Do atheists celebrate Christmas? And if you don't, what do you do instead?

Paula Kirby

I don’t. It’s not especially because of my atheism: I can quite see why many atheists would do Christmas for all the reasons already given here. But I’ve never particularly enjoyed it and have no specific reason to do it anyway, so I don’t. What do I do instead? Whatever I feel like doing on the day, as I would on any other day when I wasn’t working.

Dave Hitt www

I do. It’s fun. There’s no Christ in my Christmas, but there’s a tree and presents and lights on the house.

Some atheists avoid anything religious, which is fine. Most Atheists I know do participate in at least some holiday celebrations.

Eshu www

I do. My family aren’t religious, but we enjoy a get-together in the dreary winter months. I know there won’t be any prayers, few of the cards will have nativity scenes on them and generally the religious content is forgotten.

We call it Christmas for historical reasons, but we don’t really think about anything Christian. The festival existed long before Christianity was invented.

I also don’t think about Thor whenever it’s Thursday, despite the historical connection.

SmartLX

Atheists in traditionally Christian families, communities and/or countries do tend to celebrate Christmas. Often we’ll sing carols about Jesus, and even go to church this one time each year. It doesn’t mean much; it’s just a ritual done out of habit or tradition. It’s all part of being a “cultural Christian”.

Christmas itself is increasingly secular anyway. There’s a whole alternate mythology (one which nobody over the age of 10 accepts as truth) ready to fill in when people aren’t thinking Christian thoughts: that of Santa, the elves and the reindeer. Even many Christians don’t give much thought to the birth of Jesus, at least when they’re not in church.

It’s simply a time when we all agree to give gifts to and spend time with those we care about, and the government graciously gives us a day off to do it.