On California coast, atheists nudge out Nativity scenes - CNN.com →

Every Christmas for the past 60 years, Nativity scenes have dominated two blocks of a park on bluffs overlooking the ocean in Santa Monica, California.

The 14 scenes depicting Jesus Christ’s birth have long been a popular attraction among area residents and tourists to the southern California city.

This year, however, atheists have taken over most of the two-block stretch, nearly shutting out and angering a group of churches who contend the atheists have organized against the Christians and gamed a city lottery process allocating the holiday exhibit space.

Tax-free, rapist-protecting, politically-active churches hate when people game the system. It threatens their record.

To my post about Christians…

chlospencer:

Lol at everyone who freaked out about that… 

I know Christ wasn’t born on that day, actually… and I know the history of it. The fact of the matter is that to most people, it’s now a Christian holiday, representing the birth of Christ. 

:)

A) Way to ignore my entire argument

B) Really? Most people? You think most people celebrate a religious Christmas and that fewer people celebrate a secularized Santa Christmas? I can’t wait to see the numbers on that. Feel free to drop the data in my askbox. I’m guessing the methodology of the study involves you reaching right up your ass and pulling out what you’re trying to pass off as a factual claim.

C) Even if it were the case, your original post implicated that people were hypocritical for celebrating Christmas without being Christians. You seemed to suggest that they don’t deserve to celebrate the holiday. Yet, at the same time you acknowledge that a secularized Christmas exists. You are a hypocrite and an asshole.

And when I say you’re an asshole, I didn’t just pick a curse word to throw at you, you are the traditional asshole. You’re foolish, easily deceived and willfully ignorant.

D) You are not allowed to make cruel posts telling people what and how they are and are allowed to celebrate and then turn around and say people who responded to you are “freaking out.”

(via brain-hurting-deactivated201204)

So many non-Christians celebrate Christmas, the birth of Christ… hmm

Let’s examine how Christmas is celebrated and see if we’re actually celebrating the birth of some bronze-age messiah. In preparing for Christmas families across America wrack their brains and burn a hole through their wallet seeking out purchases their loved ones will enjoy at prices they can afford. They hang imagery around the house frequently featuring a German folklore-inspired Coca-cola mascot, toy trains, evergreens and nutcrackers. Then they participate in a bizarre ritual of hanging oversized socks over a chimney. They gather on Christmas eve, eat a bunch of fish, and watch cartoons on TV that were drawn in the 60s. They tell their children a tale about a man in a magic red sleigh that flies who will deliver them toys in their hanging socks and underneath a tree that’s in the house in exchange for a sacrificial offering of cookies. Then they spend the entire Christmas morning exchanging the gifts and watching A Christmas Story all day on TBS while waiting for the turkey to be done so they can feed their in-laws and get them out of the goddamn house. After that, they literally throw away like $45 worth of wrapping paper while whistling tunes about men made of snow coming to life and, like Jesus, predicting his own death and promising to rise from the grave.

That’s not even to begin to talk about the actual origins of this co-opted holiday that existed long before Christianity renamed it.

Oh, also, almost everything we known about Christmas was created by Charles Dickens. So it looks like Christmas has almost nothing to do with Christianity. hmmm….

(via brain-hurting-deactivated201204)

No More to Christmas

organicmommy:

This year I’ve finally stepped up and said, I will not be celebrating Christmas this year. To hear the words come out of my mouth took a huge weight off of my shoulders because it always feels like such a stressful time of year. I am an Atheist. I don’t want nor need to celebrate a religious holiday as I do not believe in what it represents. I am sick of trying to impress people by pretending to enjoy it. It is not a big deal. Half the world does not celebrate Christmas. I told Stan he is more than welcome to go see his family and celebrate Christmas with them if he still wanted to do the whole ‘Christmassy’ thing. But of course he hides his closet “agnosticism” and says there is no way he wanted to do that. It bothered me he still asked if we could give Addy presents around Christmas time. He really does not get it and is missing the entire point. He prides himself on saying he is an Atheist but at the same time says stuff like this and really catches me off guard. I can understand why some religious beliefs/practices may be so hard to get out of his head due to his upbringing by his overly religious parents who literally forced it on him. But still. Don’t pretend to be something you aren’t just to impress me, your friends or your boss. I don’t care either way; I just don’t like half-assed things of any kind. More so, I truly believe it all boils down to his fear of his parents. For some strange reason Stan and his siblings live in fear of their mom and dad and are always terrified to disappoint them. It’s hard for me to understand as I am very close to parents and tell them everything whether it’s something good or bad. All I can say is there will be hell to pay if there is any mention of this Christmas thing around my daughter by informed people.

You know, in a way, Christmas in America has become a very cultural holiday. We’re atheists in my family and the celebration of Christmas has nothing to do with religion. We overeat, we drink too much, buy each other fun stuff, sit around and talk, comment on each other’s kids getting older, watch movies on cable, no one prays, no one says grace, no one wants to visit church. For us, it’s a cultural celebration. We could call it the winter solstice I suppose, but we call it Christmas anyway. Not a suggestion, just sharing another atheist point of view. I think there’s plenty of ways to celebrate Christmas without it being religious. After all, the Christians hi-jacked the holiday first, we’re just hi-jacking it back.