Posted on 12/13/2009 9:14:32 PM PST by smokingfrog
Angie O'Neill recently moved into a new apartment complex for seniors and she's trying to make new friends. But Christmas is a tough time of year for an atheist.
"All the planned activities at this time of year revolve around the church," said O'Neill, a retiree and an atheist for decades.
O'Neill sought an escape this week, joining a group of her fellow nonbelievers for a weekly "Atheist Happy Hour" at a suburban Mexican restaurant. The group, Atheists for Human Rights, is active year-round but takes it up a notch this time of year with a Winter Solstice party, a charity drive and good attendance for the weekly gathering at Ol' Mexico.
** snip **
"What we're celebrating this year is the promise of the sun returning. That's S-U-N, not S-O-N," said Bill Weir, a retired marketing executive from Plymouth.
"Then the Christians stole it," added Marie Alena Castle of Minneapolis, the 82-year-old founder of Atheists for Human Rights and an atheist activist for two decades. It's a season of celebration for the Jewish faith as well, with Hanukkah.
Still, none of the atheists interviewed for this story expressed a wish to be left out of Christmas entirely.
"Food, we like. Presents, we like. Seeing family, we like," said Val Woelfel of St. Paul, an aspiring archaeologist. Woelfel, 47, and her boyfriend, Bjorn Larsen, 32, planned to erect a tree in their living room: "Sacred trees are an ancient custom. It's pretty, it smells nice and it's pagan," Woelfel said.
** snip **
Castle, the veteran activist, said people shouldn't cave in to the notion that Christmas belongs to Christians.
"Baby Jesus is just an excuse for a lot of people to party, anyway," Castle said. "Enjoy your friends. Eat, drink and be merry."
(Excerpt) Read more at news.google.com ...
Christmas = Christ's Mass. Hello???!!! Christ is an integral part of Christmas (and actually every other thing that ever existed, exists now and ever will exist, but that is a different discussion!). Without Christ, Dec. 25 is just a day on the calendar.
Complete and utter foolishness. The people in this article are indicative of the liberal mindset at its worst--"inclusion" has been corrupted to mean "pushing Christianity out of a majority-Christian society."
You have any evidence it doesn't?
“Anyone who’s been in the military remembers the old saying -there are no atheists in fox holes.”
I’ve heard that before — my boss’s bomber was shot down over Yugoslavia during WW2. He and his buddies spent the night dispersed across a field, hiding in foxholes waiting to be picked up by a daring touch-and-go rescue. He said those tough-guy atheists were crying and praying their heads off for deliverance.
I bet the carpets in her apartment are spotless.
“Atheists for Human Rights”
Always the victim
We are commanded to not accept Christ on blind faith -
that’s what the “all your mind” portion is in reference to.
(Mark 12:30)
As an atheist, I celebrated Christmas. The religious part I just viewed as cultural. I could sing “Silent Night” without being offended. It was a cool song.
As a Christian, I celebrate the Winter Solstice by toasting the coming of longer days and feeding the birds. I see no religious point in it but I don’t get invitations for Solstice parties anyway. Buncha scrooges.
Totally, yes. Why do people search Scripture for answers? Why does Christ say ‘don’t let your self be deceived by false prophets?’ We see things and see evidence FOR God. Evidence FOR Christ being who He is, and it strengthens our faith. It makes it stronger. Every archaelogical point in Scripture that people have scoffed at has eventually been confirmed to be true. We have history described in the bible confirmed by secular scientists. Trying to confirm the bible was the last thing on their minds. It lends credence that what the bible says is true, and the events that have been described are true.
Actually, Hallowe’en (All Hallow’s Eve) was a Christian celebration that has been usurped by the secular world and turned into an orgy of materialism and greed instead of the sobering remembrance of the saints and other doers-of-good like Mother Teresa et al.
All Hallow’s Eve immediately precedes “All Saints’ Day”, a day where devout Christians of many denominations set an extra place at the table for the dead, in their memory.
I don't think it's that efficient, like 1-2-3 BANG! Consequently we have to endure boorish people longer than we'd like.
Yeah, it's pretty amazing, isn't it. But, I wonder why some of us are more blessed than others, in that regard.
Well, those that want to find God, sincerely, WILL find Him. He also says that. Everyone who calls upon the name of the Lord, will be saved. God desires all men to be saved. Not all men want God. It is a consequence of free will. And God respects a person’s right to say yes or no to Him, that He will not force Himself onto them and make them believe or love Him. Those that He gives the faith to believe are those genuinely seeking God, not necessarily those that merely want an intellectual or philosophical answer to another question, or who don’t expect an answer because they don’t believe in God, or are hoping they don’t get an answer because that would mean there IS a God.
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