Nope. Celebrated loooonggg before the Christians adopted the “re-birth of the sun” (solstice).
You can base it on whatever you want.
You mean the guy in the bible who kills 8 by the command of your god, who, by the way, butchers 28 - million innocent men, women, and children. My understanding of the Bible is that Satan has never been shown to personally murder anyone except for the family of Job. He did that as part of a deal with Your God.
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I suspect he is incapable of taking ownership of any of his bad actions and blames the devil. For me personally, that is one prime reason why I despise religion. Too many theists seem incapable of taking control of their own lives and living a responsible life.
I don’t think our theist friend is aware of the moral aspect of holding yourself accountable for all actions , it is just that he has completely bought into this narrative.
That’s true, but do you think that any/all of the clergymen spouting this stuff know it’s a lie and still continue to do it anyway? How many of them do you think truly believe this stuff?
I have no idea. Have you done a survey or even asked?
My point is that anyone associated with religion may not have bad intentions. My family and many of my friends are devout theists. They try to do the right thing.
I do not have issue with most theists because I recognize a constant. They have a heck of a lot more in common with me than differences. We may enjoy a cold one while watching the game, love dogs, adore their children, like heavy metal, fast cars and faster women, you name the activity we probably engage in it. It is just one category, religion, that drives a wedge.From the theist perspective, atheists are to be shunned, looked down on, and avoided. Why should we play the same game of animosity against people who do not fully agree with us? That is playing the same game as theists, and that position is really crap and makes this world a worse place.
Trust me, I probably despise religion as much as you. But I focus my displeasure on the source (religion), not the symptoms (most theists).
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I have no idea, it was just a question. I think a small percentage of clergymen don’t really believe what they are preaching, but they love having power over others, and are even bigger hypocrites than most theists. But hey, nobody’s perfect, even us atheists.
I’m sure they run the gamut from straight up con man, to hard core believe who will put their life on the line for this non-sense.
Not even close to being true, though December 25 is the day Christians celebrate the birth of Jesus, the date itself and several of the customs they’ve come to associate with Christmas actually evolved from pagan traditions celebrating the winter solstice. .In ancient Rome there was a feast called Saturnalia that celebrated the solstice.
Saturnalia, is an ancient Roman pagan festival honouring the agricultural god Saturn. Saturnalia celebrations are the source of many of the traditions we now associate with Christmas. The solstice is the day that the sun starts coming back, the days start getting longer. Most of the traditions that relate to Christmas relate to the solstice, which was celebrated in ancient Rome on December 25. So when Christianity became the official religion in Rome, they were able to fix this date. There’s no question that it was celebrated in Rome as an important day with gift giving, candle lighting, and singing and decorating houses really cemented Christmas as December 25.
Seriously did you not know this? Wow.
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Another spectacularly stupid claim, given this is an atheist forum, or is this yet another thing you didn’t know?
The bible is filled with errant nonsense, and we are demonstrably not built to last forever, and the saccharine promise of heaven and vapid threat of Hell, is no less a fiction than Santa Claus.
I don’t believe you, what objective evidence can you demonstrate for this claim?
A laudable sentiment I’m sure, but there is no objective evidence for any deity.
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Thanks, sound advice for once.
there will be no sex or drugs in Hell,
All the more reason to fill your boots now.
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Hmmm 
“Lord, Lord… did we not prophecy in your name and blah blah blah… AND I will say to them
Get away from me you workers of lawlessness” (‘tis from memory 
)
It’s obviously 
not to learn anything Mr Preachy preach…
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I beg to differ. We’re all going to “hell”, including you.
I wonder what customs security is like?
Wow, human cloning came earlier than I thought. Greetings from a fellow Halloween, metal, and horror movie fanatic who’s fed up with the hokey Christmas bullshit!
Words cannot describe how much I dislike the Christmas season.
Gift-giving is the worst for me. It’s a social construct I cannot stand. When someone gives you a gift, you’re expected to requite it. I wouldn’t mind it so much if it wasn’t for my life situation. You see, I have to balance work, school, and sports. I’m getting four hours of sleep at best with crappy pay. I was hoping to save the majority to help pay for college (my parents aren’t putting a single cent into helping). Then comes along Christmas. Coming from a Polish and Irish Catholic family, you can imagine how expansive the family tree is. Buying gifts for my relatives depletes a most of what I’ve earned during the late fall / early winter season, and it drives me more and more insane each year.
I’m visibly not happy about this, and my parents always haggle me for being a Scrooge. “Why can’t you just be happy? Why so negative? It’s Christmas, feel the joy!”
That’s another thing I hate. The expectation to be happy. I’m not the most cheery person in real life, and I have stress and exhaustion to blame. Now tell me why I should be happy when it becomes the most stressful time of the year? Exam week isn’t happy. Depleting savings isn’t happy. Having your car totaled because people don’t know how to drive in snow isn’t happy (cerca two years ago). Hearing the same damn Mariah Carey song a billion times a day isn’t happy. Now i’m being told that I’m wrong for being unhappy, which doesn’t help.
I don’t understand the “Christmas spirit”. Maybe while my family prays to one imaginary spirit, I’ll be visited by three.
Try explaining to them that you can’t afford to buy presents for everyone until you finish college and get a better job.
Sounds like you may have to have a “sitdown” meeting with your parents/relatives and just tell them how you feel, and why you feel that way. Why the hell aren’t they helping you with money for college? If you’re having to foot the bill, then you can’t participate in this “happy & joyous” time of year.
And greetings from another heathen metal-head who doesn’t give a fuck what other people think of me. Maybe if you asked everyone in your family for gift certificates for your local tattoo artist for x-mas gifts, they may take the hint.
I wish you luck in your future, and remember, METAL for life. And Halloween and the horror genre also.
That’s the only financial advantage I ever noticed to being an Artist.
I just make gifts for people. And because they are hand made everyone is too polite to point out what utter garbage I slapped together so I could save a few bucks for weed.
I’m not an only child, so they figured it would be unfair to pay for my college but not my brother’s. However, he isn’t planning on going to college (he hasn’t even applied), so I don’t know why exactly I’m not getting help with finances. I’ve tried asking, but it just turns into an argument, and I’d rather work at Target to pay it off than go in circles with my parents.
I’ve been thinking about this for a while. Recently I’ve been receiving bonus pay due to issues with understaffing, so that should help for this year. I’m expecting either a raise or better work by this time next year, if not I’ll most likey concede to laying off the presents.
If you yourself is fine with not receiving christmas presents, you could always take the approach of insisting upon no christmas gift exchange for your part. Or say that if people insist on gifting something, they could donate to a charity you are comfortable with, and start by making a donation yourself. You could also use excuses like “I have everything I need for the the time being” and “I’d like to reduce my carbon footprint” if “I’m saving for college” will not be accepted as an excuse (why wouldn’t it?)