Yes, I’m an atheist and I have no issues with saying Merry Christmas. In fact I love Christmas, just like Tim Minchin does. This is a great song for sentimental unbelievers everywhere. Hope your holidays are happy!
Archived entries for Christmas
Sorry fans of “Jeezus” (the god of the American version of evangelical Christianity) but the real Jesus (assuming he really existed) was a bit of a hippie, constantly trying to get people to sell all their possessions and give to the poor (Luke 12:33, Matthew 6:19, etc.).
I really enjoyed the clip below, by Stephen Colbert. If there’s one thing we can take from Jesus’ teaching this time of year, I hope it’s the charity bit.
| The Colbert Report | Mon - Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c | |||
| Jesus Is a Liberal Democrat | ||||
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Ricky Gervais wrote up a small blurb that appeared on the Wall Street Journal blog and quite a few people have bumped it, even Conan O’Brien on twitter.
Ricky Gervais has asked me to tweet this essay on his Atheism. I pray to almighty Zeus nobody reads this trash…
Conan later updated with the following apology:
R. Gervais asked me to tweet an article, and it got some people upset. I’m sorry - I thought Atheism was a branch of the 7th Day Adventists.
Gervais’ article sheds nothing new on the religious criticism front, but the rhetoric is straight-forward. Gervais has a comic spin on many old counter-apologetic arguments:
Why don’t I believe in God? No, no no, why do YOU believe in God? Surely the burden of proof is on the believer. You started all this. If I came up to you and said, “Why don’t you believe I can fly?” You’d say, “Why would I?” I’d reply, “Because it’s a matter of faith.” If I then said, “Prove I can’t fly. Prove I can’t fly see, see, you can’t prove it can you?” You’d probably either walk away, call security or throw me out of the window and shout, ‘’F—ing fly then you lunatic.”
You can read the entire article here.
For your winter holiday pleasures, Tom, Robin, Sam, Dalton and Chris discuss:
- “Naughty or Nice” - ‘Un-Christian’ Holiday Retailers & the “War on Christmas”
- NASA Announces Arsenic-Based Life in Mono Lake, California
- The Blair v. Hitchens Debate
- Bumper Sticker Wars
If you have any comments or questions, or have ideas for stories for the show, please feel free to drop us a comment, and thanks for listening!
Hosts: Chris Thielen, Tom Beasley, Robin Marie, Sam Won, Dalton McGee
Episode 31: 'Un-Christian' Holidays, NASA & the Search for Life, Bumper Sticker Wars [53:44] Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (1394)Many people think that the Winter holiday season revolves around Christmas. Well, it doesn’t. Christmas is just the most recent development from ancient celebrations around Winter time. Wikipedia has a great article on the pre-Christian historical background of Christmas.
A winter festival was the most popular festival of the year in many cultures. Reasons included the fact that less agricultural work needs to be done during the winter, as well as an expectation of better weather as spring approached. Modern Christmas customs include: gift-giving and merrymaking from Roman Saturnalia; greenery, lights, and charity from the Roman New Year; and Yule logs and various foods from Germanic feasts. Pagan Scandinavia celebrated a winter festival called Yule, held in the late December to early January period. As Northern Europe was the last part to Christianize, its pagan traditions had a major influence on Christmas. Scandinavians still call Christmas Jul. In English, the word Yule is synonymous with Christmas, a usage first recorded in 900.
Many religious folks even argue over the validity of Christmas, or the celebration of a holiday of that kind at all.
Here is a decent series of clips further explaining the origins of Christmas and its traditions:
Do you atheists out there celebrate Christmas? And do any of you readers feel that it is a secular holiday, or a religious one?
Atheists have revitalized the billboard movement that cause so much fuss a short time ago. This time, the billboards have a Christmas theme. Samples of the billboards and some more information can be found at American Atheists’ webpage. Below is a CNN news clip regarding the billboards:
A lot of this brings up comparisons between Santa Claus and God and/or Jesus, which has led to a lot of frustration from Christian onlookers. This is all also a part of the “out campaign” for atheism, which encourages ‘closet atheists’ to come out and join the community.
