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Do you agree with Ben Stein's unique Christmas perspective?

Do you agree with Ben Stein's unique Christmas perspective?

  • Im a right leaning American, yes.

    Votes: 8 33.3%
  • Im a left leaning American, yes.

    Votes: 5 20.8%
  • Im not American, yes.

    Votes: 1 4.2%
  • Im a right leaning American, no.

    Votes: 3 12.5%
  • Im a left leaning American, no.

    Votes: 6 25.0%
  • Im not American, no.

    Votes: 1 4.2%

  • Total voters
    24
We've already established that you celebrate Christmas.
You tell me what the religious holiday celebrates.

You didnt answer my questions. I will ask you again: So you are changing your point for the meaning of the celebration of Christmas? It went from upholding Ben Steins of "forgiveness and love" to "birth of Christ"?
 
You didnt answer my questions. I will ask you again: So you are changing your point for the meaning of the celebration of Christmas? It went from upholding Ben Steins of "forgiveness and love" to "birth of Christ"?

Look man, Im not changing a thing. Stop dancing and take a chill pill. I get it-you are an atheist. But what you dont get is you celebrate the birth of Christ each year. Theres no shame in that, just saying.
 
Look man, Im not changing a thing. Stop dancing and take a chill pill. I get it-you are an atheist. But what you dont get is you celebrate the birth of Christ each year. Theres no shame in that, just saying.

So you are not gonna answer the questions?
 
Look man, Im not changing a thing. Stop dancing and take a chill pill. I get it-you are an atheist. But what you dont get is you celebrate the birth of Christ each year. Theres no shame in that, just saying.

The date celebrated is based on the winter solstice.
 
So on the 25th of december, what celebration are you taking part in? Is it the birth of Christ?

I celebrate the passing of yet another year with loved ones. Of our ups and downs and we celebrate being together for a nice dinner (this year we are eating "ragout of chicken" and "Konijn op zijn Limburgs" (rabbit Limburg style) with pommes duchesse and poached gieser wildeman pears.

The feeling of kerst is enhanced by a nice kerstboom (kerst-tree), this year and nice red (last year blue/pastel green)

CIMG1226 (2).jpg

The star on top is not religious, it was a toss up, between the usual "piek"

gg0370_02 luxe pieken met 2 bollen.jpg

and this star but as the star was bought new together with other red things (birdcage, cupcakes, etc, pumps, ice-skates) we chose to put the red star on, next year we will most likely have a golden, silver, blue, or one of the other 2 or 3 colors we have kerstballen for (decorations) for. I used to work for a store selling christmas decorations. I had the luck that the manufacturer would only accept unused boxes back from the store so they sold it to us employees for 3 dollars or so for an entire big bag full of decorations.

Add to that cooking together and baking together adds to the festive and relaxed feeling of our version of kerst.
 
So Kerstfeest means Christ celebration, no? Even if you aren't Christian aren't you celebrating the birth of Christ?

To the Dutch, as a highly secularized society, for a lot of people there is no religious meaning for kerst. And as a 4th generation atheist, we do not celebrate the birth of Christ as we do not believe there ever was a son of god/Christ and you cannot celebrate what you do not believe in.
 
I celebrate the passing of yet another year with loved ones. Of our ups and downs and we celebrate being together for a nice dinner (this year we are eating "ragout of chicken" and "Konijn op zijn Limburgs" (rabbit Limburg style) with pommes duchesse and poached gieser wildeman pears.

The feeling of kerst is enhanced by a nice kerstboom (kerst-tree), this year and nice red (last year blue/pastel green)

View attachment 67177495

The star on top is not religious, it was a toss up, between the usual "piek"

View attachment 67177496

and this star but as the star was bought new together with other red things (birdcage, cupcakes, etc, pumps, ice-skates) we chose to put the red star on, next year we will most likely have a golden, silver, blue, or one of the other 2 or 3 colors we have kerstballen for (decorations) for. I used to work for a store selling christmas decorations. I had the luck that the manufacturer would only accept unused boxes back from the store so they sold it to us employees for 3 dollars or so for an entire big bag full of decorations.

Add to that cooking together and baking together adds to the festive and relaxed feeling of our version of kerst.

Sounds good but kerst=Christ. Theres a reason for the celebration, and its the birth of Christ, no?
 
I asked about the historical event. This actually happened.
baby-jesus-mary-joseph-by-dewey.jpg

Well, a historical event is something that can be verified from facts. This is only proven by a religious book. And it also does not prove that a baby with the name of Jesus was the son of God. That is faith and faith alone.
 
To the Dutch, as a highly secularized society, for a lot of people there is no religious meaning for kerst. And as a 4th generation atheist, we do not celebrate the birth of Christ as we do not believe there ever was a son of god/Christ and you cannot celebrate what you do not believe in.

I understand, but does this mean you think that Christmas can in fact be an atheist holiday?
 
Well, a historical event is something that can be verified from facts. This is only proven by a religious book. And it also does not prove that a baby with the name of Jesus was the son of God. That is faith and faith alone.

Well we know from Roman historical records that a person named Jesus Christ existed, so presumably he was also born.
 
Sounds good but kerst=Christ. Theres a reason for the celebration, and its the birth of Christ, no?

Kerst is not Christ. It might be at the same date that religious folks celebrate the birth of their savior but for the rest of us, the not religious/secular part of the Dutch people. Almost half of the Dutch public (46% in 2012) states that they have no religious beliefs. Only 18% says they are Protestant, 27% are catholic, 4% are Muslims, about 6% have different beliefs and as said 46% has no religious beliefs making us the biggest group with regards to religious/non-religious beliefs.
 
Saw this on another thread. Feel like I should just post this here to get a certain someones panties in a bunch because of those "dirty evil Marxists out there!"
ayx3b5.jpg
 
Well we know from Roman historical records that a person named Jesus Christ existed, so presumably he was also born.

You mean there probably was once a person called Jesus of Nazareth which the bible says is the son of god but there is not historical evidence for the birth of a son of god. That is religion/faith, not historical facts.
 
I understand, but does this mean you think that Christmas can in fact be an atheist holiday?

For most Dutch people it is just as much an atheist celebration as it is a religious one for Christians.
 
You mean there probably was once a person called Jesus of Nazareth which the bible says is the son of god but there is not historical evidence for the birth of a son of god. That is religion/faith, not historical facts.

That is true but it does not change the fact that he was born.
 
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