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- mablco, on 12/25/2007, -26/+353Would Jesus have turned this boy away? I think not. religious zealouts are ***** hypocrites who want to make everyone follow "the word" but cant seem to comprehend it worth a damn for themselves.
- Superperson, on 12/25/2007, -28/+295It's just a party. Jesus. Just let the kid enjoy the party, regardless of whether or not he believes in God.
- jkbowman, on 12/25/2007, -17/+272Could they let him attend if he believed in the winter solstice?
- RogerStrong, on 12/25/2007, -26/+211For YOU, Christmas is about Jesus. But for others, today's Christmas is no more a Christian holiday than it is a Roman holiday. Christmas trees, Santa Claus, reindeer-drawn sleds, and mistletoe most assuredly are *not* Christian symbols. (The connection between today's Santa and the Saint Nicholas of Catholicism is tenuous at best, and saints don't feature in most other flavors of Christianity.)
Yes, it has Christian heritage, in the same way that the original Christian holiday -- very different from today's -- had Roman heritage: it was put on the 25th to coincide with Saturnalia, a day of feasting and celebration which emphasized peace and goodwill to all (sound familiar?). Yes, its name is Christian, in the same way that our names for four of the days of the week are Norse. Celebrating Christmas no more implies belief in Christ than agreeing to meet on Wednesday implies belief in Woden. - Crazyloc, on 12/25/2007, -39/+192Christmas has nothing to do with believing in Jesus or the virgin birth or the manger its a commercialized holiday like all the others so let the kid have ice cream an presents because the cool kids are doing it!!!
- inactive, on 12/25/2007, -10/+128I agree. But it is possible that the school was just trying to cover their ass, and not necessarily just trying being an ass. Since they received instructions by the parents to not include the kids in anything religious, the school could have gotten in the trouble either way.
- InSeverance, on 12/25/2007, -9/+107Merely means a Festivus for the rest of us
- inactive, on 12/25/2007, -7/+102If it happened in the US and Fox had reported it: "Atheist tries to disrupt Christmas party: Does he hate America?"
- ChiRolla, on 12/25/2007, -9/+96Winter solstice? That's fancy science talk. They'll have none of that.
- xOKxWhy, on 12/25/2007, -14/+91Flying Spaghetti Monster party over here!
- GobBluth, on 12/25/2007, -13/+87Christians are so full of love and compassion.
- nblsavage, on 12/25/2007, -5/+79Reality?
- Bhima, on 12/25/2007, -19/+83The is a real pity, what's going on in the US and the UK. Christian Zealots practicing ***** rather than compassion.
My daughter is now at another family's house doing the whole Christmas Thing (tm) caroling and all. As baffled as her mother is with whole thing she sounded pretty excited to go. Both of them have great time during the whole holiday season. They have learned to bake cookies so I am all for this.
I've got to say living in Austria during Christmas is huge difference than the US. It's a pleasure to have families interested in what we are doing and interested in inviting children all around for all the holidays, rather than bullying and curses we received from the Christians in America - badwithcomputer, on 12/25/2007, -30/+86the image preview speaks volumes
- crichton101, on 12/25/2007, -7/+62Actually what doesn't matter is the religious nature of the holiday, as the article states if you had read it all the way through that they called the Moray Council who stated that the parties were non religious. The article also states that they were told by the Headmaster that because the boy had no interest in religion he could participate. If the party was set up in the way that the school policies dictate and they were indeed not religious in nature then there should have been no issue with letting the boy attend. It appears more to me that the Headmaster decided to slight the non religious parents and took it out on the kid, which obviously makes the man a wonderful christian in the first place.
- debuggercll, on 12/25/2007, -15/+68They look sad in the picture. It's because they know their souls will never enter heaven with all the other smug prick *****.
- XopherMV, on 12/25/2007, -8/+55There is absolutely no proof that Jesus was born December 25th. Read your bible. There is no mention of his birth date anywhere in there, a fact so simple that it could have easily been included.
Catholics didn't even think of celebrating Jesus's birth until over 300 years after his death - long after anyone would remember the actual date. They DECIDED upon that date in order to help convert the Pagans who wouldn't give up their year-end celebrations. The date itself has nothing to do with the birth of Jesus. Pagans celebrated winter solstice in Saturnalia on that date, long before Jesus was born. - kufu91, on 12/25/2007, -3/+47"***** that little kid."
real CHRISTian of you. - smackhero, on 12/25/2007, -8/+50or if he believes in Ishtar or Mithras, both of which predate Christian traditions.
- RogerStrong, on 12/25/2007, -6/+46So you DO believe that agreeing to meet on Wednesday implies belief in Woden?
- Ugoff, on 12/25/2007, -12/+50Only in America.... oh wait. See stupid ***** happens everywhere.
