Atheists - Do you celebrate Christmas?

[devildavid]

I'm an atheist, just my nature. And yep, I'm a big hypocrite. My wife is a very religious Catholic, so I'll be going to Midnight Mass. I still like to see her naked once in a while. And I won't be the one to tell the grand kids there's no God. Or Santa Claus...... or Easter Bunny....or Tooth fairy..... or justice in the world..... or competent leadership.....

BTW; atheism is a belief. It is a negative belief, but a belief all the same. It is a belief because beliefs cannot be proven. Once something is proven , it is no longer a belief. It is a fact.

Atheism is not a belief, it is a lack of belief in one thing: god(s).

 

[devildavid]

??? -- How is "I believe God is a fiction/fictitious being" (or something akin to that) not a belief?

Atheism is most certainly a belief system; it just happens to be, well, an atheistic, rather than theistic, belief system. It's on par with the other two main cosmological belief systems:

• Atheism --> Unequivocal belief that supernatural beings (gods) are fictional. I'm not exactly sure how atheists resolve (do atheists even broach a positive answer it?) the cosmological question, but that's another matter...Nonetheless, they are confident that the answer isn't a deity.
• Agnosticism --> Unrelentingly equivocal belief that they don't know what's believable and what's not as go answers to the cosmological question.
• Theism --> Unequivocal belief that a deity is the answer to the cosmological question.

Adherents to each system of belief regarding answers to the cosmological question structure and live their lives in accordance with their system of belief. For example:

• Atheists --> Burial rites are about mourning the loss of a loved one and/or consoling other bereaved individuals.
• Agnostics --> Burial rites may be partly about something having to do with theistic catechism and it may also be simply about mourning their own loss and consoling others.
• Theists --> Burial rites are as much about the afterlife, the soul and other elements of a theology's catechism as they are about mourning the loss of a loved one and consoling others.

Other "pivotal" moments in one's life -- birth, marriage, personal achievements, personal strifes, etc. -- are marked in accordance with one's system of belief.

I think it quite safe to say atheism is exactly what the term indicates: a non-theistic belief system. Sure, it's a system that exogenously, with regard to the existence of an external frame of reference, that frame being theism, professes nonbelief; however, that in a comparative context it seems not a belief system does not make it endogenously a system of belief with its own set of tenets. When one considers atheism in terms of the positive, rather than negative, assertion it makes, it's a lot easier to see that it is indeed a belief.


Aside:

One of the observations I've taken from my tenure on DP is that many folks are given to relativist ways of viewing the world, ideas, policies, people, etc. That relativist "stuff" is, IMO, what allows folks to forbear all sorts of stuff that, when one considers the "stuff" in its own right and not vis-a-vis other similar/related "stuff," it become far clearer whether that "stuff" has merit, value, "probity," etc. After all, the character virtue of princely manhood does not develop and firmly insinuate itself when one practices to see and choose the lesser of two evils.

​

Is believing Spiderman is fictitious akin to a belief?

 

[Xelor]

??? -- How is "I believe God is a fiction/fictitious being" (or something akin to that) not a belief?

Atheism is most certainly a belief system; it just happens to be, well, an atheistic, rather than theistic, belief system. It's on par with the other two main cosmological belief systems:

• Atheism --> Unequivocal belief that supernatural beings (gods) are fictional. I'm not exactly sure how atheists resolve (do atheists even broach a positive answer it?) the cosmological question, but that's another matter...Nonetheless, they are confident that the answer isn't a deity.
• Agnosticism --> Unrelentingly equivocal belief that they don't know what's believable and what's not as go answers to the cosmological question.
• Theism --> Unequivocal belief that a deity is the answer to the cosmological question.

Adherents to each system of belief regarding answers to the cosmological question structure and live their lives in accordance with their system of belief. For example:

• Atheists --> Burial rites are about mourning the loss of a loved one and/or consoling other bereaved individuals.
• Agnostics --> Burial rites may be partly about something having to do with theistic catechism and it may also be simply about mourning their own loss and consoling others.
• Theists --> Burial rites are as much about the afterlife, the soul and other elements of a theology's catechism as they are about mourning the loss of a loved one and consoling others.

