I'm an atheist and I celebrate all kinds of holidays. Because campy traditions are silly and fun.

I've never met a loud and outspoken Christian that was really Christian.

I've never met a pro-lifer that didn't celebrate their day of birth instead of their day of conception.

“Celebrate” is doing a lot of work here. What are we supposed to do? Go to work?

Hello.

Also meet more people of various backgrounds.

Most Atheists use it as a gift-giving holiday.

I've met very few people, Christians included, who actually celebrated it as the birth of Christ. They just do gift exchanges, too.

I have celebrated Hanukkah with a Jewish family once. That was very interesting. My father dated a Jewish woman for about a year or so. Very religious. Never tried to convert us. They had some interesting ways about them. I was like 10 or 11, I don't remember much. I remember potato pancakes, I remember they got lame presents every night for seven days (or nine? Whatever it is). It's not like multiple Christmases. Whole different holiday.

We mainly use it to exchange gifts.

And I've met very few Christians, if any, who actually follow all the rules in the bible

Well yeah why not. The holiday was a pagan holiday long before the Jesus thing anyway. Besides the idea of gathering with your family to share meals and exchanging gifts because you love and care for them is not strictly a Christian thing.

We call them Christmas and Easter, but they're really just secular holidays for the family to get together. No religious aspect whatsoever, but great getting together.

Saturnalia Gang rise up! Our time is now!

eyup. they are all over that christian stuff with the yule log and mistletoe and decroting a tree and being visited by a magical elf lord and having all the holi on the day of christs birth that we all know vaguely coincides with the winter solcstice. so wierd that even though they don't believe in god they celebrate not just one god but many. Just like the deeply christian japanese are so into it.

I'm not loud and outspoken, but I don't really celebrate. Though in my case I grew up JW so I never had the habit. I've heard arguments from outspoken atheists that religion doesn't get to claim holidays, because you don't have ro believe in something to enjoy the festive aspects, plus those holidays were stolen or merged from various religions anyway.

Hi. I'm an atheist that doesn't celebrate Christmas. You are probably from a part of the world where there is a Christian majority. Honestly I'm assuming American lol

Get back in the shower and keep thinking, surely you have the imagination to understand why atheists (and other non Christian groups) celebrate Christmas. This is not a deep thought and kinda makes you sound like a dumb cunt tbh.

You've never met the vast majority of humans, obvious sample size/bias issue

Xmas was commandeered by christians but we have been celebrating Winter solstice for a lot longer than there has been christians on this planet. (same goes for most other 'christian' holidays)

I don't celebrate the birth of any fictional character, but I still celebrate the holidays in general, they mean different things to different people and there's nothing wrong with that. It should be about spending time with your loved ones and showing your appreciation. It should be to find a little bit of peace and relaxation this world with those you love, and taking a break before starting out on a new year with new problems and challenges.

Did they haul out a nativity scene? Go to church? No? Then it was a cultural celebration, not a religious one. Nothing hypocritical about that.

Might be a good time to remember that Christmas has adopted many pagan traditions.

Just about every culture has a winter celebration. Religious or not, a large portion of the population is struggling in the cold. The party around the solstice gives a distinct turning point in the year as the days get longer. So why not take advantage of the existing merch, the existing day off work, and the spirit of your friends and family and partake? Going with the flow and pretending to celebrate a holiday in a religion you think is fake anyway is easier than having the same conversation over and over with family. And don't underestimate the power of marketing, consumerism, and the lingering imperialism. I've been to India and many people expressed their wish to visit New York City at Christmas. It permeates local culture, it broadcasts globally.

As others have said, you're showing a small world view and admitting your sample is small. Christianity creates atheists that celebrate Christmas. Judaism, hannukah. Modern non-religious cultural holidays, the new year. Traditional religions, some combo of the solstice and moon phase. Even those of other faiths that live in areas dominated by Christianity celebrate Christmas, heathens and pagans alike.

I can imagine there being a correlation, because there's no reason to be outspoken, if you're not embedded in a context that would push religion onto you, which includes celebrating Christmas.

I had a friend in university, whose parents immigrated from a secular region of East Asia, who was equally as atheist as I was. But while I arrived at that position after years of learning about Christianity, as well as peer pressure and self-reflection, she didn't go through any of that.
She couldn't have an opinion about Christianity to be outspoken about, because Christianity is just a random fandom as far as she's concerned. She's not particularly interested in it, and that's all there is to it for her.

And then, yeah, while I'm obviously much more outspoken than her, I'm not outspoken against doing a celebration in winter. Because I'm embedded in this Christian context, my parents want me to visit for Christmas, so I guess, I celebrate Christmas. ¯\_(⊙_ʖ⊙)_/¯

Pretty sure Jesus’s birthday isn’t the first and only mid-winter celebration in the entire history of humankind. Most people are just happy to get the solstice out of the way.

What are your views on atheists eating Easter eggs?

Hello. Allow me to introduce myself. 👋

If it were up to me I wouldn't.

Or Hannukah or Eid Al Fitr. Atheists are greedy lazy bastards hoarding presents and food which rightfully belongs to the theists!

I've never met an Asatru who wasn't a Norwegian guy named Bjørn with extremely long naturally blonde hair who loves Iron Maiden.

Sample bias is a thing 😉

Now you have.

Christmas can - and I simply can't over-stress this - fuck right off.

Pro tip: talk to child-free people estranged from their parents and/or siblings. High chance they want nothing to do with any of it, likely because it dredges up unpleasant memories (which frankly stand a good chance of also being the source of their eschewing of religion).

Rather than having to buy gifts other people don't want, and pretend to be happy about receiving the same, I just buy the things I want when I want them, and encourage those around me to do the same.

I will add that it's not helped by living in the southern hemisphere, where a bunch of misguided people insist on emulating northern hemisphere traditions, making everyone around them miserable by serving a three-course roast dinner in the height of summer.

I do similar shit on the solstice these days out of respect, but if the Christians get any worse I'll start doing my part to dilute the holiday's religious significance even further out of spite.

I don't care what holiday is it, as long as you make it an official holiday that has legally mandated paid time off... 😏

I wish I didn't have to but religious family won't take no for an answer. 😡

Did the celebrate the birth of christ, or were they celebrating a day off work to be with their family and exchange gifts as a way of strengthening familial and social bonds?