# Question to Atheists **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [December 4, 2008, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-to-atheists/475739 "2008-12-04T20:43:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![tr0psn4j](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/958977/32.png) [@tr0psn4j](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/tr0psn4j)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2008, 8:43pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-to-atheists/475739/1 "2008-12-04T20:43:07Z")
Do any of you atheists celebrate religious holidays? Christmas is just good times and I kind of look forward to it every year. I’ve been to a few other holidays too and they all are fun. Maybe I’m just a holiday whore. ---
**Author:** ![DanBlather](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f4b2a3/32.png) [@DanBlather](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DanBlather)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2008, 8:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-to-atheists/475739/2 "2008-12-04T20:52:08Z")
Hell yes, I’m big on Christmas. I give gifts, put up a tree, hang stockings, the whole 9 yards. I like to color easter eggs and bake a ham too (on Easter). ---
**Author:** ![Pasta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecccb3/32.png) [@Pasta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pasta)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2008, 8:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-to-atheists/475739/3 "2008-12-04T20:56:16Z")
In the US at least, Christmas and Easter (despite their historical roots) are largely non-religious holidays. Perhaps someone with hard numbers will come along, but my impression is that pretty much everyone who doesn’t practice a religion for which Christmas and Easter are contraindicated (e.g., Judaism) celebrates these two. Atheists included. Today’s secular nature of Halloween is a good example of Holy-Day-turned-holiday. Halloween’s origins are religious, but (in the US) everyone celebrates it _except_ some actively religious groups (due to some of the naughty overtones of the holiday.) ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2008, 8:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-to-atheists/475739/4 "2008-12-04T20:59:09Z")
‘Celebrate religious holidays’, no. Go along with a certain amount of expected social routine, yes. Refusing to be present at a particular family meal, or not buying presents, would be imposing my opinions on religion on others, a behaviour which I find highly offensive when on the receiving end. Same reason I’ll join in with singing hymns at somebody’s wedding. I won’t join in any recitation of prayer, though, as I feel that would be overstepping the boundary into hypocrisy. (I don’t enjoy this time of year, though, for other reasons, beyond a hatred of commercialisation, Christmas music, and enforced jollity!) ---
**Author:** ![Gfactor](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/9de053/32.png) [@Gfactor](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gfactor)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2008, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-to-atheists/475739/5 "2008-12-04T21:01:12Z")
Moved from General Questions to In My Humble Opinion. **Gfactor** General Questions Moderator ---
**Author:** ![velvetjones](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/5f9b8f/32.png) [@velvetjones](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/velvetjones)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2008, 9:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-to-atheists/475739/6 "2008-12-04T21:01:32Z")
I celebrate christmas but more out of obligation…same with easter. Personally if both of those holidays disappeared I’d be happy. I dislike obligatory gift giving. but I have to admit that I’m a sucker for a sappy christmas movie. I watch my favorites every year. ---
**Author:** ![Leaffan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/leaffan/32/299_2.png) [@Leaffan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Leaffan)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2008, 9:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-to-atheists/475739/7 "2008-12-04T21:12:29Z")
> [@GorillaMan](#): > > ‘Celebrate religious holidays’, no. Go along with a certain amount of expected social routine, yes. Refusing to be present at a particular family meal, or not buying presents, would be imposing my opinions on religion on others, a behaviour which I find highly offensive when on the receiving end. > > Same reason I’ll join in with singing hymns at somebody’s wedding. I won’t join in any recitation of prayer, though, as I feel that would be overstepping the boundary into hypocrisy. > > (I don’t enjoy this time of year, though, for other reasons, beyond a hatred of commercialisation, Christmas music, and enforced jollity!) Yep. That’s pretty much me. I could go with Christmas being on a 4 year rotation: like the Olympics. My kids wouldn’t go for it though. ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2008, 9:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-to-atheists/475739/8 "2008-12-04T21:15:45Z")
I celebrate the secular holiday of Christmas – as in presents, candy canes, arguing with relatives – not the religious version. I disagree with \*\*Pasta \*\*that, “pretty much everyone who doesn’t practice a religion for which Christmas and Easter are contraindicated (e.g., Judaism) celebrates these two. Atheists included.” Easter is nothing but a Sunday to me. Even my quasi-religious relatives don’t really do much for Easter. My sister does to an extent mostly because her kids are still young enough for Easter Egg hunts – but don’t get me going on her oddity. She, like I, was raised areligious (not specifically atheist); she is still very critical and skeptical of religion and yet she sent her children to a Catholic School. Her reasoning was that it was a better education than public school – that and her husband went there when he was a kid, but even he is more of a lapsed Catholic. I think what it boils down to is that adult atheists without little kids probably won’t give Easter a second glance. Outside of coloring eggs, what interest could it possibly hold for a non-Christian? ---
**Author:** ![B.Serum](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/b.serum/32/14266_2.png) [@B.Serum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/B.Serum)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2008, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-to-atheists/475739/9 "2008-12-04T21:18:12Z")
I celebrate whichever holidays I please in a non-religious manner. ---
**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2008, 9:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-to-atheists/475739/10 "2008-12-04T21:18:31Z")
I ignore Easter & celebrate Christmas. Thanksgiving is the one that gives me problems. Though it’s not explicitly religious, it tends to be celebrated as such in my family, and I don’t care to thank Someone who doesn’t exist. ---
