Why do atheists celebrate Christmas?

Simple answer:  Not all of us do.

I have friends that only celebrate the solstice. These are the atheists that keep with the tradition of how the holiday celebration started- by pagans rejoicing in the movement of the sun.

I have friends that put up a Festivus pole. Some place a Flying Spaghetti Monster on top of their tree. These examples are of the commercialism that has dominated the holiday for decades.

I have known some atheists who have Jewish heritage that will still celebrate Jewish holidays. It is a part of their culture.

Many go through the religious motions of Christmas because of pressure from society or their family.

Personally, Christmas has always been about my family traditions. My family has dozens of small things we do to celebrate the season. None of it really has anything to do with a baby in a manager.

Even though my family is religious, I grew up with my mother telling me that Jesus was not born in the winter months. I'm sure this thinking was not taught to her in Sunday School. I'm not sure where she was able to learn this knowledge but, nonetheless, she always taught it to me. (And she wonders how I ended up a godless heathen)

So, for me, Christmas as always been about presents, PJs on Christmas Eve, Santa Clause, breakfast burritos, story telling, leaving carrots for Rudolph, opening 'sister presents' on Christmas Eve and my mother reading Twas the Night Before Christmas.

Why do atheists celebrate Christmas? Because it's not and never was about your particular messiah.

Gay Cakes and Birth Control

Since I live in Denver I am hearing a lot about the local business owner that refused to bake a cake for a gay couple to celebrate their union.

I'm honestly torn by this.

On one hand, I have a lot of small business owners in my circle of family and friends. I would not want someone to tell these business owners to go against their own values. I believe that small business owners should have the right to run their establishment as they see fit.

On the other hand, the guy is being a bigot. It sucks. It's also illegal. We had a civil rights fight for a reason.

I'm not even sure if I would want a bigoted baker to bake me a cake...

I can understand why someone who opens a small store would want to run their business as they see fit and have a moral dilemma with serving customers who blatantly go against their values. I would not want to make a cake for a Nazi skinhead... But are Nazi skinheads a protected minority? Would I care in the moment?

On a much larger scale we have large businesses, with thousands of employees, pushing their religious beliefs on their employees. Hobby Lobby is one of the larger corporations trying to not have birth control covered by their employee's insurance. This is disgusting.

Religious churches are pushing their religious opinions on their patients. There are stories of women being denied even the option of terminating a pregnancy due to health issues for the baby and/or mother. This is terrifying.

I'm not sure what else to write about this. My internal struggle pulls back and forth on small vs large corporations and their individual rights.

Baton Rouge Follies

For Thanksgiving this year I went to visit my father and sisters in Louisiana.

My family is pretty understanding about my atheism. I'm one of the lucky ones who has a very loving family. I don't hide my non-belief and they don't confront me about it. Even though I have some very religious family members- some are even preachers- we don't let that come in the way of our time together.

It's everyone else's family members that are the damn problem.

I took a few hours and headed out to Baton Rouge for a quick visit with a good friend from college. We went to a gig for a local band, went to a bar and enjoyed some karaoke. In the matter of 5 short hours I was confronted numerous times about the stereotypes of atheist people.

At the band gig a girl from the audience came over to speak with my friend, let's call her Rachel. During the conversation they kept just saying 'Witness' and, being unaware of the shorthand, I asked if that meant Jehovah's Witness. (Rachel was but no longer is a JW and defines herself as an agnostic.) The girl said, "Yes and Rachel can talk to you all about that!" I replied that Rachel knows very well that I'm an atheist and we've spoken about it at length. The girl lost her smile, stared at me like I'd grown a second head and, without another word, walked away never to return.

A few minutes later a man that had been sitting next to me asked me to tell him more about atheism. I was happy to do so! I love dispelling stereotypes or answering questions about atheists! I asked him what he wanted to know.

"When atheists get together do they wear big long robes like the KKK and burn things?"

Seriously, dude? But, OK, I can handle that. This is why I don't mind talking to people about atheism. Somewhere along the way misconceptions like this happen. I explained to him what groups like mine do; social events, lectures, community service, etc. He seemed vaguely interested until his friend, who was a firefighter BTW, almost caught himself on fire while playing with the bonfire... The conversation about atheism stopped there. The firefighter was singed, but otherwise fine...and more than a little drunk.

