10 thousand B.C.E., history is abundant with carvings and writings reflecting people’s respect and adoration for this object . And it is simple to understand why as every morning the sun would rise, bringing vision, warmth, and security, saving man from the cold, blind, predator-filled darkness of night. Without it, the cultures understood, the crops would not grow, and life on the planet would not survive. These realities made the sun the most adored object of all time. Likewise, they were also very aware of the stars.The tracking of the stars allowed them to recognize and anticipate events which occurred over long periods of time, such as eclipses and full moons.They in turn catalogued celestial groups into what we know today as constellations.
This is the cross of the Zodiac, one of the oldest conceptual images in human history. It reflects the sun as it figuratively passes through the 12 major constellations over the course of a year. It also reflects the 12 months of the year, the 4 seasons, and the solstices and equinoxes. The term Zodiac relates to the fact that constellations were anthropomorphized, or personified, as figures, or animals.
In other words, the early civilizations did not just follow the sun and stars, they personified them with elaborate myths involving their movements and relationships. The sun, with its life-giving and -saving qualities was personified as a representative of the unseen creator or god…"God’s Sun," the light of the world, the savior of human kind. Likewise, the 12 constellations represented places of travel for God’s Sun and were identified by names, usually representing elements of nature that happened during that period of time. For example, Aquarius, the water bearer, who brings the Spring rains.
This is Horus. He is the Sun God of Egypt of around 3000 BC. He is the sun, anthropomorphized, and his life is a series of allegorical myths involving the sun’s movement in the sky. From the ancient hieroglyphics in Egypt, we know much about this solar messiah. For instance, Horus, being the sun, or the light, had an enemy known as Set and Set was the personification of the darkness or night. And, metaphorically speaking, every morning Horus would win the battle against Set – while in the evening, Set would conquer Horus and send him into the underworld. It is important to note that "dark vs. light" or "good vs. evil" is one of the most ubiquitous mythological dualities ever known and is still expressed on many levels to this day.
Broadly speaking, the story of Horus is as follows: Horus was born on December 25th of the virgin Isis-Meri. His birth was accompanied by a star in the east, which in turn, three kings followed to locate and adorn the new-born savior At the age of 12, he was a prodigal child teacher, and at the age of 30 he was baptized by a figure known as Anup and thus began his ministry. Horus had 12 disciples he traveled about with, performing miracles such as healing the sick and walking on water. Horus was known by many gestural names such as The Truth, The Light, God’s Annointed Son, The Good Shepherd, The Lamb of God, and many others. After being betrayed by Typhon, Horus was crucified , buried for 3 days, and thus, resurrected..
These attributes of Horus, whether original or not, seem to permeate in many cultures of the world, for many other gods are found to have the same general mythological structure.
Attis, of Phyrigia, born of the virgin Nana on December 25th, crucified, placed in a tomb and after 3 days, was resurrected.
Krishna, of India, born of the virgin Devaki with a star in the east signaling his coming, performed miracles with his disciples, and upon his death was resurrected.
Dionysus of Greece, born of a virgin on December 25th, was a traveling teacher who performed miracles such as turning water into wine, he was referred to as the "King of Kings," "God’s Only Begotten Son," "The Alpha and Omega," and many others, and upon his death, he was resurrected.
Mithra, of Persia, born of a virgin on December 25th, he had 12 disciples and performed miracles, and upon his death was buried for 3 days and thus resurrected, he was also referred to as "The Truth," "The Light," and many others. Interestingly, the sacred day of worship of Mithra was Sunday.
The fact of the matter is there are numerous saviors, from different periods, from all over the world, which subscribe to these general characteristics. The question remains: why these attributes, why the virgin birth on December 25th, why dead for three days and the inevitable resurrection, why 12 disciples or followers? To find out, let’s examine the most recent of the solar messiahs.
