Atheists: How do you feel during the Christmas season?

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Yuck as if Christmas is not bad enough. Mind you I am so anti-theist any talk of god being anything other than a world wide thought bubble would lead to a major debate, so hopefully over time everyone would leave such a discussion aside when interacting with me.

I will echo the statements of consumerism from earlier in the thread. As I live in the Bible Belt, Christmas is more religious here than in other parts of the US, and it is forced on me heavily by family (even more so than the rest of the year). The only ray of happiness is some of the Christmas specials from the very few TV shows I actually enjoy. Other than that, in between the family gatherings where i'm judged and demonized for my lack of belief, and the blatant politicization (keep Christ in Christmas and atheist bashing from conservative religious media), Christmas is pretty depressing.

I just wish they would stop playing all that horrible music.

I am not Atheist. If I had to have a label, I guess Deist is close enough. I am not anti-Christian, or anti any religion, as I feel that religion should be a personal choice, and not to be forced upon others. But I found this interesting.

No one knows when Christ was born, but according to accounts in the bible, it might well not be December 25. The activities of the shepherds described in conjunction with the event are associated with spring, not winter. Nor did Christians celebrate Christ's birth when the religion was new. It wasn't until around the third century A.D. that December 25 was sanctioned as a holy day by the church.
The reason: It seems likely that Christian fathers were trying to compete with another growing religion, Mithraism, the worship of a sun god, whose big day was December 25.

It's also kind of interesting that Mithraism was pretty much neck in neck with Christianity, and many aspects of Christianity are inspired by it. And if Mithraism had been chosen as the state religion instead, Christianity would have been just another "cult" religion swept away in history.

Edit: This is just something I have read about and I make absolutely no claims that it is the gospel truth. Just a nice little Christmas story, you know, like Rudolph or Frosty.

Last edited by SwampOwl on 19 Oct 2013, 5:54 am, edited 1 time in total.

What aspects of Christianity are inspired by Mithraism?

Please provide primary textual evidence.

I'm too tired too rummage through books or webpages right now. But here's a few.

Mithras was born of a virgin on Dec 25, had 12 companions, performed "miracles", died for man's sins, was resurrected the following sunday.

Mithraism used baptism, anointment, sacrament........

Eh, look it up

Note that I'm no newbie to this discussion. I know for a fact you don't have evidence. Don't tell me to just look it up because there is nothing for me to look up that supports your claim.

That is not true in the slightest. I myself am an atheist and do not believe in God but find it rather irritating (no offence) when atheists say that Jesus could not have existed since there are lots of parallels with Mithras. Mithras was a Persian god who was associated with the slaying of bulls, which is perhaps where we get bullfighting from. There is not much known about the cult of Mithras since only a few sites have been excavated, which solely show pictorial representations of the god. There is no written evidence as to what went on during the ceremonies, apart from ritualistic initiatory meals, which may have influenced St. Paul. As for the thing about him being born on the 25th of December. There is NO evidence, apart from websites, saying that he was born on this day nor is there evidence saying that he had twelve disciples.

I too have had many discussions with people about the link between Mithras and Jesus and can find no substantial connection. It may be true that there were initiatory dinners and meals associated with Mithras that one may be able to find in the bible but saying he was born on the 25th of December is a complete fallacy. We do not even know what Mithras really represented or how Mithras cults worshiped. There is a severe lack of evidence surrounding Mithras let alone when he was born and how many disciples he had. This is just speculation that has been fed to the masses via the Zeitgeist movies, which is full of fallacies. I was arguing this with someone on youtube and they said 'but Mithras was born a virgin!. I said 'No, he was born of a rock. and they went 'So, he was born from virginal circumstances!' as if they are the same thing!

People also say that Horus was a virgin. This is completely false as well and it astounds me that people cannot perform a five second google search to see that no mainstream Egyptologist thinks that Horus was born of a virgin. Iris was impregnated by Osiris. Sure, Isis was impregnated by his cut off penis but nevertheless impregnation was an integral part of the myth. Nor did Horus have twelve disciples. He was a god, he did not have disciples and there is nothing, even if he did, to suggest there were twelve. They also say he was crucified. Not true either. It is completely false and yet another myth spewed from Zeitgeist that can be debunked by just going onto the Wikipedia page for Horus or Mithras...Unless Wikipedia is lying to us all! MWahahahaha

I didn't set out to prove or disprove anything. It's just something I've read in a few books and found interesting. Thought I would share. Never mind. I've got to get some sleep, big day of Christmas shopping tomorrow

Sorry, I didn't mean to sound harsh or dismissing of your information. I find alternative views of history like that extremely compelling to. Please do not feel like you are unable to share your opinions on this thread any longer. It's only because I have been in some arguments with people who are adamant that such a religious connection exists without providing any evidence, which has provided me with much frustration. I was just stating that there isn't much to back up such a theory. You are right about Christianity and Mithras worship being around at the same time though during the Roman Empire, that is really interesting Is it not a little early? Sorry, was that sarcasm?

Christmas in Britain is just rampant consumerism and having fun. Anybody choosing to ignore Christmas (for whatever reason they see fit) is viewed with suspicion as a sympathiser to Muslim fundamentalists and their commie pals who seek to ban it. Christians who do not celebrate Christmas are deemed as extremists and outside of mainstream Christian thought.

The UK is one of very few countries in the world not to have a national day. This must further fuel public support for Christmas as a secular celebration.

No worries Thanks for the info btw. It's always nice to hear different views and receive more info on things im interested in.

I told a very devout Christian that I did not celebrate,and what appeared to be a sweet old lady told me that I should go to hell.So much for peace on earth and goodwill.Next time someone tells me that I'm going to say that I have already booked reservations.

That's absolutely ridiculous. I absolutely adore Christmas. My family seems to be in a good mood, there is good television on at times and I get to receive presents regarding my special interests but that is just ridiculous. I thought Christians were supposed to show love towards one's fellow men not raging contempt. Anyway, that is stupid considering Jesus was not born on that day and the values and attitudes now associated with the season are anti-christian and are founded upon materialism and western capitalistic values. Moronic lady.

Christmas is a holiday that was hijacked by the Christian church. Prior to Christianity it was a pagan festival to celebrate the re-birth of the sun in its annual cycle. Christmas day represented the first day of the new solar year and was celebrated all across Europe and much of the northern hemisphere for centuries before this tale of Jesus came about.

I think about that as the real meaning of Christmas day.