First and foremost before I get drown in monkey shit and be called a hypocrite; I want to point out that I do partake in most of the Christmas traditions, but mostly as part of cultural rearing.
I do the same thing for weddings, baptism and such. However, when I go into the Church I never truly pray I just sit through the procession and all of that BS. I've detached myself from my birth religion (Roman Catholic) in my early 20s when the veil of naiveness (not sure if that's a word) fell and I started to see that the world is not sunshine and rainbows as religion tries to portrait it and also my inquisitive personality never truly felt comfortable under this dogmatic theology.
Also I want to point that I'm Agnostic not an Atheist as both are always put under the same umbrella. An Agnostic believes there is something higher than him/her self but doesn't classify it as any deity under the existing theologies and an Atheist doesn't believe in anything period. Now coming from a Latino background this has put a lot of heat on myself as Latin Americans specially South Americans are very religious and devout people.
Most of my immediate family has respected my choice of no longer classifying myself as a Roman Catholic while allowing me to partake in the Seasons Festivities. Now my problem arises from a couple of weeks back when one of my Aunt's (Dad's Sister) who is a Grade 1 Bible Huger Kept messaging me religious messages and passages through Whatsapp during two weeks during my work hours sending me at bible passage at least three times a day.
At the end of the second week, I finally had enough and told her off saying that I don't believe in your god and told her to leave me alone. Well this just made my problem worst after telling her that not only did she continue sending messages to my whatsapp, but she also started sending to my other social networks and although I've felt like blocking her I feel that this will just create problems with my father and the rest of my Dad's side of the family in fact one of my others aunt who is not so crazy as this one said that my entrance to her house is prohibited until I go back to behaving as Christian (WTF?) Also sometimes I feel I uncomfortable when my family is doing their traditional Novena (Christmas Eve Prayers) and they stare at me across the room downing a beer.
My fellow agnostic monkey how do you deal with these situations?
and with masterpiece from George Carlin I leave you. Thanks in Advance.
I think the word you were looking for is *naivety.
"Oh, another Whatsapp message from Aunt Eunice. I just won't bother reading that."
I don't want to start a war here but I'm curious about how you think that religion portrays the world as just rainbows and sunshine, if anything I think it highlights the wrong and suffering in the world.
Did you Watch The George Carlin's Video I refer to Religion portraying the world as sunshine and rainbows when he says is in God's Divine Plan Meaning that anything you want oh see happen was in God's plan. If I want to get more Descriptive if you tell a truly religious person that the terrorist attack that happen in Berlin proves that religion tends to instigate violence. They will say it doesn't and that it was in this God's plans for these people to die on that day. Which we not for a fact is not true. My other problems with religion is that condemns a women whom want to end pregnancies that came as a result of rape/incest a sinner. When we know that most of these pregnancies came from unwanted sexual advances and without consent from both parties involved in the act. Another example is the condemnation of homosexuality which we know has existed for ages and another thing is that Christianity is is a rip off of other earlier theologies. I could go on explain about why I don't agree with religion, but for now I will leave it at these simple examples you might agree or disagree with me. Different Strokes for Different Folks.
If I say anything more I know we'll be at it all day so I'll stop it here. It's cool that there are Colombians on the forum though. Are you from Colombia or just your family?
I'm an atheist.
From what I can tell, it is common for non-religious individuals to participate in holiday festivities with their religious friends and family. All you have to do is respectfully participate in the (non-religious) festivities, and if you're criticised, simply ignore/deflect any criticism. Whether you are able to intelligently debate with them is irrelevant; holiday celebrations are not the time or place for argument. I repeat, do not be baited into an argument with some annoying religious person. Calmly, firmly, and respectfully tell them that you're not religious and that this is not the appropriate time or place for such a discussion. This way, you're taking the high ground, and anyone who continues pressing the issue will make their rudeness apparent to everyone.
Although Christians celebrate the birth of Jesus on the 25th, that is not the day Jesus was born. In fact, no one knows when Jesus was born. The Christmas holiday period is actually (ironically) a pagan holiday period:
Roman pagans first introduced the holiday of Saturnalia, a week long period of lawlessness celebrated between December 17-25.
(From some random Jewish website: http://www.simpletoremember.com/vitals/Christmas_TheRealStory.htm).
There is nothing inconsistent with being non-religious and celebrating with friends and family during the holiday period.
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