A question for atheists with children

Show me the law that states the seperation of church and state. You can't and you know it. Having the ten commandments or a prayer in school does not violate the first amendment. Congress is not oficially recognieing a state religion.
So stop being dishonest or better yet educate yourself.

 

Are you sure you want the Ten Commandments posted in schools?
http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-YMf-oC4RE...Abo/TOrW_Ru1CTc/s1600/10_Commandments_01b.jpg

 

Have you ever considered a possible relationship between the Easter egg hunt and the passage from Isaiah 10:13-14 (MSG) =
“‘I’ve done all this by myself.
I know more than anyone.
I’ve wiped out the boundaries of whole countries.
I’ve walked in and taken anything I wanted.
I charged in like a bull
and toppled their kings from their thrones.
I reached out my hand and took all that they treasured
as easily as a boy taking a bird’s eggs from a nest.
Like a farmer gathering eggs from the henhouse,
I gathered the world in my basket,
And no one so much as fluttered a wing
or squawked or even chirped.’”

The passage doesn't mention the rabbit directly but good fairy tales have large casts of diverse characters. Maybe the rabbit in the modern Easter egg hunt represents the last sentence (complete acquiescence) since rabbits are typically docile creatures.

 

Then the really scuzzy ones are the religions , who pay no taxes, SPONGING off others who do pay taxes......

Are there prayers in school that kids have to say?


But I see no real point with your whine......just trying to get a stab in at atheists...pretty pathetic....""OOH, look , someone called us "hypocrites"...BFD.

I celebrate any holiday I choose and you can't stop me....if you want your "Christmas" with all the stress and BOOZING and over spending and GLUTTONY and Holy Football....have at it ..it does LOOK religious

 

Most atheists peacefully observe the season of Festivus just as Christians and Jews celebrate the season. It's those damn Muslims you need to watch out for they'll blow themselves up for fun and entertainment while shouting praise be to Allah.

 

No, that is how Christians have rebranded Paganism, which up until Christians perverted it meant nature-based spiritual paths.

 

No. When I was growing up in a non-religious family, we enjoyed the non-religious cultural events that had long evolved (sorry) from those religious holidays. Most of that involved greed, gluttony and sloth.

 

It's all good.

Colossians 2:16 (NLT) = "So don’t let anyone condemn you for what you eat or drink, or for not celebrating certain holy days or new moon ceremonies or Sabbaths."

 

Yes I do and no it does not.

They were pagan holidays long before they were appropriated by christianity.

Nothing wrong with secular christmas or secular easter.

 

No one admitted anything is offensive. It is simply fun to observe holidays without any religious overtones

 

No it does not make one a hypocrite as those holidays have nothing to do with religion

 

Personally, I see greater hypocrisy in a Christian celebrating Christmas and Easter than I do in a n atheist doing it.

Most Atheists view these holidays as consumer/ cultural holidays and will educate their kids about Santa Claus, the Easter bunny etc. It's a fun thing to do, it's a national holiday in most places so they have the day off anyway, the media and the retail sector push it and it's not such a bad thing anyway.

For Christians,they know that their God is a jealous god who tolerates only pure worship. By mixing the Passover/resurrection of Christ with a fertility ritual for the Goddess Ishtar and by creating a religious holiday out of the birth Christ (which was a direct appeal to followers of Mithra and the celebration of Saturnalia) they are contradicting the values of their God.

Atheists think these things are entertaining myths. Christians believe these myths are reality.

 

there are three problems here. First you have not defined the terms 'tolerates', 'pure' or 'worship', let alone proved the premise that this god only tolerates pure worship. Second, you have decided that the 'worship' part of a given religious holiday and its 1440 minutes must become so extensive, that there is no room to engage in anything else. If you can read the morning paper and take a shower before worship time( prayer, scripture reading etc), you can look for Easter eggs before worship time. It does not need to be seen as an infectious virus cross-contaminating the worship time. third, you forgot that time changes and alters the significance of these ancient rituals. Christians are allowed to note that there aren't a lot of folks these days, who worship Ishtar or are followers of Mithra and the danger that their God will be still be jealous of these by now long-dead Gods and arcane rituals is probably minimal. Christians get to have fun on their religious holidays, and you can't tell them which kinds of fun, they are excluded from. they can even stop praying ( pure worship type prayers of course) for awhile and play some charades or have sex.

 

My kids are in college now, but yes, I always celebrated the holidays and still do. They're cultural celebrations as well as religious ones. Also, I'm an atheist but my children weren't.

 

No one else was defining terms so I didn't feel a need to. If you want to know the definition of those terms feel free to look them up.
I didn't decide anything about the time constraints of celebrating Easter. I'm sure you could fit some more time in there after worshipping and egg hunting to also fly a kite and play a game of marbles but time constraints really weren't a relevant part of my casual statements.

You're right, celebrating Easter doesn't have to be seen as cross contaminating or infectious but I wasn't really saying they should be. I just think there's more to be seen as hypocritical for a Christian celebrating holidays gleaned from pagan religions than an atheist celebrating a day off from work by engaging in games for kids based on myths.
I'm sure lots of Christians have their own way of looking at it where they can justify participating in a holiday named after a pagan god. I'm not opposed to that. It's just my opinion that the god of the bible is a jealous god, by his own words. Does he accept some worship and not others? Well Cain slew Able because he was jealous that his offering was refused by god. There are other examples. Each Christian is probably going to weigh this out differently anyway. You have some denominations like JW's and some SDA's who won't celebrate Christmas and others like some Pentecostal types that'll celebrate Christmas but not have trees or give gifts and some like Catholics and Anglicans who are fine with the whole kit and caboodle. It's a spectrum really depending on the chosen exegesis one chooses to believe in.


Myself, I don't really care what one believes so long as they aren't being a dick about it and even then it's not a big deal. I think arguing over whether an imaginary god is offended by one behaviour or another is a bit like arguing whether or not Smurfs are two apples high or three apples high. Knock yourself out if that's what you want to do. It's the Christians that take these myths seriously, not the atheists so if anyone is a hypocrite for choosing conflicting myths it's Christians, if anyone at all. After all, if I wanted to brainwash my kids with the myth that there is a god watching over them who will reward or punish their behaviour starting off by teaching them Santa Claus is real is pretty bad form because pretty much all kids will figure out that he isn't real. It seems to me it would teach your kids that you are not to be trusted. That's what 'I got out of it when I was a kid anyway.

 

Naw. My wife's Christian, but even if she wasn't, we'd still celebrate Easter and Christmas with the kids. I like the lights and music. It's harmless nonsense like the Tooth Fairy.

 

On public property? Absolutely I oppose it. In the privacy of our own homes is an altogether different animal. How odd that you equate them.

 

Of course not since they are no longer religious holidays. They are now marketing opportunities.

 

If by "celebrate" you mean gifts, dinner, eggs, . I do celebrate them. They're a lot of fun. I fail to see the hypocrisy for an atheist to celebrate those. Wouldn't it be more hypocritical for a believer to celebrate that Santa Claus is coming to town? Or that a magical rabbit hides colored eggs two days after their god died? Personally, I find those celebrations very compatible with atheism.