Should We All Celebrate Christmas?

Christmas is a weird one.

Having two children you realise how commercial it is.

Yet for me the nicest part is having time off work and spending it with the kids and enjoying the atmosphere of a festive home.
 
Imagine October to March without anything to look forward to in the middle. Imagine December without artificial lights colours and green trees, think I'd top myself.
 
I'm a non-believer, and for me, it's the time for my family and extended family to get together during those couple of days off. Some people don't even get those 2 days off. Other than that, it's just part of our Western culture to plug Santa, advent calendars, swap presents, have roast turkey and finally party out the New Year.

What does irk me though is when people of non-Western origin tell our councils to change the name of the festive season to the "winter holidays" because they find the term "Christmas" offensive. Not being funny but, the whiners are in a Western country and yet we're bending over to them.
 
Monserrat said:
What does irk me though is when people of non-Western origin tell our councils to change the name of the festive season to the "winter holidays" because they find the term "Christmas" offensive. Not being funny but, the whiners are in a Western country and yet we're bending over to them.
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Does that actually happen or is it an urban myth? In protest, you should petition Ramadan to be renamed as Ramajam.
 
Eames said:
Only christians believe in jesus so why should non christians be allowed to celebrate christmas?

If you want christmas, commit to christianity and christmas is your reward.
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Ridiculous. Did you actually read what you said before you posted it ?

People are free to celebrate/take part in any traditions they see fit. I'm an atheist/anti theist but I celebrate Christmas in my own way. I enjoy giving presents and receiving them. It's a holiday time when families come together to have fun. For you to say non Christians should not be allowed to celebrate Christmas is the sort of fascist dogma the religious often espouse. Why would you even say that ? :confused:
 
Monserrat said:
What does irk me though is when people of non-Western origin tell our councils to change the name of the festive season to the "winter holidays" because they find the term "Christmas" offensive. Not being funny but, the whiners are in a Western country and yet we're bending over to them.
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It doesn't happen, it's always a white person in a Council office who knows what the black man wants.
Yes there's bound to be somebody who makes a fuss but they are a tiny minority.
 
Monserrat said:
What does irk me though is when people of non-Western origin tell our councils to change the name of the festive season to the "winter holidays" because they find the term "Christmas" offensive. Not being funny but, the whiners are in a Western country and yet we're bending over to them.
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Your issue with this is based on ignorance. Other religions believe in Jesus as an important prophet, which on that basis it makes a lot of sense to change the name so that it's distanced from any religion in name.
 
I think it is more to do with trying to re-brand Christmas to appeal to non Christians, rather than to not cause offence.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas_controversy
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Since the 1980s there have been several instances in both the United States and Canada when official public mentions and references to Christmas trees were renamed to "holiday trees" for various reasons, mostly for an enforcement of separation of church and state or a recognition of cultural and religious diversity.[63] Reaction to such renamings has been mixed.

One of the most prominent Christmas tree controversies came in 2005, when the city of Boston labeled their official decorated tree as a holiday tree, and the subsequent response from the Nova Scotian tree farmer who donated the tree was that he would rather have put the tree in a wood chipper than have it named a "holiday" tree.[3]
After claims that it was avoiding the term, US retailer Lowe's began using "Christmas tree" prominently in advertising.

Another controversy occurred in 2005 with the US builders hardware retailer Lowe's signage for their Christmas trees read "holiday trees" in English, but read árboles de Navidad (Christmas trees) in Spanish rather than árboles de feriados. In 2007, Lowe's started using the term "family tree," sparking protest from the American Family Association, but they have since claimed that this term was only a printing mistake.[64]

In 2009 in Jerusalem, Israel the Lobby for Jewish Values, with support of the Jerusalem Rabbinate, has handed out fliers condemning Christmas and have called for a boycott of "restaurants and hotels that sell or put up Christmas trees and other 'foolish' Christian symbols".[65]
Reclamation of the term "Christmas tree"