Jesus Christ was born of the virgin Mary on December 25th in Bethlehem, his birth was announced by a star in the east, which three kings or magi followed to locate and adorn the new savior.He was a child teacher at 12, at the age of 30 he was baptized by John the Baptist, and thus began his ministry. Jesus had 12 disciples which he traveled about with performing miracles such as healing the sick, walking on water, raising the dead, he was also known as the "King of Kings," the "Son of God," the "Light of the World," the "Alpha and Omega," the "Lamb of God," and many others. After being betrayed by his disciple Judas and sold for 30 pieces of silver, he was crucified, placed in a tomb and after 3 days was resurrected and ascended into Heaven.
First of all, the birth sequence is completely astrological. The star in the east is Sirius, the brightest star in the night sky, which, on December 24th, aligns with the 3 brightest stars in Orion’s Belt.These 3 bright stars are called today what they were called in ancient times: The Three Kings.The Three Kings and the brightest star, Sirius, all point to the place of the sunrise on December 25th. This is why the Three Kings "follow" the star in the east, in order to locate the sunrise — the birth of the sun.
The Virgin Mary is the constellation Virgo, also known as Virgo the Virgin. Virgo in Latin means virgin. The ancient glyph for Virgo is the altered "m". This is why Mary along with other virgin mothers, such as Adonis’s mother Myrrha , or Buddha’s mother Maya begin with an M. Virgo is also referred to as the House of Bread, and the representation of Virgo is a virgin holding a sheaf of wheat. This House of Bread and its symbol of wheat represents August and September, the time of harvest. In turn, Bethlehem, in fact, literally translates to "house of bread”. Bethlehem is thus a reference to the constellation Virgo , a place in the sky, not on Earth.
There is another very interesting phenomenon that occurs around December 25th, or the winter solstice. From the summer solstice to the winter solstice, the days become shorter and colder. From the perspective of the northern hemisphere, the sun appears to move south and get smaller and more scarce. The shortening of the days and the expiration of the crops when approaching the winter solstice symbolized the process of death to the ancients. It was the death of the Sun. By December 22nd, the Sun’s demise was fully realized, for the Sun, having moved south continually for 6 months, makes it to it’s lowest point in the sky. Here a curious thing occurs: the Sun stops moving south, at least perceivably, for 3 days. During this 3 day pause, the Sun resides in the vicinity of the Southern Cross, or Crux, constellation. And after this time on December 25th, the Sun moves 1 degree, this time north, foreshadowing longer days, warmth, and Spring. And thus it was said: the Sun died on the cross, was dead for 3 days, only to be resurrected or born again.This is why Jesus and numerous other Sun Gods share the crucifixion, 3-day death, and resurrection concept. It is the Sun’s transition period before it shifts its direction back into the Northern Hemisphere, bringing Spring, and thus salvation
However, they did not celebrate the resurrection of the Sun until the spring equinox, or Easter. This is because at the spring equinox, the Sun officially overpowers the evil darkness, as daytime thereafter becomes longer in duration than night, and the revitalizing conditions of spring emerge.
Now, probably the most obvious of all the astrological symbolism around Jesus regards the 12 disciples. They are simply the 12 constellations of the Zodiac, which Jesus, being the Sun, travels about with.
In fact, the number 12 is replete throughout the Bible.
Coming back to the cross of the Zodiac, the figurative life of the Sun, this was not just an artistic expression or tool to track the Sun’s movements. It was also a Pagan spiritual symbol, the shorthand of which looked like this. This is not a symbol of Christianity. It is a Pagan adaptation of the cross of the Zodiac. This is why Jesus in early occult art is always shown with his head on the cross, for Jesus is the Sun, the Sun of God, the Light of the World, the Risen Savior, who will "come again," as it does every morning, the Glory of God who defends against the works of darkness,as he is "born again" every morning, and can be seen "coming in the clouds,"
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January 12th, 2010 at 4:52 pm
Hold on so you "have some atheist friends" and "they hate christians in the first place". Don’t you see a problem with your own logic here?
