Is anyone else an atheist with BC besides me?

Hello everyone

This is a cartoon from The New Yorker, so it's a bit deep for me.

You guys must have had limited religious upbringing.  An Advent calendar has little paper flaps with the date.  Each day the flap is lifted and underneath is a small religious picture celebrating the birth of Jesus.  It is a countdown calendar.  Do you get the joke now?

Oh I see it's just not there yet. Duh1!

I think the Advent calendar is hysterical, if only in a dry New Yorker sort of way. What's December 22nd for an atheist? Is it 3 days before Christmas? Is it a day to celebrate the coming birth of Christ with a mini-gift or chocolate? No, it's....December 22nd!

I'm one of those non-Christian Christians. I'm a full-on atheist but I was raised in the Protestant church and spent years going to Sunday school so I know more about Christianity than many of my religious friends. It comes in handy when someone tries to argue a political position with me using religion and/or convert me. Despite being an atheist my family celebrates Christmas and to a lesser extent Easter as secular holidays. We sing carols, decorate a tree, and do just about everything Christmassy but attend church. I figure if Christians can pretend Easter eggs and bunnies are a symbol of the resurrection of Christ I can take the position that Christmas is just a time to celebrate family and friends and show each other how much we care for each other through common food, gift giving, festive decorations, and shared traditions.

The calendar is open until Dec 22 because the cartoon was dated Dec 23, 2013. I live in Europe where the church attendance is abysmal but Advent calendars and Advent wreaths sell very well indeed. Lulu has the über-cool sense of humor. I go more in this direction...

I agree that the calendar probably represents solstice....but wouldn't that be pagan? I thought atheists didn't believe in anything, including wiccan and pagan practices. Maybe I'm wrong ;o).

well what a way to join this thread. I see some names here I know. Hi all!!!!

I don't know what to call myself, but I'm not a church going, bible toteing, quoting, look down my nose person.

I've gone to several flavors of churches. Didn't like them, their beliefs, or the members. If you want that, fine. Just don't shove it down my throat.

My childhood bff from out of state came to visit shortly after treatment. She and her husband put their hands on me without permission and prayed over me. It was all I could do not to kick them out of my house. There has been no communication since then and won't be.

So I'll continue to read here😍 So nice

solstice can simply be a real event that occurs every year with no belief in it being something else .

Spookiestmom: I would hate anyone's to pray over me. Yuk!I have no religious belief despite all my dxs. I did do some volunteering in a very worthy Christian charity - the people would pray in meetings or over lunch. I felt it was their space and I always respected them and bowed my head etc. I never mentioned it but refused to pretend I was anything but an unbeliever. Got occasionally asked which church I went to - I would say I didn't, or did I want to join their church - no thank you. I did volunteer because I felt it was the right thing to do not because I felt my religion expected me to. I was looking for a job at the time and feel sure I could of got one there if I had any religious belief or the gaul to pretend I did!

I love Christmas and love going to my parents village, Temple Cloud, in England. (excited to be there this year!) and to their Christmas service - held in a very old church only open a few times a year. Christmas traditions are part of my heritidge and I love that they mostly come from older and more 'heathen' traditions.

Scarily my recent DX has made me a bit more certain of my feelings and feel I may start becoming a bit more outspoken, frank and (let's hope not too much) direct!

Here's to Christmas or whatever you call your winter celebrations!

Sarah

I just had a lol moment. When I informed a friend of mine of my diagnosis, she said "I'm sure all of you family is praying for you". Realising that she was being serious, I said "you know my family are all atheists?" Awkward silence...

Should have just said you'd say a prayer for me...

I think the solstice is closer to the 20th. Some of us may be close to what some would call humanists, but pretty much I don't believe in little green men or easter bunnies although I may enjoy them at times.

Jwoo . . . I feel like I've been sucked down a worm hole and have woken up in an "alternate" universe. Only in an alternate universe could some one as UNQUALIFIED as Trumpty Dumpty become president.

I pretty much keep my mouth shut regarding my faith. It's no one's business but mine (unless some one sincerely asks me). I respect all faiths, including the old ones. Before Catholicism spread thru out Europe, women had way more power and WE were the religious/spiritual compasses who led our tribes. After Catholicism spread, so many women were tortured and killed because they were healers, midwives, and shamans (shamanesses?) and the MEN who became the "religious" leaders felt threatened by that.

Sorry for the history lesson...I get very keyed up over women's history of abuse. I'm also affected by the seasons. Have suffered from Seasonal Affective Disorder for decades (lack of daylight leading to depression and anxiety). The solstice is very special. There are those who say Christ wasn't even born in December, but they moved His birthday to December to coincide w/ heathen/pagan practices and make it more acceptable.

L

We also celebrate Christmas as a completely secular holiday but it's not like Jesus never comes up. We talk about the man, the myth, the legend, because all of that is very notable however you choose to interpret the meaning. We don't have many religious symbols around ( a few angels cuz they are pretty), but we do have a lot of Santa Claus and all that. I didn't want to lie to my child about anything, so we brought Santa into the picture pretty much the same way we handled the Jesus situation. Worth talking about in terms of tradition and history, but not a magical character who really brought free toys.

We treat all the other holidays and their various symbols the same way. But what's funny about that, is that the one time our son had his first exposure to a holiday at preschool - St. Patrick's Day, when the teachers pretended leprechauns had broken into the school - he believed in those leprechauns after that and there was nothing we could say to change his mind. He probably believed in leprechauns until he was 10 years old. As humans, we are definitely wired to want to believe in magic.

So I will say Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays, y'all, whatever you call it or however it looks at your house.

I believe in Santa Claus..

Canadians are more like the Brits. People don't talk about religion or quote scripture. We have no idea what religion if any our elected officials have. In the US you can't be elected president if you aren'ta Christian...well except for that Muslim Obama.