A question for atheists with children

It's simple. Do you as a parent celebrate the religious holidays of Christmas and Easter for the kids? Does that make you a hypocrite?

 

Both holidays were merged with pagan ones, so why should it?

 

Pagan simply means non Christian, they are both still religious holidays. So your admitting that it is just Christian holidays and religion that are offensive to atheists.

 

Yes indeed! We love Xmas and Easter at our house. Great fun.

Have no idea why you think that is hypocritical, since very very few people today still adhere to the religion/s which spawned these festivals. Paganism has been essentially dead for centuries. These occasions are good opportunities, however, to teach your kids about their ancient past (assuming your kids are at least partly European/British), and how such festivals travelled forward in time despite a changing world.

 

No, he/she is saying that any later accretions to these PAGAN festivals are personally irrelevant. The Christian hijack of Easter and Yuletide have their place in the historical narrative, but that's all.

 

A person can buy his kid Christmas gifts and Easter eggs and new clothes without celebrating Christmas and Easter as religious days.

It's not like doing stuff such as this:

http://www.csmonitor.com/Photo-Galleries/Photos-of-the-Day/2017/Photos-of-the-day-04-14#1035784

http://www.csmonitor.com/Photo-Galleries/Photos-of-the-Day/2017/Photos-of-the-day-04-14#1035799

http://www.csmonitor.com/Photo-Galleries/Photos-of-the-Day/2017/Photos-of-the-day-04-14#1035802

http://www.csmonitor.com/Photo-Galleries/Photos-of-the-Day/2017/Photos-of-the-day-04-14#1035832

http://www.csmonitor.com/Photo-Galleries/Photos-of-the-Day/2017/Photos-of-the-day-04-14#1035834

http://www.csmonitor.com/Photo-Galleries/Photos-of-the-Day/2017/Photos-of-the-day-04-14#1035327

http://www.csmonitor.com/Photo-Galleries/Photos-of-the-Day/2017/Photos-of-the-day-04-07#1034995

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2017...ifixion_on_Good_Friday-a-35_1492215359995.jpg



...

 

Which religion, though? That's the problem, there are more than one. And the original one is probably the only one with any legitimacy.

 

Any religion that has temple prostitutes is legitimate.

 

If you are one of the atheist that publicly opposes school prayer, the ten commandments in our courthouses or public displays of the nativity, and In God We Trust on our currency....Then yes you are a hypocrite by celebrating Christmas and Easter. If you ignore all that and teach your kids your beliefs without trying to impose your views on everyone else, then good on you.

 

I don't find any of those as offensive, 'cept the ones that most will believe are KKK images....I have seen processions like this in Italy, Greece, and even in Morocco...Most people wait years to be selected to portray Jesus in a crucifixion scene, in some countries like Brazil it is considered a great honor to be chosen.
But like I said in a previous response: if you publicly lobby against school prayer, nativity scenes, ten commandments in public courthouses, or In God We Trust on our currency...Then yes you are a hypocrite. If you ignore it, and don't try to impose your views on on others, yet teach your children your beliefs, then good on you.

 

I'm not a parent, but I am the child of an atheist family.

They did with me because it was fun.

Not really, given atheistic parents are celebrating the cultural consumerism of what is now Christmas and Easter, it's instead about chocolate eggs, and presents and having a kick-ass Christmas tree, rather than celebrating the birth of Christ (which didn't even happen in December) and the resurrection of Christ (which also did not happen around the date it was supposed to),

 

Wow this one is off base. The distinction here is where is the celebrating happening and in what context. If the reason we( atheists, agnostics or theists) oppose the above, is that public property is being used to promote a religious purpose, and we are doing our teaching, whatever we are teaching or whatever we are celebrating, about Christmas and Easter in our own homes or on private property, then there is no hypocrisy.

That was too easy.

 

Along with the Christian religious attributes to Christmas and Easter, there are secular aspects and there are Pagan attributes too.

 

Christmas is when Santa Claus was born, Easter is the Easter Bunny's birthday.

 

Celebrating the equinoxes goes back thousands and thousands of years. Religion adopted these well-known celebrations and applied their dogma. Even April Fools day was concocted by the clergy in order to make fun of and ridicule the Pagan celebration of the new year which was April 1st. Those who celebrated this as the beginning of the year were called April fools.

 

Most people who want the Ten Commandments displayed are clueless as to what the real Ten Commandments are. If they knew they would lobby against their display as well. Since the government owns all of the money it can put whatever it wants on it.

 

And most don't know there are 3 versions of the 10 commandments to begin with.

 

Well, there's only one version that was written on the stone tablet and called the Ten Commandments, Exodus 34:10-28. All of the biblical stories illustrate one of them.

 

we celebrate secular federal holidays like Christmas and Easter, yes... but not like the Pagans and Christians do, they celebrate the religious versions

 

And do you recall what Moses did with those tablets?

 

the ten commandments talks about ending freedom of speech, why would we put it on a court house, blasphemy laws have no place in a court house

Christmas and Easter are secular federal holidays, if you want to also celebrate the religious versions, have at it

I do not want the government pushing "in God We Trust" or "in NO God We Trust", either would be imposing beliefs on others

 

I don't have kids, but I plan to celebrate Christmas and (possibly, I don't really do it myself) Easter with any future kids I have. Beyond the obviously Christian nature of the celebrations in contemporary history, their wide-spread practice has transformed them into a social celebration too that I believe have tangible benefits outside of a religious context. As such, I'm more than happy to practice them. If I'm honest, I'd also want my kids to experience it in a religious context one or twice, just to help them make up their own mind on issues of faith.

I don't think it makes you a hypocrite unless you actively oppose religious holidays. Atheism on its own isn't really a disqualifier.

 

Moses had two sets. He broke the first set and went on a killing spree. Then he chipped out another set, lugged them up the mountain, and the God character spent another forty days and forty nights writing on them. Moses then took that set down the mountain and they disappeared forever, never to be seen again. It's calculated that each tablet weighed over 300 pounds so Moses was one muscular due to have been over 80 years old lugging 600 pounds plus in his arms down and up and down the mountain.

 

The Ten Commandments that were written on the stone tablets don't limit speech but they do limit freedom of religion, Exodus 34:10-28.

 

Why do you not know there is a difference between law and holidays?