by 
smsedmc
ANSWERS: 8
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Well, if the intention is to celebrate the holidays outside of the Christian context, it is done easily . Many cultures have winter celebrations, and other religions have festivals at this time of year. Many of the customs that we Christians incorporate into our holiday don't really have anything to do with Christ's birth, anyway. We just give it meaning within this context. (Christmas trees are an example.) Now, I could take issue (if I cared to do so) with whether the non-Christian celebration could be actually CALLED Christmas.
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Christmas as the birth of Jesus is certainly a Christian holiday; however, the timing of the year is borrowed from pagan traditions. Other traditional Christmas traditions such as a Yule Log, mistletoe, etc come from pagan traditions. Neopagans, such as I, still celebrate Yule. We have a Yule tree, a Yule log, Yule decorations, and Yule cards. I certainly don't want them to say, "Merry Christmas" on them. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christmas http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yule http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pagan_beliefs_surrounding_Christmas
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As an Athiest in a Christian Family, I'm forced to. But don't worry, when I move out I shall spend the majority of Christmas with my microwave meal for one and no presents. Wow, us Athiests get ALL the fun! We really need an Athiest day!
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the only reason christmas is even is around is beacuse its baby jesus' birthday u have to be retarded to say take jesus out of christmas then what would u be celebrating ,gifts. what about howloween what r u goin to do with that
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Jesus said of His followers, "You are the salt of the earth." It is not possible to remove salt from your soup, is it? So it is with Jesus and His followers. It is because of Jesus' promise to be with His followers that Jesus is present in the world. No force can overpower Jesus. Therfore, it is impossible to remove Jesus from Christmas. In addition, non-Christians are not asking to remove Jesus from Christmas. Because of their status as non-Christians they do not even celebrate Christmas. It is impossible to "remove" Jesus from a celebration that had not included Jesus in the first place. Christmas came into existence when Christians chose to transform pagan celebrations, such as Winter Solstice, into the celebration of Jesus' birth. Christians still are responsible for this transformation: to infuse a materialistic society with the selfless Love of Jesus. Is that not what Jesus meant when he said that you are the salt of the earth? Any dissatisfaction one has about the way our country celebrates Christmas is not the fault of the non-Christian. It is the fault of mediocre Christians--the salt that lost its flavor.
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I don't celebrate Christmas, but I live in America. Don't take this the wrong way, but it's a bit difficult to live in America and not conform to the watered-down form of Christianity that exists here. Christmas is everywhere come December - stores are decorated in red and green, and no matter how much those colors are called 'holiday' colors, together, they are associated with Christmas. So to make this obviously religiously charged season more acceptable to non-Christians, we take Jesus out of it. Perhaps Christians shouldn't make Christmas so prevalent and try to sell it to everybody - the product is going to be corrupted in the marketing process.
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Over time, Christmas has become a time of celebrating the years end and an excuse to get with family. That's what it is for me, anyway. I don't insist on taking Jesus out of Christmas, but I choose not to include him, or any away in a manger jazz. I choose to celebrate Christmas, though, because it is a long-standing Western tradition, and my Grandparents love it when the whole family gets together. I do it for my society's traditions and for my Grandparents.
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Christmas isn't the only religious holiday that happens in December. As people make an effort to be more tolerant, they go to lengths to not discriminate against people based on religion. Saying "happy Kwanzaa/Hanukkah/Christmas/JustAnotherMeaninglessDay" takes too long, and you might forget one. So they say happy holidays to not step on any toes. All in all, you've got no grounds bitching about non-Christians not wanting to celibate the birthday of the bastard child of your god.
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