Is Christmas a religious thing?

[planenut]

Luckily I have friends of various religions, not that I count myself as religious (or friendly really). One, a Muslim, described his Christmas Day as being exactly like mine ( I was brought up as a Church of England Christian), the pressies, the dinner, the Queen's speech; and I thought that's right, it isn't just one religion. Then I do work with a lot of people of foreign birth, again of various religions, who have all brought their little meals in to share at the office, and I talk to a lot of people of different races, and finally, I was talking to an Arab this evening on the telephone, who wished me "a Very Happy Christmas!", so there you have it.
So whatever your leaning - Happy Christmas All !

 

[ZenStalinist]

I think it is more a british cultural thing in this sense than a religious thing. Yule, Christmas or 'Winterval' - this being a term coined a few years back to describ the celebrations we see in a nonreligious sense.
But christmas is fine for most

It's a good thing psychologically (okay, is for some, isn't for others, but I think it's good for society) to have such an annual event, regardless of religion.

We all deserve a break, all need to celebrate together.

 

[kendor]

It depends on your viewpoint as to whether it's a religious celebration or an excuse for a Pis*up!

 

[AdamW]

A lot of evidence points to Jesus actually being born in April, one such piece being the bright star was caused by either a conjunction of several planets, or a nova that occurred at that time too. So, if you believe the bright star over Bethlehem, April is most likely. And it was a few years BC too.

The reason we celebrate it in December is either because a) Christianity is an offshoot of Judaism, and Hannukah is also in December, or b) It was an attempt to stop people acknowledging the traditional Pagan holidays.

I think Christmas, whilst seen by many as a cultural thing now, should always retain it's Christian roots. The reason being, the sheer level of stupidity of many people means that a lot of people won't know WHY they are giving out presents and eating turkey!

My mum was having fun in December, she is a primary teacher at a CofE school... A new family, muslim, arrived in town and for some reason decided to send their kid to the Church school! Wouldn't have been a problem, but they insisted that their son not learn anything about Christianity... yes, exactly! Can you imagine trying to shroud one boy from 300 children all shrieking about Christmas? I have Muslim and Jewish friends who celebrate Christmas, although most of the Jewish friends also eat bacon sarnies!

In 1999, I was watching the news and they had gone out asking the public "Why will it be the year 2000?" Presumably they had decided just to show the complete f***wits, one woman said "Well, 2000 years ago someone decided it was the year nought!". Whilst that was stupid in itself, I couldn't help but remember the number "nought" wasn't invented until the 2nd century AD, and wasn't treated as a proper number until the 7th century. The 1999/2000 new year was all a big fuss anyway, I didn't notice much going on in the 2000/2001 new year, and that was a whole new millenium!

Anyway, my rather tenuous point is, there are a lot of stupid people who will be celebrating Christmas and not having a clue about it's origins. You don't have to believe it, but you should at least be aware of it!

 

[AdamW]

Oh, and another thing, my mum used to teach in a big melting pot area with insane PC guidelines.

She found that the non-white, non-Christian kids generally knew MORE about Christmas than the white children in her class. Most of the white kids were so fixated on presents that they had no idea of the meaning of the celebration.

It didn't help that they weren't allowed to do a nativity play (PC regs) of course!

 

[jasy]

Only religious iof you believe in JOhn Smiths

 

[ZenStalinist]

Whereabouts is this school. About half of schools have nativity plays I think.

I used to like nativity plays, except I never got a real part.

Certainly I think all schools should have an assembly about such an important thing as Christmas.

 

[AdamW]

The school was in Hounslow, a particularly grotty part of Hounslow too.

I got to play Joseph one year, but then another year I just played a scholar at a synagog. Sometimes you win, sometimes you don't!

 

[TexMex]

Is Christmas a religious thing?

I suppose it must be. I always thank god when it's all over.

Local schools around here are not allowed to have nativity scenes (for fear of upsetting ethnic minorities).

Parents are also NOT allowed to photograph their own children in school plays, (in case the pictures may be used by paedophiles). Serves them right for allowing thier kids to feature in X rated school plays I suppose

 

[AdamW]

What about all those absolute beasts who take photos of their children wearing nothing but swimming trunks, as they build sandcastles on the beach. ANIMALS!!!

Now, I am hardly an authority on the collection of the kind of material favoured by paedophiles, but surely they would no more get their kicks from photos of children in a school play, as I would from pictures of women who are fully dressed, in some other play?

I know they are sick perverted people, but come on, surely they are far more likely to hang around places where children are in a state of undress?!