No, next question.

I will, however, be spending an hour or so on Christmas Day morning, with the old lady next door but one, who lost her husband earlier this year, and has no other family. This is before my girl friend and her Mum and Dad, arrive about midday. We both asked if she'd like to have Christmas dinner with us, but she politely declined that, although she did say she very much welcomed some company at some part of the day.

Just as a footnote, I never visit my parents on Christmas Day. The last two times ended with my Father and I arguing about politics, and it got quite heated on both occasions, with him slinging a coaster at me and calling me a fascist bastard last time.

If you celebrate Christmas and do not acknowledge the religious aspect of it in some form, especially in this country, you are a hypocrite.

Or you see it as the ancient midwinter festival which existed hundreds of years before it was given a Christian meaning.

I can't really see anyone 'trying to be clever' as you put it. It only counts as religious if you believe any of it.

I take part in quite a few celebrations, Hindu, Christian, Jewish, Muslim and Buddhist, because I have friends who believe in or at least follow those religions. It's usually a good celebration (funerals aside), but it doesn't mean I believe any of it

Oh don't give me that crap, nobody was brought up in this country and taught that Christmas was a midwinter festival, it is pretentious drivel that people spout to think they have got an upper hand and to get one over on you.

erm, Winterval anyone?

Ah, at last. The true meaning of Xmas. Family barneys.

So many things we do at Xmas can be traced back to religious traditions, be they Christian or pagan.

I don't go to church anymore but I love the story of the nativity, some of the carols etc. I like the message behind it, I like Jesus and what he said. Regardless of the truth of it or not.

I'm not so sure. I would love to be present on the day that some rabble-rousing extreme conservative preacher type's rant of "... and God says that ..." is interrupted by a booming voice from the heavens that declares "Excuse me, I said no such thing!"

The whole winter festival thing is just about keeping spirits up while chilly. It was also originally about wishing God-speed to the warm weather to come back, before we understood that happens anyway.

Strange post. People all over the world have celebrated the winter solstice since ancient times. Hard to see why that fact is 'pretentious drivel'.

Celebrating Christmas in Britain is cultural as well as religious. You can take part in and enjoy religious aspects of Christmas, like attending a carol service, without believing any of it.

As this shows, some people hate the fact that what we now call Christmas existed well before Christianity itself, but it doesn't make it any less true. Cultures all over the world marked the Winter solstice in their own way, so if people with non-Christian (or no) beliefs wish to celebrate 'Christmas' without the Christian story that was imposed on it, that's fine by me.

Whether you believe it or not the original question was whether there'll be a scrap of religion in Christmas. Whether the tradition be Christian or Pagan in origin they're both religions and so yes anyone who partakes in any of those things has religion in their Christmas whether they believe in it or not.

That's a sweeping statement. It depends what kind of celebration. I celebrate the fact that I get two days off work and that it's usually starting to become obvious that the days are getting longer. At least one of those things has been celebrated in the northern hemisphere for thousands of years and has nothing to do with Christianity.

The 21st is the shortest day, it takes significantly more than just 4 days before it becomes obvious the days are getting longer.

Apart from the odd carol on the radio , nope, xmas has very little to do with any religion these days, it is a mish mash of our ancient religions and a middle eastern one, but over the last century has morphed yet again into something that can be celebrated whether you are an atheist or believe in one of those gods.

It is lovely to see the birth of the new born sun though on roughly the 25th, after the solstice on the 21st, and we can finally look forward to lighter days, thats all that xmas is, an ancient celebration to note the change in the sun. Our ancestors were always up for a knees up at these times and we all carry that on.

Yes. I will be taking the kids to morning mass on christmas day. They would prefer to stay home and play with their toys though.

I do acknowledge the birth of the new born sun, it is fact, and something that none of us can ignore, you dont have to be religious to acknowledge that.

Earlier this week I popped to a couple of elderly ladies in my building to ask if they were alone on Christmas day or would they like some company. They both declined, had family they were going to, but I'm glad I asked.

I'm afraid my presence is not conducive to family harmony. I seem to bring out the worst in them these days.


It's different if someone has been alone a long time and they're used to it - many of them actively prefer to be alone, be it Christmas or any other time. But in this instance I do know that she and her husband were very close and it must have been a big blow to lose him. So as I knew them both and often used to chat, it seemed only natural that I offered the hand of friendship to ease what will obviously be a difficult day for her.

No they don't.

If you don't believe it, then you are not celebrating or including any religion in Christmas. You may well be including aspects that are taken from other peoples religions, but there is no actual religious aspect in your celebration, if you don't believe in it in the first place.

Religions evolve and invent new ideas; trees and lights c.1500 onwards in Germany for example, which other people then take up and use themselves. Doing so does not involve any religious thought or belief.

However, we are arguing semantics

You should not be naming it Christmas then.

A hypocrite with presents though

It's a celebration of the birth of Jesus. Didn't you know that ?????


You need more research


Sorry. I have to disagree. Most followers of other religions and those with no religion have the same attributes. They are not Christians


What a lovely post.