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January 12th, 2010 at 5:33 pm
no because they’re just celebrating nothing ..
whether it’s pagan or christian
and for those who think we are stealing the pagan’s holiday just because Christmas is the same day as the pagan’s holiday doesn’t mean we are celebrating a Pagan holiday geez
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January 12th, 2010 at 6:06 pm
It’s not a christian holiday just because it has the word "christ" in it.
Get past that and you will understand why people of all faiths can feel the christmas spirit.
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January 12th, 2010 at 6:11 pm
It is a PAGAN holiday and not a christian one.
Christians are the ones that should not be celebrating it,
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January 12th, 2010 at 6:53 pm
Ha! Your teacher is wrong. Christmas is a pagan holiday, it celebrates the sun, and was taken by Christianity from pagan religions. Anyways, Christmas nowadays is all about giving gifts and having fun etc, not really about the birth of your Jesus (which of course, isn’t even his birthday).
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January 12th, 2010 at 7:22 pm
Ask your teacher why the Christians celebrate a Pagan holiday.
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January 12th, 2010 at 8:09 pm
Well first off a lot of atheists don’t hate Christians.
Second if you’re argument is that you have to be part of the religion to celebrate the holiday then Christians need to give up Easter and Christmas because them are Pagan holidays. Christmas and Easter coincide (somewhat) with the solstices which were the biggest days for most Pagans. The Christmas Tree and Tinsel are all trappings of the old religions. There were no pine trees in the Middle East
. Rabbits and Eggs are symbolic of rebirth and of spring time which is why their all over Easter.
Really, now a days Christmas and Easter aren’t religious holidays. So why not let everyone participate?
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January 12th, 2010 at 8:32 pm
Your teacher is wrong. Christmas is a western holiday. Just because it has a religious significance doesn’t mean that celebration should stop based on someone’s religion. It seems wrong to stop people from getting together and giving gifts and spending time with family because of a religious dispute. In reality, christmas is what it seems to be. Christ was most likely not born in the winter but in the spring or summer months. Further, the church back in the day, in order to convert people from the pagan religions they often adopted various holidays and gave them a religious spin to help make pagan accept the religion more. So, christmas is just a religious spin of the winter solstice.
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January 12th, 2010 at 8:52 pm
It’s cute how people don’t think Christmas has become a consumer holiday.
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January 12th, 2010 at 9:18 pm
Atheists with Jewish families DO celebrate Hannukah. I celebrated Hannukah with Jewish friends and family, Christmas with Catholic friends and family, Solstice with some pagan friends, and I celebrate anything I’m invited to.
Why would you think it hypocritical to enjoy and honor the customs and beliefs of others?
Not to mention that current Christmas holiday in most of the US is very secular in nature, or do you really think lit trees, holly wreaths, yule logs, and an immortal "jolly old elf" who brings presents (even if putatively named for St. Nick), really has anything to do with Christianity?
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January 12th, 2010 at 10:08 pm
Atheists don’t hate Christians, at least almost all of them don’t, and Christmas is a Christian holiday but not exclusively so. It comes from a Roman festival which was on at around the same time, which was connected to sun-worship (Sol Invictus or something). That time of year seems to be pretty connected to feasting and sun-worship, and it’s celebrated by a few different religions.
I suppose if we can use holidays which are fun and then incorporate them into our traditions (for example Hallowe’en and Easter are taken from pre-Christian traditions as well as Christmas), why shouldn’t they?
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January 12th, 2010 at 10:14 pm
answer: Are Christians supposed to celebrate Christmas since it’s a ripoff of pagan holidays and there is nothing Christian in Christmas (not even the birth of a savior deity)?
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January 12th, 2010 at 11:00 pm
Christmas is nothing to do with either Christianity or Islam but it does have it’s origins in the midwinter festival and many other basically pagan rites but since much of it is a celebration of nature rather than religion everyone should be able to enjoy it and be happy together despite religion!!