**Author:** ![Hanna](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b3f665/32.png) [@Hanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hanna)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2008, 9:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-to-atheists/475739/11 "2008-12-04T21:22:50Z")
Like others that have posted here, I do get together with family to celebrate Christmas, but there is nothing religious about it. We don’t pray, there’s no church; just a little food and a gift exchange. I personally don’t put up a tree or decorate, but I do enjoy looking at others decorations. I skip Easter totally. ---
**Author:** ![Der\_Trihs](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/der_trihs/32/233_2.png) [@Der\_Trihs](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Der_Trihs)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2008, 9:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-to-atheists/475739/12 "2008-12-04T21:23:22Z")
> [@Jack\_Batty](#): > > I celebrate the secular holiday of Christmas – as in presents, candy canes, arguing with relatives – not the religious version. That’s pretty much me. Like a lot of families, with mine Santa Claus and sleigh is much more central to Christmas than Christianity. ---
**Author:** ![Pasta](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ecccb3/32.png) [@Pasta](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Pasta)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2008, 9:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-to-atheists/475739/13 "2008-12-04T21:31:07Z")
> [@Jack\_Batty](#): > > I think what it boils down to is that adult atheists without little kids probably won’t give Easter a second glance. Outside of coloring eggs, what interest could it possibly hold for a non-Christian? I should have been clearer. Yes, without kids, you aren’t going to notice Easter one bit, except when you go to the drug store and are blinded by the pastel. But that is sort of different from not celebrating it; it’s just that this particular holiday sort of doesn’t apply to people without kids. I posit that these same adults, with kids, would celebrate Easter. (I was viewing it like, say, Fathers’ Day: Someone who isn’t a father (and doesn’t have a father around) isn’t going to do anything on Fathers’ Day, but if they suddenly have a kid, then they probably would. The previous non-celebration of the day is of a different type than I think the OP is after.) ---
**Author:** ![Philster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/13edae/32.png) [@Philster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Philster)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2008, 9:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-to-atheists/475739/14 "2008-12-04T21:32:07Z")
They are all just social events to me. Even a wedding in a church. Secular/social stuff. Heck, they are such for believers, too, more often than not. ---
**Author:** ![Silver\_Tyger](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/fbc32d/32.png) [@Silver\_Tyger](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Silver_Tyger)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2008, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-to-atheists/475739/15 "2008-12-04T21:35:56Z")
My parents are Christian. The rest of the family is pretty much secular. Yes, I celebrate Christmas, because I get stuff. And food. I don’t celebrate Easter, although I’ll take candy where I can get it. Halloween and Thanksgiving should be secular anyway, although some people try to make it into something (it’s about goodies, just deal =^.^=) ---
**Author:** ![DigitalC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ebca7d/32.png) [@DigitalC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DigitalC)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2008, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-to-atheists/475739/16 "2008-12-04T21:37:00Z")
Sure do, don’t see why not. I can’t remember ever associating christmas with religion, christmas has always meant good food, family, hot chocolate, trees, lights and presents. Jesus has never entered the picture and i believe its the same for most religious people also. ---
**Author:** ![Rubystreak](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e5b9ba/32.png) [@Rubystreak](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rubystreak)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2008, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-to-atheists/475739/17 "2008-12-04T21:37:07Z")
I don’t do Easter at all, though I love Cadbury creme eggs and that’s the only time of year you can get them. Love Halloween, but that’s a pagan holiday. Christmas is a social obligation that I would gladly skip entirely if I could, but parental units have expectations. If I had a kid, we’d do Xmas as a secular gift-giving occasion, with no Santa or Jesus involved. Hadn’t thought about Easter re: kids, but it would probably be a secular candy-giving holiday if I 'em I’d explain to the kid the religious myths behind these holidays, but only as myths that other people believe in. ---
**Author:** ![fifty-six](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/5daacb/32.png) [@fifty-six](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/fifty-six)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2008, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-to-atheists/475739/18 "2008-12-04T21:37:20Z")
Jesus’s birth and death are both religious holidays. Christmas and Easter are not exactly religious. Christmas trees, stockings, reindeer, Black Friday, Easter eggs, bunny rabbits, fake grass, ham and round robins have nothing to do with Jesus. Of course Atheists celebrate those days. Why do you think we have these things? ---
**Author:** ![Jack\_Batty](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jack_batty/32/3201_2.png) [@Jack\_Batty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jack_Batty)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2008, 9:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-to-atheists/475739/19 "2008-12-04T21:37:57Z")
> [@Pasta](#): > > I should have been clearer. Yes, without kids, you aren’t going to notice Easter one bit, except when you go to the drug store and are blinded by the pastel. We are mostly in agreement. I guess I’m a bit of a special case. I am a parent, but non-custodial, and in fact I didn’t even know of my kids existence until they were around 5 (they’re twins – long story). But I’ve never celebrated Easter with them. I’ve just never gone out of my way to make an issue out of it. And it hasn’t seemed to phase them. Now that they’re older (16) they pretty much know my views on religion, so it’s even less an issue. ---
**Author:** ![GorillaMan](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/50afbb/32.png) [@GorillaMan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/GorillaMan)\ **Post date:** [December 4, 2008, 9:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-to-atheists/475739/20 "2008-12-04T21:39:37Z")
> [@Leaffan](#): > > Yep. That’s pretty much me. I could go with Christmas being on a 4 year rotation: like the Olympics. Good idea…or maybe every two years, alternating between summer and winter? 😛 [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/question-to-atheists/475739.md?page=2)