Robert P #fundie

Robert P #fundie answers.yahoo.com

Why do atheists celebrate christmas and easter?

Halloween is the promotion of evil that christians have no connection with.

Why have halloween in schools when christmas,easter,and thanksgiving are being forced out of schools and public life.

Who did the Pilgrams give thanks to?

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old comment by

The Pilgrims did thank God with the Indians(whoever their gods were)but they didn't insitute a festivity. In fact, it's more a Pagan harvest festivity which has no connection with any cannon dogma or doesn't refer to any religious occasion. Pilgrims were PURITANS, which means that, if they didn't celebrate Christmas, because they considered it "pagan", go figure something like that. And by the way, in principle they thanked the Indians, who were later on exterminated, in exchange for their kindness. Therefore, don't jump into conclusions.
In fact, even if George Washington and Abraham Lincoln wanted to give it a more dignified character, it was not until 1941 when it was named official holyday. In fact, it's the reason why people of ALL RELIGIONS celebrate it.

old comment by Jud

Religions your ancestors believed in contribute to a culture in which you partake, regardless of your feelings on the religion.

Why do you use the word "Thursday?" It is, after all, "Thor's Day," straight from the Norse religion. Are you Norse? No, you're a Christian, but some of your ancestors valued Thor, so it becomes a part of the common culture, passed down to this day.

Similarly, do you celebrate Christmas in December? Because the Bible suggests it was more like May. The December thing is just trying to co-opt pagan practices, including those of the Romans. It's a hold over from *drum roll* your ancestors.

I celebrate Christmas in the same way. It's a heritage thing. Besides, I love a good story.

Christianity needs to have better choices in holidays, though. Birth and death/resurrection of Jesus are the big ones? What about the Sermon on the Mount? Shouldn't that have a big holiday? I mean, if fucking St. Valentine (who didn't, in retrospect the church decided, fucking exist) gets a holiday, how can the most influential Jesus moment not have a holiday?

I vote we get one.

old comment by GigaGuess

Why do atheists celebrate christmas and easter?
Because it's a reason to get together with family, not to mention it is a cuturally accepted holiday. I don't need Jesus to tell me that it's nice to get the family together for a nice meal. Now...tell me where the pine trees are in Jerusalem. I mean, clearly there must be plenty since it's so closely tied to Jesus' birth. And tell me why the date of Jesus' death is tied to the lunar cycle? If they have an exact date of borth, they should have an exact date of death.
HINT: They are not Christian holidays in their inception. They were assimilated off of Pagan holidays.

Halloween is the promotion of evil that christians have no connection with.
Halloween = All Hallow's Eve. Again, co-opted off of a Pagan holiday, but made into a celebration of the Saints.

Why have halloween in schools when christmas,easter,and thanksgiving are being forced out of schools and public life.
Because kids deserve to have fun, too. You can have fun secularly.

Who did the Pilgrams give thanks to?
The Indians?

old comment by Swede

I celebrate Jul and Påsk, neither is particularly religious. The first is for families to get together and give each other presents and eat lots and lots of food, and the second is to celebrate the coming of spring and summer, and a somewhat macabre reminder that we used to burn witches a few hundred years ago, and to eat lots and lots of eggs.

Halloween is to scare away evil spirits, and to remember our dearly departed.
Halloween wasn't celebrated with monsters and trick-or-treat here when I went to school, just with a church sermon, as there were at Christmas and Easter too. Yes, when I went to school, Sweden had a state church. You see how good that worked out for us; we are now maybe the least religious country in the world. Reversed psychology, perhaps...

“Why do atheists celebrate christmas and easter?”
Because they’re pagan holidays. Every time a Xian complains about the commercialization of Christmas or the pagan influences of Easter, i go buy another wreath.

“Halloween is the promotion of evil that christians have no connection with.”
Jack-o-Lanterns exist to drive AWAY evil spirits. Trick or treat isthe ritual to appease them and send them away. You have it backwards.

“Why have halloween in schools when christmas,easter,and thanksgiving are being forced out of schools and public life.”
Because it’s not as clearly a violation of Church/State Sep in the schools. And the compalints about Christmas advertising showing up bfore Thanksgiving prove it’s not driven from the public sphere.

“Who did the Pilgrams give thanks to?”
Who cares? Do you know who was president when it became a holiday (and how many years since the landing at Plymouth Rock)?
Bonus question, do you know how the Puritans celebrated Xmas?

Robert P #fundie answers.yahoo.com

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