Other "pivotal" moments in one's life -- birth, marriage, personal achievements, personal strifes, etc. -- are marked in accordance with one's system of belief.

I think it quite safe to say atheism is exactly what the term indicates: a non-theistic belief system. Sure, it's a system that exogenously, with regard to the existence of an external frame of reference, that frame being theism, professes nonbelief; however, that in a comparative context it seems not a belief system does not make it endogenously a system of belief with its own set of tenets. When one considers atheism in terms of the positive, rather than negative, assertion it makes, it's a lot easier to see that it is indeed a belief.


Aside:

One of the observations I've taken from my tenure on DP is that many folks are given to relativist ways of viewing the world, ideas, policies, people, etc. That relativist "stuff" is, IMO, what allows folks to forbear all sorts of stuff that, when one considers the "stuff" in its own right and not vis-a-vis other similar/related "stuff," it become far clearer whether that "stuff" has merit, value, "probity," etc. After all, the character virtue of princely manhood does not develop and firmly insinuate itself when one practices to see and choose the lesser of two evils.

​

Is believing Spiderman is fictitious akin to a belief?

Red:
No, it's is not akin to a belief. It is a belief.

 

[RabidAlpaca]

Red:
No, it's is not akin to a belief. It is a belief.

In the same way that not playing a sport is a sport. You keep trying to draw everyone into exactly 3 mutually exclusive categories but are misusing definitions. Atheism and agnosticism are not mutually exclusive, they are two different binary terms to describe belief (atheism vs theism) and knowledge (agnosticism vs gnosticism), the latter two words were invented just over a hundred years ago.

One can be an agnostic atheist (me), an gnostic atheist (who you keep saying posits there definitely is no god), an agnostic theist (believes is god but doesn't think it's knowable) and a gnostic theist (believes in god and positively asserts his existence)

Why don't you stop trying to tell everyone else what they believe and educate yourself about the MANY directions of philosophy and stop putting us in 3 boxes you defined.

[*]Atheism --> Unequivocal belief that supernatural beings (gods) are fictional. I'm not exactly sure how atheists resolve (do atheists even broach a positive answer it?) the cosmological question, but that's another matter...Nonetheless, they are confident that the answer isn't a deity.
[*]Agnosticism --> Unrelentingly equivocal belief that they don't know what's believable and what's not as go answers to the cosmological question.
[*]Theism --> Unequivocal belief that a deity is the answer to the cosmological question.

[*]Atheists --> Burial rites are about mourning the loss of a loved one and/or consoling other bereaved individuals.
[*]Agnostics --> Burial rites may be partly about something having to do with theistic catechism and it may also be simply about mourning their own loss and consoling others.
[*]Theists --> Burial rites are as much about the afterlife, the soul and other elements of a theology's catechism as they are about mourning the loss of a loved one and consoling others.

Absolutely none of the things you stated are universal to those groups. It is a single bit of information, does one believe in god or not, and does one think god's existence is knowable or not, you can not infer all these other things from that.

Atheists --> Burial rites are about mourning the loss of a loved one and/or consoling other bereaved individuals. Seriously? Show me in the atheist manual that's what we all believe. You're just making **** up.

 

[iguanaman]

Atheists, if you celebrate Christmas in any way: put up a tree, exchange gifts, make special food; go ahead and tick that yes box.

The winter solstice is a traditional time for revelry that predates Christianity and atheists may participate in the fun all they want. I know I do. Even the Christmas tree is a pagan symbol and who doesn't love the smell.. Giving and love for family and neighbors is not a Christian monopoly.

Evergreen trees and plants have been used to celebrate winter festivals for thousands of years, long before the advent of Christianity.
Pagans in Europe used branches of evergreen fir trees to decorate their homes and brighten their spirits during the winter solstice.

https://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-12-19/the-history-of-the-christmas-tree/8106078

 

[zyzygy]

That's the sort of process that has led to very bad age calculations for the earth.

How old is the Earth?