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Should we change Christmas so it is no longer a Christian holiday?

Christmas was originally about Jesus, and still is to a lot of people. I'm an atheist and I celebrate Christmas less as a celebration of Jesus, but more as a festival of happiness, giving, receiving ;), and a good excuse to get the family together. To me, Christmas isn't a Christian holiday, but I don't see why it should be universally changed to accommodate my beliefs, It's important to people as a celebration of their holy figure and I cant understand why someone would want to change that.

tl;dr? Keep Christmas the way it is, I can keep my personal changes to myself.
 
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If you wanna take the Christ out of Christmas on your own watch, then call it X-mas. But considering Christmas has been going on for a large sum of years, it would make no sense to just say "lol no more Jesus." It's the celebration of the birth of Christ, and if you don't believe in that but still do the Santa and present thing, that's fine. But taking away the religious meaning of Christmas for everyone just shows how butthurt people can be, softening up the country with all this assimilation. Or the world in general. People get too offended these days.

Without the birth of Jesus Christ, there wouldn't be Christmas. So take the reason we have it away, then you're taking out most of the meaning. And by 'meaning', I mean the feelings surrounding the holiday. Now.

/runs off
 
Jolene said:
I think it's mostly just America that is religious. In European countries hardly anyone is religious and a lot of the people who are religious are not serious about their religion.




It wasn't always a Christian holiday though, so it has already been changed.




I think you don't understand what I'm saying. I'm saying that Christmas is such a big and impactful event that it's only fair for us to make it accessible to everyone, otherwise the Muslims and Jews and people of other religions who live in western countries might feel as though they don't fit into our culture.
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Europe is still pretty religious, their society is simply secular.
A lot of Muslims in my neighborhood don't mind saying "Merry Christmas" to me, also, the UAE's Emirati population is less than 20%, they are minorities in their own country, so shouldn't we change a few names of of their holidays, festivals, or even their country's name? You know, why call it "United Arab Emirates" if Emiratis are a minority?


Besides, Christmas really isn't a Christian (or even Pagan!) holiday since countries are now intertwined in a global economy, if anything, we should change it to Cashmas. CHRISTMAS SALES! 40% OFF! BUY THE RIGHT GIFT THIS HOLIDAY!

"Mommy, I want a PS3 with Metal Gear Solid 4 for Christmas"
 
I think that there's a religious and non-religious aspect of Christmas. I don't think that non-Christian people should feel any need to avoid celebrating Christmas. They don't have to acknowledge that it's also about Christ. They can celebrate in honor of Saint Nicholas, who despite his religious context was a man known for being very generous, aka gift giving. My only disappointment is that there is no real reason to believe he was fat, jolly, owned a red suit, or had flying reindeer.
 
So if it isn't a Christian holiday, then what is the point in keeping it?

That just sounds like the reason of someone who just wants the presents and doesn't care for the actual reason behind the holiday.
 
Personal insults? You generally undermine the point you're trying to make when you resort to attacking the person directly instead of their argument. In this case, attacking me seems to be the argument. I think that may indicate a problem.

Furthermore, I struggle to come up with what I want for Christmas when asked. I have yet to do it this year. So I don't know where you get off with these assumptions. I look forward to the break from work/school more than the presents at this point.

I believe I've already stated the alternative meaning of the holiday. What I'm telling you, is that Santa Claus was a real person, who did real things to inspire his legacy as a gift giving, kind man. (Where the red suits and flying sled w/ reindeer came from I cannot explain.) Gift giving is an important part of the holiday in that man's legacy. Please don't trash talk it as if we should all be rushing to go sell all our belongings to charity.
 
PkMnTrainer Yellow said:
Personal insults? You generally undermine the point you're trying to make when you resort to attacking the person directly instead of their argument. In this case, attacking me seems to be the argument. I think that may indicate a problem.

Furthermore, I struggle to come up with what I want for Christmas when asked. I have yet to do it this year. So I don't know where you get off with these assumptions. I look forward to the break from work/school more than the presents at this point.

I believe I've already stated the alternative meaning of the holiday. What I'm telling you, is that Santa Claus was a real person, who did real things to inspire his legacy as a gift giving, kind man. (Where the red suits and flying sled w/ reindeer came from I cannot explain.) Gift giving is an important part of the holiday in that man's legacy. Please don't trash talk it as if we should all be rushing to go sell all our belongings to charity.
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I would like to point out, I wasn't even talking about you.
 
Oh. I assumed that we all were talking to the poster above us unless we specified otherwise.
 
We should change the calender so it's no longer Christian. Everyone uses it now so it shouldn't be based on what the Roman Catholics set up anymore.
 
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Christmas. It was created for the birth of Christ. While the holiday has obviously gone commercial, taking Christianity away from Christmas defeats the purpose, IMO.
 