Anyways, Christmas truly has nothing to do with Jesus' birth, he wasn't born on December. The Catholics just went along and said it was to coincide with the winter solstice and the pagen celebrations during that time. - MakinBacon, on 12/25/2007, -5/+38DesignEx is absolutely correct. A parent wanted their kid exempt from any religious teachings... the school's interpretation was that this might include the Christmas party. In today's socio-political climate, how can they be blamed for being a bit too sensitive?
His mother was told to keep him home (because they thought she may want it that way) and when she complained they realized they were incorrect in their assumption. Then they allowed his older brother to attend his class party a couple of days later - and they tried to make things right by saving a present for the younger son. FTA: "Callum was allowed to attend his party a few days later and Douglas received a present Santa had left behind."
They realized their misunderstanding may have made the boy sad and tried to at least make him happy with a present. How is this newsworthy? - inactive, on 12/25/2007, -5/+38>> ... ***** that little kid.
Lately that does seem to be the 'Christian' thing to do. - Comatose51, on 12/25/2007, -4/+36I don't know about Christians but I welcome anyone to celebrate Chinese New Years, regardless of your believes or culture. My family has always invited our non-Chinese friends to come celebrate even though none of them are of Chinese heritage nor do any of us believe in the folklores or religion behind it. It's a celebration and an occasion for taking the time to socialize with friends.
Ironic that the season of love is so full of hate. - inactive, on 12/25/2007, -1/+31But the school's christmas party was NOT religious. RTFA.
- AlexanderZero, on 12/25/2007, -3/+33Not really.
- RogerStrong, on 12/25/2007, -4/+34No, I did say that for Christians its about Christ. But the holiday's origins are not, no matter how much you try to pretend otherwise.
- thebellmaster1x, on 12/25/2007, -3/+33...Something else? I seriously don't see where you're coming from.
- RogerStrong, on 12/25/2007, -2/+31So sayeth the man with Christian values.
- RogerStrong, on 12/25/2007, -11/+38>> If the school intended for it to be held in the Christian tradition
From the story, the school appears to be a public school. No-one wants them prevent them from celebrating Christmas - but they have no right to make it an exclusively Christian celebration. If they were say, a Catholic school board, then sure. But not a public school.
>> My world view didn't shatter. My friends didn't feel imposed upon or
>> forced to hide their own heritage.
Too bad the school doesn't share this view. - HandsomeRuss, on 12/25/2007, -13/+39Christmas was the celebration of the winter solstice long before it was hijacked by Christianity as the celebration of Jesus Christ.
That kid > his retarded teachers - Memitim, on 12/25/2007, -3/+29It was the teachers who banned the kid after the parents pulled him out of religious education classes at the school earlier in the year. Read it next time, moron.
- noahhoward, on 12/25/2007, -4/+30Oh look, a sad Christian nerd coming to the rescue of his imaginary friends imaginary holiday.
- PabloMac, on 12/25/2007, -15/+41Exactly. Christmas is not a Christian holiday. It appears nowhere in New Testament Scripture. Jesus' death, burial, and resurrection (Easter) is infinitely more important to Christians than His birthday...or at least it should be. Christmas = Commercial Holiday. Easter = Christian Holiday.
Digg me down or Digg me up; it's the truth. - Joomal, on 12/25/2007, -5/+28That’s right, that Yuletide cheer you’re spreading? What exactly do you think Yule is? It's the ***** Pagan celebration of solstice. And those “Christmas” traditions? They’re not just like Pagan rituals, they ***** are Pagan rituals. Way before your Jesus got all magical with the bread and fishes, the Romans were celebrating the birth of Mithra on . . . guess?
? Go on – guess. December ***** twenty fifth. What a weird coincidence. Practically the whole thing is ripped off from the ***** Druids and the Romans. Twelve days? Check. Exchanging gifts? Check. Mistletoe? Check. And you’d better ***** believe that those decorated trees that Gibson and Co. are so bent out of shape over are as Pagan as the Rune and Crystal Shack at Pentagramfest 2005.
And don’t you read your own goddamn Bibles? Jesus was born when? In the middle of winter? Lot of Shepherds out watching their flocks around that time of year in Bethlehem? No, because they’d be freezing their ***** asses off. Tell you what – y’all go figure out which one of the different Bible stories about the birth of Baby Jesus® you want to believe.
Christians just stole a bunch of traditions from other cultures, slapped them together, stuck a ***** tinfoil star on top and called it the Most Important Holiday of the Year. Modern American Christmas makes Michael Jackson look positively organic.
http://*****.org/ - kronix2, on 12/25/2007, -1/+24"i don't think it was a public school. the article says the parents wanted their child pulled from religious education ("RE") classes, and most public schools do not offer religious education at elementary level."
Do you live in the UK? No.
"so, if they didn't want their child in religious education, and the christmas party was held as part of the religious education, call the wambulance because there's no way he should be invited. i agree with the school."
