Xmas big deal?

[garrisonjj]

On reading these boards, holidays are just what you make them. Last x mas i decided not to go to confession. Went to x mas mass received, blasphemy, and became an atheist over the course of the ensuing year.
I attended church to appease family and social status but say to myself "fuck all religion."
I'll still enjoy the music, lights, gifts, trees and all the trimmings but just place the religious side where it is for me, totally irrelevant!
Yes, I still fight with the scare of hell, (40 years practicing catholic) but let the cards fall where they may.
I am much happier, more fulfilled, more energetic and more content as a godless person and I am finding my wife feels the same after all these years of hating to go to church but doing it anyway.
Am I a hypocrite? maybe, but this is what works for me. Any opinions or comments? thanks.

[JustBlazed]

Hypocrite? To whom or what?

Well put. You aren't alone and many of us STILL need to pretend around family members for fear of ridicule.

[Zygote]

You don't need to feel hypocritical or to pretend anything when enjoying the traditions of Christmas. It isn't the decorations or the rituals or the songs or the gifts that are inherently irrational. It is only the belief in the supernatural that is necessarily irrelevant to the non-believer. So leave the deity out and enjoy all the rest with a joyful heart.

- Zygote

[WhackAGod]

AS far as going to church and whatever, you do what you feel is right for you. In time you may lose the feeling you need to go. I get the feeling you are old enough that soon you won't care what people think and you'll do what you want.

For Christmas, any reason to get together with family and friends is a good reason. Call it what you want: Christmas, Giftmas, Winter Soltice, Feast of Saturnalia, etc. Enjoy the food, enjoy the company and enjoy the gifts.

[garrisonjj]

Its just that I've been a believer for so long, its just in the past year I decided that gods and religion are irrational. Church attendance at holidays will always be expected and as I said, I've grown strong enough to receive without confession while simultaneously embracing and developing my atheist beliefs.
Confession was the last straw. After years of faithfully confessing and trying afterwards to "sin no more" I finally discovered that I am who I am and this practice of self humiliation to another man was just "fucked up>".
Secretely, I've always hated attending church and worshipping an imaginary god. How could I have wasted a lifetime allowing such garbage to rule me and permeate many avenues of my life so negatively.
I've never felt so alive by developing my godlessness while still maintaining the golden rule.
Merryfucking x mas! Is this irrational thinking? Thanks for your responses.

[Writer@Large]

I've never felt so alive by developing my godlessness while still maintaining the golden rule.
Merryfucking x mas! Is this irrational thinking? Thanks for your responses.
Not irrational. Very human, in fact. I've submitted an article about this very topic, in fact, to the Kiosk, and hope to see it posted closer to the holiday. Short-short version is this: Christmas did not begin as a Christian holiday, it has not BEEN a purely religious holiday since it became Christmas, and all the modern evidence points to a celebration with an increasingly SECULAR side and spirit.

--W@L

[purple_kathryn]

Anything I do at xmas has zero to do with christianity (except for singing the odd carol) and I enjoy the holiday immensely.

[Pavlov's Dog]

Not irrational. Very human, in fact. I've submitted an article about this very topic, in fact, to the Kiosk, and hope to see it posted closer to the holiday. Short-short version is this: Christmas did not begin as a Christian holiday, it has not BEEN a purely religious holiday since it became Christmas, and all the modern evidence points to a celebration with an increasingly SECULAR side and spirit.

--W@L

Let me know if that article gets published. This is exactly the way I feel about the holiday.

[Zygote]

There is a tendency to deride the secular aspects of Christmas as being purely commercial, as if that were the only alternative to a reverent religious holiday.

It's time we reclaimed kindness, generosity, familial affection (or tolerance), music and good cheer as being simply human traits.

[garrisonjj]

Well said Zygote!