Yes, let's call it "International Presents and Being Merry Day"! Mustn't offend any non-Christians, otherwise they'll feel bad about themselves! ;______________;

Honestly, people are so overly sensitive. Christmas is whatever your family wants to make it. If you don't like the religious aspect, then who's to stop you from being with your family and giving each other presents? Just because Christmas is inherently a Christian holiday doesn't mean that non-Christians can't celebrate. Hell, my family isn't religious at all and we deck out the house with decorations. We go get the biggest tree we can find and ornament the crap out of it. We get together with other relatives and have a great time. Does that mean we have to be Christian? Absolutely not.

Point being, non-Christians should suck it up if they have a problem with Christmas being a religious holiday. No one is saying they can't celebrate. As I said, Christmas is whatever your family makes it.
 
I simply cannot and will not agree on this.
Christmas = Celebration of birth of Christ. All those fancy stuff like parties and presents were never a part of the original celebration. The Western World has introduced it.

And I don't see how anybody is barred from celebrating it. I live in India, where exists a vast cultural and religious diversity. I celebrate Diwali and Holi, both being Hindu festivals, my Muslim friends often treat me with their special sweets on Eid, and both Hindus and Muslims celebrate Christmas as well.

Christmas is to be celebrated in your heart, and I know that half the world doesn't desire to attend the Sunday Mass, but changing Christmas into a non-Christian. general holiday is senseless, baseless and plain ignorance.
Bluerang1 said:
We should change the calender so it's no longer Christian. Everyone uses it now so it shouldn't be based on what the Roman Catholics set up anymore.
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.....
I can't understand the logic behind this statement. What does a calender reform have to do with Christmas?
 
mervyn797 said:
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I can't understand the logic behind this statement. What does a calender reform have to do with Christmas?
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Some have argued that Dec. 25 wasn't the actual date on which Christ was born and that it was manufactured by the Romans. Check out the Wikipedia article for more on that.
 
Sydian said:
If you wanna take the Christ out of Christmas on your own watch, then call it X-mas.
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That doesn't work either. X=Chi, like Chi-Rho. If I'm correct, that's one of the reasons it can be shortened to X-mas in the first place. Don't know why us Jesus freaks take offense to the term...

EDIT: aww, Shanghai beat me to that one. That's what I get for posting before reading through.

My opinion on the matter have been previously expressed by such people as Aurafire and Sydian. If you have a problem with Christmas being what it is, either don't participate or ignore it, just don't try and force your opinions on other people (and where have we all heard that line before?).
 
What I'm saying is that the calendar we all use ie. Jan - Dec, Mon - Sun, was put together by Christians, Roman Catholics to be precise. But seeing as the whole world uses it, it should be changed and be what people from different beliefs put together. T_T
 
mervyn797 said:
I simply cannot and will not agree on this.
Christmas = Celebration of birth of Christ. All those fancy stuff like parties and presents were never a part of the original celebration. The Western World has introduced it.

And I don't see how anybody is barred from celebrating it. I live in India, where exists a vast cultural and religious diversity. I celebrate Diwali and Holi, both being Hindu festivals, my Muslim friends often treat me with their special sweets on Eid, and both Hindus and Muslims celebrate Christmas as well.

Christmas is to be celebrated in your heart, and I know that half the world doesn't desire to attend the Sunday Mass, but changing Christmas into a non-Christian. general holiday is senseless, baseless and plain ignorance.



.....
I can't understand the logic behind this statement. What does a calender reform have to do with Christmas?
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We use a calendar that was invented by, and based around Imperial rome, and its pantheon of Gods/Culture.

July= from Julius Caesar.
March= from Mars, aka the God of War
August= From Augustus, the nephew of Julius Caesar and the first Emperor of Rome.
October= from Octavian, the name of Caesar's nephew before being made emperor.

I don't know the others off the top of my head, though. And Christmas was originally based on around the Cult of Mithras and other pagan activities, before being associated with Christianity.
 
twocows said:
Some have argued that Dec. 25 wasn't the actual date on which Christ was born and that it was manufactured by the Romans. Check out the Wikipedia article for more on that.
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._.;
I know that, if we go according to the actual history, Jesus was born sometime during the summer months.
What I want to know is that how can a total calendar reform serves the purpose. I think the Gregorian calendar has been going pretty well.
 
OP is trying to say that Christmas should be changed so it's a more universal thing and not just mainly for Christians. It was Christians who started the holiday - that is the act of giving and family togetherness which most people celebrate it as now - so it should be based on their beliefs and not changed. It's just like me saying that the calendar, the Gregorian Calendar which we all use now, should be changed as it was Christians, Romans Catholics, who put it together. It should be more secular T_T

How many times do I have to say this for some to understand >!<
 
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