The ancient European pagans celebrated the midwinter festival and a number of other festivals long before Christianity ever existed!
Babylonians celebrated the feast of the Son of Isis with gluttonous eating and drinking, and gift giving and the goddess of fertility, love, and war.
The Romans held a festival on 25 December called “Dies Natalis Solis Invicti, celebrating their own god Sol Invictas – PAGAN.
The Persian god Mithras, the Syrian sun god Elah Gabal, the German Sol, the Greek Helios and the Mesopotamian Shamash. But also Saturnalia, honouring Saturn, the God of Agriculture. The law courts and schools were closed. No public business could be transacted an this is where the holidays originated – ALL PAGAN!!!
Wax tapers were given by the more humble to their superiors. The origin of the Christmas candle – PAGAN!!
In Rome groups of costumed went from house to house entertaining their people. And this was where the carolling Christmas tradition originated PAGAN!!
Statues of the Mother and lover or Mother and son were paraded through the streets not only in Italy but also in Africa, Spain, Portugal, France, Germany and Bulgaria. Thus, the symbolism of the Heavenly Virgin and the infant child paraded on a yearly basis are not of Christian origin. They stem from the Mother-goddess religion, which is very ancient ENTIRELY PAGAN!!.
Scandinavian countries celebrated Yule honouring Thor – PAGAN.
In Germania (not Germany) they celebrated midwinter night followed by 12 wild nights of eating and drinking. The 12 days of Christmas PAGAN!!
The church under Pope Julius I declared that Christ’s birth would be celebrated on December 25 in 350 AD in order to try to hijack the PAGAN festivals but it was largely ignored. Christians did not really celebrate Christmas until 378 but it was then dropped in 381 and not resurrected until 400.
The Christmas tree stems from pagan tradition and ritual surrounding the Winter Solstice, which included the use of holly boughs ivy and other foliage as an adaptation of pagan tree worship. Holly and ivy represented male and female. Mistletoe was considered a sacred plant, and the custom of kissing under the mistletoe began as a fertility ritual – all PAGAN!!
Santa Claus came from the Dutch “Sinterklaas” and was a tall figure riding a white horse through the air and usually accompanied by Black Peter, an elf who punished disobedient children. Also the origin of the reindeer, sleigh and the elves ALL PAGAN!!
The modern red coated Santa was brought about by coca cola!!
America actually banned Christmas several times and is the originator of the expression “Happy Holidays” which came about because of the pagan origins of Christmas to include all religions and traditions!!
The Venerable Bede, an early Christian writer pointed out that the Christian church absorbed Pagan practices when it found the population unwilling to give up the festivals. Thus a lot of what Christians now see as Christians practices are in fact pagan!!!
Christmas is the time of year christians strive to prove just how pagan they have become!!!
References :
January 12th, 2010 at 11:16 pm
Christmas is actually a Pagan festival adopted by the Roman Catholic Church (just like Easter from the Anglo-Saxon fertility goddess Eostre, & Hallowe’en which was originally a Gaelic, Anglo-Saxon & Scandinavian celebration of dead ancestors). Pope Julius I declared that Christ’s birth would be celebrated on December 25 in 350 AD in an attempt to make Christianity more acceptable to pagans.
The common Western concept of Christmas, even including national variances, is essentially a fusion of Roman, Indo-European, Nordic and Celtic Pagan festivals and symbolism. Not all of these festivals were strictly religious.
Jeremiah 10:2-4 condemns what today are called Christmas or Yule trees as ‘heathen’; Kissing under mistletoe is a pagan fertility rite (the white berries represent the sperm of Woden); Gift giving is a pagan tradition from the Roman Mithras festival which ultimately originated in Sumeria; the Yule log is a pagan Scandinavian tradition marking the lengthening of days.
In short I suspect atheists celebrate the Winter festival without considering the Christ, much like many other religious & non-religious cultures do & have done.
I wonder why Christians celebrate these Pagan festivals.
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