At the next stop on this little adventure I met with one of Rachel's old flames, Matt, at a karaoke bar. He told Rachel how he was going the school to be a minister. He looked like the type of guy who, when he told you he was a minister, you immediately did not want to leave him alone with children... 

Rachel's exact words, "Matt this is my friend Ruth. Ruth is the head of an atheist organization in Denver that has 1,400 members. GO!"I looked at Rachel like she had lost her damn mind.

Matt started right off the bat with, "I just think it takes a LOT more faith to be an atheist than to believe that there is a heaven."  I was SO NOT in the mood for this played out argument.

 "OK." I really did not want to engage with this guy.

"I just don't understand how someone can look around this world and not see the evidence of a creator."

By this point in the night I was tired, annoyed and just a little deaf by all the loud music so I let it go and just replied with, "OK."

"I just don't know how someone could be an atheist in this world."

LET IT GO, DUDE!!

Around this time someone started singing an Alicia Keys song or something (I actually hate karaoke and wasn't really paying attention) and the guy got distracted. Good thing for me.

When the guy at the band gig asked for information he really seemed curious about atheism- he was kidding about the robe thing, I'm sure. It was kinda funny- but he wasn't being mean spirited about it.

This Matt guy was just being a righteous asshole. You can't talk seriously to an asshole. It's a waste of time. All they have to offer to the conversation is shit.

Atheists hate children...

It's true. We hate them. And kittens. Bunnies, too.

http://wizbangblog.com/2013/11/22/atheists-force-school-to-cancel-christmas-toy-drive-because-religion/

'Atheists Force School to Cancel Christmas Toy Drive Because Religion'

I'm not sure if this became big news because the conservative media needs a good piece to prove the 'War on Christmas' or if every Xmas just needs a Grinch.

The American Humanist Association sent a letter to the schools, one in Colorado and another in South Carolina, stating that their choice in charitable organizations was unconstitutional. The AHA does not send letters to schools without an initial complaint from a parent or student of the school. They never even would have known about this going on without being told.

One school administrator stated that there was no mention of the religious nature of the charity: "School principal, Renee Mathews, is flabbergasted by the absurd letter saying that the only “religious” part of the toy drive is the word “Christmas” in its title. Otherwise there is not a single mention of religion in anything concerning the event. It’s just a toy drive for needy kids."

Just because you make no mention of the religious intent of the charity does not mean that it is not there. The charity in question is Operation Christmas Child which is under the umbrella organization of Samaritan's Purse- a VERY religious organization. One look at their website and anyone can easily guess that this is a religious charity:

http://www.samaritanspurse.org/operation-christmas-child/pack-a-shoe-box/

If the school principal, or ANY administrator for that matter, had taken a glance at this website they would have immediately seen the religious nature of the charity and should have known that this was not a good charity for a public school to participate in.

I've heard it before: 'It's freedom OF religion not freedom FROM religion!' Yes, you have the freedom to practice any stupid religion you can come up with. I, and all our children in public schools, have the freedom to not be subjected to it. This is the difference.

If Islam was the main religion in America and they were sending prayer rugs to poor children via public school children you may have a bit of an issue with it.

Operation Christmas Child sends toys and goods to children all over the world. It's a great thing. The problem is that they also send evangelical literature and promises of a good life if the children pray and convert to Christianity. (The instructions of how to pack a 'shoebox' includes praying for the recipients of the box.) Public schools in the US cannot be a part of religious organizations. There are a plethora of other charities that these schools can work with, such as Toys for Tots.

Do we hate children? Of course not. I, and many other atheists I know, have been volunteering, donating and holding our own food drives for years. We love children and this country enough that we don't want to see it become a radically religious country where people are no longer free. We do this by challenging one constitutional violation at a time- no matter how much it makes us look like the bad guys.

All we wanted was a women's group...

A member of my group, Denver Atheists, recently asked to host a secular women's group. Awesome, right? Let's do it!

We decided that for the first meeting it should be women only. There are a lot of females in the group who are new, may not be comfortable around the normally male dominated events, have sexism issues they would like to discuss with just women, etc. Deal. Starting out- women only. The direction can change to include the men if/when it was decided on by the collective group. Cool.

The invites went out.

The negative comments poured down like the rains from the biblical flood.

