Secular Christmas

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There are quite a few nonbelievers here at WU, but we all respect each others religions or lack there of pretty well. CNN requested atheist iReporters submit stories on their holiday traditions or if they have any. The submissions are positive and tolerant of those who do believe and worth sharing here.
     Posted By: Alex - Fri Dec 23, 2011
     Category:





Comments
Good Christians expect to go to heaven. Good atheists expect no final reward for their behavior. I hope I make it in so I can see how pleasantly surprised you all are my friends. 😊
Posted by Patty in Ohio, USA on 12/23/11 at 04:33 AM
Ok dumbledoor you have identified yourself as an atheist, hope do you, or do you celebrate the holiday season sweetie?
Posted by Patty in Ohio, USA on 12/23/11 at 04:52 AM
Well, whatever or in whichever you do or don't believe Dec. 21st will tell all. 364+ days to go.
Posted by Expat47 in Athens, Greece on 12/23/11 at 09:21 AM
I'm a Jewish athiest and I find the rituals of candle lighting for Channukah as well as other holidays to be comforting. For me Passover says a lot about freedom and liberation and Purim about community and heritage.

when I was younger I used to get really upset with people, even friends who would wish me a Merry Christmas assuming I was a believer/Christian. I even had a tough time wishing people I know Merry Christmas. As I've gotten older, I tend to let that slide, but I still tend to wish people a generic happy holidays if I don't know for sure their beliefs.

As an aside, I've always like the idea of Festivus and I'm glad it's starting to catch on
Posted by odschneider on 12/23/11 at 12:24 PM
Patty, this is a very cool post! I Love the way the secular posters almost all mention values that the religious tend to think are only important to other religious people, when those values are important to almost everyone of good character, I.e. family, love, charity, peace, and good will towards all!
Also thank you for the direct message you sent me! It means a lot! I tried to send a reply but I'm not sure if it went through,
as I'm not very familiar with the WU email system.
HAPPY HOLIDAYS TO ALL MY FELLOW WUVIANS!
Posted by Tyrusguy on 12/23/11 at 12:26 PM
I don't know about the Muslim religion if they have the equivalent of the Judeo\Christian 10 commandments but if you consider only the last 7 they just make good sense if you wish to live in a community.

#3 Remember the sabbath day: everybody needs a day off to chill out
#4 Honor thy father & mother: The young need to listen to the geezers from time to time
#5 No killing: Gotta have peace to have prosparity
#6 No sleeping around: This makes #5 easier to follow
#8 No stealing: Ditto with #6
#9 No bad mouthing others Our politicians keep forgetting this one.
#10 No coviting: Once again just a good idea to keep the peace.
Posted by Expat47 in Athens, Greece on 12/23/11 at 01:20 PM
RE: The TEN Commandments check THIS out.
Unless Oh come all ye faithful is one of your favorite songs, because about 3:50 in that song will be ruined in a way that you will never hear it the same way ever again! NSFW audio
Posted by Tyrusguy on 12/23/11 at 04:58 PM
I LOVE CARLIN! RIP George. You are welcome honey.
Posted by Patty in Ohio, USA on 12/23/11 at 09:49 PM
@ Mindful webworker IF YOU WROTE THIS back in "nineteen-aught-ninety-six"(BTW that would be 19096,which has not occurred yet and is 17,085 years in the future!) Why does it state at the bottom of the page "Originally posted on CompuServe's Religion Forum, as message #113182, in section 5, Religious Education and Research on 1988 Dec 24, at about twenty minutes to midnight, under the subject, "Once More for Santa!" ?????
:coolhmm: ❓
Posted by Tyrusguy on 12/24/11 at 05:22 PM
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