Are you a ***** moron? Yes. - dotlizard, on 12/25/2007, -4/+27gee, let's see. what could a person possibly believe in, if not for Jesus? http://www.adherents.com/Religions_By_Adherents.ht ...
but even though 67% of the world's population believes in something other than Jesus, still, a huge percentage of non-christians celebrate christmas, just for the whole, presents and santa thing. making this a ridiculous thing to do to kids at christmas. - inactive, on 12/25/2007, -3/+26Keep it up LivingHealthy. Just shows your "loving values" that you strongly espouse. Everytime you post, you drive people away from your hate filled beliefs.
- Arkavus, on 12/25/2007, -4/+26Well technically Christmas was a Pagan holiday before the Romans adopted it so that they could easier convert Pagans to Christianity. In fact it was illegal in most Christian sects to celebrate Christmas due to its Pagan roots until the late 17th century. And even then it was still looked down upon to celebrate it for a very long time.
Not to mention if Jesus ever did really exist his birthday would have been in the Summertime and not on Dec 25th. - inactive, on 12/25/2007, -4/+25Could you please point us to the passages in the bible that talk about Santa Claus and the tradition of giving presents on December 25th? The fact is this tradition has very little to do with religion or christianity. The winter solstice was celebrated for thousands of years before christianity. The church just came a little late to the party and then tried to take it over for its own purposes. Why don't you people get your own damn holiday and leave us pagans to celebrate Yule in peace.
- NihilFist, on 12/25/2007, -4/+25I celebrate Christmas... and last time I checked I was an atheist. Christmas is not just about the son of agod, you know. Too bad it's not what it used to be though :(.
- amoirae, on 12/25/2007, -6/+26You mean like families that want their kids ignorant on sex, evolution, and the geological history of our planet and want other kids to be ignorant on those concepts too?
- ChestyLaRue, on 12/25/2007, -0/+20Atheism is not a religion, and not all Atheists hate as you think they do. We simply do not believe in God. A lack of belief is not a foundation for a religion.
- RogerStrong, on 12/25/2007, -3/+23>> And how many people celebrate the solstice exactly?
Around here, quite a few. Why? - chaosium, on 12/25/2007, -0/+18"It's not a foundation for living life, either."
Gee thanks "LivingHealthy", but I can live life fully, finely, and happily without believing in God. - noahhoward, on 12/25/2007, -1/+19"Holy ***** crap you people are insane. By that logic, absolutely nothing is christian because everything was borrowed or made up"
Keep it up I think he's close to understanding. - skeen07, on 12/25/2007, -9/+27Or, being a school, and a place of learning, why didn't they teach the children the true origins of Christmas, that really its a modern form of pagan Winter festivals, and celebrate it as such? :)
- rebelphoenix, on 12/25/2007, -12/+30Given that christmas as most of us know it is a poorly covered up Pagan Holiday (covered up by the Catholic church around 45AD) I'd say this is a very sad state indeed. I wonder when people will wake up and realize that their "religion" stems mostly from the same beliefs as the ancient Pagans and understand what has been going on all these years.
- smacksaw, on 12/25/2007, -1/+19ROFL @ you
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christ
"The word may be misunderstood by some as being the surname of Jesus due to the frequent juxtaposition of Jesus and Christ in the Christian Bible and other Christian writings. Often used as a more formal-sounding synonym for Jesus, the word is in fact a title, hence its common reciprocal use Christ Jesus, meaning The Anointed One, Jesus.
Followers of Jesus became known as Christians because they believed that Jesus was the Christ, or Messiah, prophesied about in the Tanakh (which Christians usually refer to as the Old Testament). The majority of Jews reject this claim and are still waiting for the Messiah to come (see Jewish Messiah)."
Anyone can celebrate Christmas seeing as Christians co-opted an existing holiday for Jesus, but to anyone who believes in a messiah and IS NOT Christian, Christmas has meaning for them as well - as much or as little as they want. Even if you are not a saved Christian, you can still celebrate Jesus Christ. It's not the divinity of it, it's the beliefs of others.
For an example. As an American living in Canada, I celebrate Canada day when I am there. It does not offend me or them. It is their holiday which is directly contrary to my holiday of Independence Day. Canada Day signifies their friendly alliance with the Crown and July 4th celebrates our forceful break. You see, I can celebrate something that is not my own because of something called respect, and Canadians include me in their holiday because of respect.
Christians and Christmas on the other hand, LOL...and considering it's not even their holiday to begin with?
Educate thyself. So sayeth the me.
ps I went to Catholic school, you learn what Christ means when you're like 3 years old. I know I did. - sportbikepilot, on 12/25/2007, -8/+25christmas has NOTHING to do with christ, it is the STOLEN celebration of the Winter Solstice. christmas is now only about spending money, I don't see any stores requiring a love of christ before you can buy ***** to give away.
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