In recent years, efforts have also been made to rename official public holiday trees back to Christmas trees. In 2002, a bill was introduced in the California Senate to rename the State Holiday Tree the California State Christmas Tree;[66] while this measure failed, at the official lighting of the tree on December 4, 2007, California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger referred to the tree as a Christmas tree in his remarks and in the press release his office issued after the ceremony.[67] Schwarzenegger had previously ended the secular practice of calling it a "holiday tree" in 2004 during the 73rd annual lighting. The name change was in honor of the late Senator William "Pete" Knight. Schwarzenegger said at Knight's funeral that he would change the name back to Christmas tree. Knight had lobbied unsuccessfully to change the name after Governor Davis decided to call it a holiday tree.[68]

The Michigan Senate had a heated debate in 2005 over whether the decorated tree in front of the Michigan Capitol would continue to be called a holiday tree (as it had been since the early 1990s) or named a Christmas tree. The question was revisited in 2006, when the bipartisan Michigan Capitol Committee voted unanimously to use the term Christmas tree.[69] And in 2007, Wisconsin lawmakers considered whether to rename the tree in the Wisconsin Capitol rotunda, a holiday tree since 1985, the Wisconsin State Christmas Tree.[70]
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Seems to cause a lot of controversy in America as well, which I was surprised about.
 
Sliver said:
Ridiculous. Did you actually read what you said before you posted it ?

People are free to celebrate/take part in any traditions they see fit. I'm an atheist/anti theist but I celebrate Christmas in my own way. I enjoy giving presents and receiving them. It's a holiday time when families come together to have fun. For you to say non Christians should not be allowed to celebrate Christmas is the sort of fascist dogma the religious often espouse. Why would you even say that ? :confused:
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You're an anti-theist but you celebrate christmas? Why can I hear the magic round about theme whilst I read your post?
 
anticonscience said:
Christmas is a weird one.

Having two children you realise how commercial it is.

Yet for me the nicest part is having time off work and spending it with the kids and enjoying the atmosphere of a festive home.
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+1

For me the best part of Christmas is the family meals all together and the subsequent sofa-food-coma where we all watch tv and/or sleep :D

But the worst part of Christmas is the disappointment when you open a gift from someone that couldnt find anything for you. Rather than go through the disappointment id rather they just say they couldnt find anything suitable rather than give you something that will be landfill by news years...
 
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Monserrat said:
What does irk me though is when people of non-Western origin tell our councils to change the name of the festive season to the "winter holidays" because they find the term "Christmas" offensive.
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I blame Thomas Cook, they are always pushing their Winter Holiday offers onto people :mad:

Personally I like to celebrate Muharram, Mawlid al-Nabi, Ramadan and Eid al-Adha with a bacon sandwich and a beer.
 
spoffle said:
You're an anti-theist but you celebrate christmas? Why can I hear the magic round about theme whilst I read your post?
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Are you really this dumb or just trolling ? Being an atheist doesn't exclude me from taking part in a pagan tradition if I want to. I choose to do it because it's fun and not because I believe in some transcendent supernatural sky god. Is that premise too hard to grasp ? :confused:
 
billysielu said:
I don't celebrate Christmas - because I don't believe in it.
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You don't believe Xmas exists?


Monserrat said:
What does irk me though is when people of non-Western origin tell our councils to change the name of the festive season to the "winter holidays" because they find the term "Christmas" offensive. Not being funny but, the whiners are in a Western country and yet we're bending over to them.
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Have you ever found one of these people of non-western origin with this belief?
 
Lol at the usual suspects with the usual derpiness. Did you believe that Baa Baa black sheep was banned as well? :D

I'm an athiest but I celebrate Christmas by being with my family and friends where possible. There is no meaning to it for me personally though, my work is shut so I take the opportunity to eat, drink and be merry :) I enjoy it a lot.
 
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