I've never seen something get this out of control so quickly on our little MeetUp site.  And not just men- women, at least one, are pissed off! Some men are taking this as a curious issue. 'Women feel oppressed? Even in the secular community? I had no idea!' Others are taking the more comical approach, 'This will be the most coveted group by male atheists!'

I expect this kind of reaction from the men. In the secular community we like to think of ourselves as above things like sexism, homophobia, racism, etc. But, in all honesty, we struggle with it just like any other group.

Secular groups have a demographic pretty much dominated by older, white males. I have become a leader in every secular group that I have been a part of. I have that type of personality where I want to be a leader and I'm not deterred by the men-folk. I attribute this to growing up in a very male dominated, southern community.

I have southern charm. I know that most men don't intend to dominate or suppress women. I know how to maneuver around it. I have always been able to have a conversation with a man and know how and when to contribute. That sounds bad. I'm not a weak person. I have tact. I know that just because I have something to say doesn't mean that I MUST say it.

And, as for the woman who thinks this is a horrible idea, that the only thing she can think of that women need to not talk about in front of men are our  tampons and 'menses', who feels that it makes women weak to meet in private....

You're a cunt.

Athiest Churches

I recently read a few articles about 'atheist megachurches'. I don't understand the concept.

First of all, no atheist in attendance calls these gatherings a 'church'. It's a buzzy word that the media likes to use. But, does it really matter what you call it? Like the saying goes, 'If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck and quacks like a duck...'

It's a big damn duck that is going to crap all over the atheist's pathway to acceptance.

I have no issues with atheist wanting to come together every now and then for a common goal, to have conversations or to just simply hang out with other non-believers. I myself go weekly to a 'secular community center' for coffee and community. I've written an article about the Secular Hub before. I love it. But, the difference between Coffee and Community at the Hub and these 'atheist churches' is that the C&C doesn't have an agenda, we don't sing (unless one of us is having a REALLY good time) and we sure as hell do not pass around a collection plate.

This whole idea is not a good way for atheists to show that we are not a religion. I think this goes against what we've been trying to prove all along. I don't need to go to a building where someone can get up in front of me and a few hundred other people, tell us not to do obvious bad things, lead me in a song and/or moment of silence then ask for money.

But the biggest thing I don't need?? I don't need Christians using this as an excuse to call me out that atheists NEED church and how atheism is just another religion.

I'm all about people interacting with society the best way they see fit, and if this makes some atheists happy, sure, fine, whatever. Do it, to it.

But I really just see this as a pain in my ass.

Tell Your Story

Last night I hosted an event for the Denver Atheists at the Secular Hub. It was entitled "Tell Your Story".

Whenever atheists come together we seem to always talk about how we came to reason. I figured why not have an event for that sole purpose? We had about 25 or so atheists,  we went around the room AA style (Hi. I'm John and I'm an atheist. Hi, John!) and everyone told their personal story.

We had people who grew up in Buddhist temples, LDS churches, Jewish synagogues, Church of Christ (my own brand on religious upbringing), Scientology and just plain 'cult'.  Some had been freethinkers all their lives. Many were brand new to atheism. It was fascinating.

The best part is that, even though we went 2 hours past our scheduled end time, everyone stayed to hear all the stories. Everyone wanted to hear what the others had gone through.  We all asked questions. I even found other CoC's. That's the first time that has happened for me.

To hear about other people losing their faith, struggling with the loss of friends and family, dealing with the daunting thought of nothingness after we die....it makes you feel more sure. Is that the word I want to use? I felt more sane. It's not just me who searched for answers in my religion only to find more questions. I'm not the only weirdo who couldn't buy in to the feel-good/hell-fire bogus stories. I'm not the only one who gets sad because I know that once someone dies I'll never see them again. I know that there is no heaven and they are gone to me forever. It hurts to not be able to have that small comfort of heaven.

It can be sad. But, we've never felt so free.

At the same time, it makes me appreciate what time I have, if ever so briefly, on this planet.  I marvel in the wonder that is the human race interacting with the planet, with the struggles of life and with one another. It's one of the reasons I have become so involved with the local secular communities. Being around others is comforting. It's enlightening. It's fun!

Community was one of the main topics last night. Many people were afraid of leaving their churches because they feared losing their community; their social lives. Hopefully, the more secular people come out of the closet, the larger community we will have.