Atheists to erect holiday display

[wordsmythe]

Originally Posted by BroncoFan

How about this?

There wouldn't be a Christmas without christians and the belief in CHRIST.

So all the Christians celebrate Christmas, and all other religions find your own holiday and symbols and celebrate your own holiday. DON'T RUIN MINE!!!

If you are feeling left out during this season, then think about joining a christian religion or start your own cult and have your own holiday!

They aren't celebrating Christmas. They are celebrating thier own holiday. The only way anyone is ruining your Christmas season is if you let them.

Do you allow anyone else to celebrate a birthday on the same day as yours? Or does that diminish your birthday somehow?

How about this. If someone says "Happy Holidays" to you, YOU respond Merry Christmas. Then they'll know what a good Christian you are and you'll both be happy.

[BroncoFan]

Good point. But I am getting sick and tired of people insisting on taking christian symbolism out of Christmas and then inserting their own, then forcing this concept on everyone by labelling it as P.C.

[wordsmythe]

Maybe if more Christians wouldn't take it as a perceived slight that someone is NOT celebrating the same thing as they are and stop trying to keep them from celebrating what they wish we could all get along.

Far as I'm concerned the biggest slight to all of these "holidays" is how big business treats all of them just to turn it into a profit.

I get sick of the holiday season about 5 minutes after Halloween when they seem to start it now.

If every belief system wants a holiday that's fine by me. And I'd RATEHER they all be at the same time so I don't have to deal with it the other 9 months.

[Army_of_One]

Originally Posted by BroncoFan

How about this?

There wouldn't be a Christmas without christians and the belief in CHRIST.

So all the Christians celebrate Christmas, and all other religions find your own holiday and symbols and celebrate your own holiday. DON'T RUIN MINE!!!

If you are feeling left out during this season, then think about joining a christian religion or start your own cult and have your own holiday!

Actually there was a Christmas BEFORE the birth of Christ.

Christmas - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Christmas is an annual holiday that celebrates the birth of Jesus. Christmas festivities often combine the commemoration of Jesus' birth with various secular customs, many of which have been influenced by earlier winter festivals. The date as a birthdate for Jesus is traditional, and is not considered to be his actual date of birth.

Christmas' pagan origins

No one knows what day Jesus Christ was born on. From the biblical description, most historians believe that his birth probably occurred in September, approximately six months after Passover. One thing they agree on is that it is very unlikely that Jesus was born in December, since the bible records shepherds tending their sheep in the fields on that night. This is quite unlikely to have happened during a cold Judean winter. So why do we celebrate Christ’s birthday as Christmas, on December the 25th?

The answer lies in the pagan origins of Christmas. In ancient Babylon, the feast of the Son of Isis (Goddess of Nature) was celebrated on December 25. Raucous partying, gluttonous eating and drinking, and gift-giving were traditions of this feast.

In Rome, the Winter Solstice was celebrated many years before the birth of Christ. The Romans called their winter holiday Saturnalia, honoring Saturn, the God of Agriculture. In January, they observed the Kalends of January, which represented the triumph of life over death. This whole season was called Dies Natalis Invicti Solis, the Birthday of the Unconquered Sun. The festival season was marked by much merrymaking. It is in ancient Rome that the tradition of the Mummers was born. The Mummers were groups of costumed singers and dancers who traveled from house to house entertaining their neighbors. From this, the Christmas tradition of caroling was born.

In northern Europe, many other traditions that we now consider part of Christian worship were begun long before the participants had ever heard of Christ. The pagans of northern Europe celebrated the their own winter solstice, known as Yule. Yule was symbolic of the pagan Sun God, Mithras, being born, and was observed on the shortest day of the year. As the Sun God grew and matured, the days became longer and warmer. It was customary to light a candle to encourage Mithras, and the sun, to reappear next year.

Huge Yule logs were burned in honor of the sun. The word Yule itself means “wheel,” the wheel being a pagan symbol for the sun. Mistletoe was considered a sacred plant, and the custom of kissing under the mistletoe began as a fertility ritual. Hollyberries were thought to be a food of the gods.

