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Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM
Fellow Atheist celebrating Xmas holidays here. I say let people celebrate what they wish to. Even if most of society leans towards one type, I'd rather not waste my energy dictating who's in the right so long as everybody behaves themselves and tries to see the glass half-full (which is rare coming from a grouch like myself). I'd rather not have the devout Christians try to go for an arm when they're given a hand, and others of other faiths going out of their way to tear it down.
I really doubt Xmas is going out of its way to supersede all other traditions; I feel like it just happened to be there because some holiday was going to end up on top.
Edited by RainingMetal on Dec 8th 2020 at 11:29:20 AM
ASAB: All Sponsors Are Bad.I, a non-Jewish person, think Hannukah looks pretty cool.
This does not make Hannukah stop being a Jewish holiday. In the same way, the existence of non-Christian people celebrating Christmas does not make Christmas stop being a Christian holiday - especially when many of those non-Christian people do so because of a Christian upbringing. Christianity has a lot of influence on atheists because many atheists were born into Christianity and stopped believing.
A term I've heard thrown around before is Christian Atheism: "I don't believe in God, but the God I don't believe in is specifically Jehova." There are a lot of atheists who don't want the religious trappings of the holiday they grew up with, but still want to have the cool party with the presents and the tree that's familiar to them.
Edited by TobiasDrake on Dec 8th 2020 at 8:31:56 AM
My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.I don't think you're getting the point he was making.
I don't think it's really about trying to foist actually Christian ideas on people, although some sure seem to want to do that. It's not about privately celebrating Christmas, whatever your persuasion. It's about apparently assuming that everyone, everywhere, celebrates Christmas (which would not be around even in consumerist form if not for Christianity) and therefore tacitly assuming everyone is Christian.
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The way Christmas is celebrated has nothing to do with how Christian it is. The commodification of the holiday does absolutely nothing to tarnish the religious significance, because the real point of the holiday was never religious significance, the real point of the holiday was always to aid Christianity in consuming all other religions.
Edited by PushoverMediaCritic on Dec 8th 2020 at 9:36:05 AM
@Pushovermediacritic: All sorts of faiths have total conversion of the world as their goal and label themselves as "The One True Way". The American Conservative Christians are very annoying and way too powerful, but taking a day off on their Holiday is not the same thing as praying that all will bow down to Jesus.
@Pointmad: That I'll agree with. Christmas does take up too much place in public culture.
Edited by Wildcard on Dec 8th 2020 at 11:36:35 AM
If people wanted to complain about Christmas promoting Nordicism or capitalism, then it'd make more sense than Christian domination. Because unless you live in an openly evangelical environment, you don't really see it.
I grew up surrounded by passionate Catholics and the occasional evangelical Protestant and the Christ part of Christmas was never really highlighted in my experience to the point I had no idea it was supposed to be about religion and not Santa until I was a good while older.
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Isn't that more a problem with capitalism, or more specificially corporatism?
Edited by ShinyCottonCandy on Dec 8th 2020 at 11:36:22 AM
My musician pageGuys, we have a religion thread
, take this convo there, please.
Edited by HailMuffins on Dec 8th 2020 at 1:40:58 PM
Christianity, Islam, certain sects of Buddhism. Etc. There's nothing inherent in Christianity that makes it particularly unique, evil, or unusually virulent. There just happened to be a confluence of material factors to sustain whatever more virulent strains that happen to be within it longer before its inevitable collapse relative to comparable equivalents in other religions elsewhere. Likewise things like ISIS and radical Islamic terrorism are similarly the result of external factors coming together, as opposed to being because that's just how Islam is.
And it really depends on where and when in the religion you are, as it could be argued that a lot of Christian expansionism phased out the intent to convert in the name of mundane imperialism, and Islam has gone through its own phases of aggressive militaristic conquest specifically for the sake of spreading their religion, as has Buddhism. Meanwhile the original Jewish kingdoms described in the Bible had their share of conquest and religious classism, to the point that their lack of desire to convert was more for the practical purpose of consolidating power amongst the in-group than magnanimity or implicit moral kindness.
Edited by AlleyOop on Dec 8th 2020 at 12:06:42 PM
I think we can all agree that what Melania said isn't what most people think of when it comes to the term "Fuck Christmas". Because in most cases, it's due to understandable Hype Backlash when it comes to other faiths and traditions. Melania's just being a lazy cow.
ASAB: All Sponsors Are Bad.NPR has a nice list of current Biden picks
for key positions in the White House and in the various federal agencies. It gives a quick description of the position, whether they would need confirmation by the Senate, and a short bio of the nominee. Nice to have all of the info in one place.
Also, the Arizona GOP just went completely off the rails AZ Central
The party's official Twitter account on Monday night shared a post from Ali Alexander, an activist with an organization called "Stop the Steal" that has protested election results.
"I am willing to give my life for this fight," Alexander wrote. When sharing the post, the GOP asked followers: "He is. Are you?"
The GOP then posted a clip from the movie "Rambo", highlighting the quote: “This is what we do, who we are. Live for nothing, or die for something.”
I guess that's what comes of making Kelli Ward your chairperson.
Edited by nova92 on Dec 8th 2020 at 8:49:22 AM
I feel we're veering way off topic here. Edit:
on getting back on topic.
Back to the Texas lawsuit - it has little chance of succeeding, but what concerns me is this painting the issue as being state versus state. I've already seen plenty of "God bless Texas" responses to the lawsuit online, and the ramifications for future elections are a little...troubling.
Voter provincialism is a real danger going forward, even if in the short term it's more likely to hinder the unity of the Republicans.
Edited by TotemicHero on Dec 8th 2020 at 11:50:37 AM
Expergiscēre cras, medior quam hodie. (Awaken tomorrow, better than today.)
Depends on whether you're talking about low-level interns or people like Stephen Miller.
Maybe a more appropriate question would be how many people are still employed in the White House?
ASAB: All Sponsors Are Bad.Republicans on Inaugural Committee Reject Motion Recognizing Biden as President-Elect
What the fuck. These people are doing everything they can to undermine Biden even before he takes office.
Edited by speedyboris on Dec 8th 2020 at 10:59:23 AM

Hot take but I don't think syncretism is inherently evil, and that seems to have been what actually happened there.
Also Christmas as we know it only got as big as it did because of Dickens and the English, who then built upon Scandinavian traditions. It's far more of an ethnically Germanic holiday with token religious origins, than a properly Christian one.
As a strict lifelong atheist from a non-European cultural background, it's for that reason that I kind of like Christmas over some of the more overtly religious holidays during that time. Because I like the opportunity to spend time with my family and gather around to look at the shiny lights and wintery sights.
Edited by AlleyOop on Dec 8th 2020 at 11:46:57 AM