It wouldn't worry me if someone wished me a happy Ramadan (except that "happy" seems the wrong word for a time of fasting). To my mind, the wish of the person speaking is benevolent whatever your own religion.Christmas in the West is a combination of religious and secular holiday, and I don't see that as a conflict. I think (as Dickens did) that the two can co-exist in harmony.
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The Christmas story
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how is it unusual?
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Most churches are very segregated. Yours is apparently not.
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exactly! fucking exactly!That is the tye of shit that started me thinkin about it to begin with. My sons school sending home notes about thanks giving and "The Holidays" got me wonderig whta the hell that was about and in the rain alone on a hiway I started thining about it again and thoght maybe Im a hypcrit because I celebrate christmas, not as god and jesus but as my family together and presents and food and a tree and all of it.now I have the atheist in my area (not many of them and I dont associate with the uptight bastards) telling the community that Christmas is bad and a joke and shouldnt be celebrated.I get this shit through fliers and notes on my windsheild so it could well be a couple of people with this on ther mind but its affected the school and the people that live around me.They know my thoughts on it and they know my stance what with the large flag on my front porch that says "Freedom is measured by the distance between church and state"This has led them to be pissy with me since the "holidays" have bene ciritisized and put down.I dont give a shit what other people do until they try to use it against me or convert me or like here where we can argue about it (sometimes even like adults!)Thats what led to this post and asking opinions.
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Chance asked in a PM> As an atheist do you celebrate Christmas?
Yes, of course! I celebrate Independence Day too. But I don't go to passion plays or think about the Lord's plan. In fact, I've even gone to Christmas church services, but as a social thing. I'm not for taking flamethrowers to the churches.
I was just thinking about the Christmas present thing, and it used to be a pretty cool idea. Now it's just for the benefits of stores and junk makers. A good friend of mine who has a good eye for fashion would always buy me clothes for Christmas and birthdays, and her taste was spot-on. It took some effort, but I could usually find her something she liked. In most other cases, we might as well have exchanged cash, which means we might as well have not done it. I'd have been happy with a "Hey, how are you!" on a blank post card.
Christmas is deeply embedded in our culture, and it doesn't bother me that it's roots are religious. And it's interesting that Christmas and Easter have pagan roots. But I think it's a detriment to real Christians that an important religious celebration of theirs has been hijacked and turned into a big infomercial. [I had to reword that paragraph from the PM...it didn't make much sense in its original form.]
I'm not the Grinch. Christmas trees, presents for kids, egg nogs, even Christmas carols, are OK by me. I can play the melody for "Good King Wenceslas" on the guitar; and probably "The First Noel", with a bit of practice.
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my friend from school has a small church that also isn't segregated. It's also mixed but just a smaller church. But my other friend who's Brazilian goes to a Brazilian church. But Not everyone there is of the same color. It's actually... half and half.
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Even so, churches are the most segregated institutions in the U.S.
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I guess in most places.