The tree is the one symbol that unites almost all the northern European winter solstices. Live evergreen trees were often brought into homes during the harsh winters as a reminder to inhabitants that soon their crops would grow again. Evergreen boughs were sometimes carried as totems of good luck and were often present at weddings, representing fertility. The Druids used the tree as a religious symbol, holding their sacred ceremonies while surrounding and worshipping huge trees.

In 350, Pope Julius I declared that Christ’s birth would be celebrated on December 25. There is little doubt that he was trying to make it as painless as possible for pagan Romans (who remained a majority at that time) to convert to Christianity. The new religion went down a bit easier, knowing that their feasts would not be taken away from them.

Christmas (Christ-Mass) as we know it today, most historians agree, began in Germany, though Catholics and Lutherans still disagree about which church celebrated it first. The earliest record of an evergreen being decorated in a Christian celebration was in 1521 in the Alsace region of Germany. A prominent Lutheran minister of the day cried blasphemy: “Better that they should look to the true tree of life, Christ.”


The controversy continues even today in some fundamentalist sects.

[wordsmythe]

Interesting but it doesn't really matter nor should it.

Just celebrate your friggin holiday and leave everyone else along to do the same.

[TexKan]

Ya know Army - I actually knew that cause I studied with the JW's for over a year - they don't celebrate Christmas for that exact reason. The pagen origins of the holiday. So truth is I celebrate cause it's tradition and I LOVE the lights!!! It's a fun Holiday - but most of all it's my families tradition. It's what I remember as a kid - and yes we did have to go to church on Christmas Eve - but for me I just love the season and how nice folks seem to be for a brief moment in time during the year. I would have no problem celebrating Christmas for 4 months!!! LOL LOL

[Army_of_One]

Originally Posted by TexKan

Ya know Army - I actually knew that cause I studied with the JW's for over a year - they don't celebrate Christmas for that exact reason. The pagen origins of the holiday. So truth is I celebrate cause it's tradition and I LOVE the lights!!! It's a fun Holiday - but most of all it's my families tradition. It's what I remember as a kid - and yes we did have to go to church on Christmas Eve - but for me I just love the season and how nice folks seem to be for a brief moment in time during the year. I would have no problem celebrating Christmas for 4 months!!! LOL LOL

Great post because you are evidence of what I personally belief. Although it's a "Christian" holiday with Pagan origins I believe that a lot (if not MOST) people like Christmas for all of the "earthly things" such as the lights, the shopping, time off work, the shopping and such. I don't hear a lot of people say "man I can't wait for Christmas so I get an extra chance to go to church" or "I love Christmas because it's about celebrating the birth of Christ". For many people it's just a superficial, capitalistic holiday where a LOT of money exchanges hands.

[Detector]

It's obviously a stab at Christians and unfortunately a legal one. Once again proving how low some groups will go to make them Christians unhappy.

They(atheists) could have pick any time of the year to "celebrate their own holiday" and it would have been no big deal, but then it wouldn't have had the affect they were after.

They know very well that if they are allowed to hang their decorations then it's only a matter of time before every backstreet self-made religious group will want theirs. Only a matter of time before NO decorations will be hung, and that is the real motive behind this stupidity.

[wordsmythe]

Originally Posted by Detector

It's obviously a stab at Christians and unfortunately a legal one. Once again proving how low some groups will go to make them Christians unhappy.

They(atheists) could have pick any time of the year to "celebrate their own holiday" and it would have been no big deal, but then it wouldn't have had the affect they were after.

They know very well that if they are allowed to hang their decorations then it's only a matter of time before every backstreet self-made religious group will want theirs. Only a matter of time before NO decorations will be hung, and that is the real motive behind this stupidity.

It's tough up on that cross for all you martyrs huh...

[TexKan]

Do Christians own Christmas? There are plenty of folks that don't feel so "christian" celebrating Christmas! I do understand what you are saying tho Detector - I think folks will have in thier homes and on their homes whatever they want. I know I will - and my "runway" lights are going full blast every night - along with my 3 color wheels and those that love it most????? Me, the kids in the cars that line up nightly, and the light company of course!!!! LOL LOL