Having to do prayers on Christmas Day

Mostly it becomes difficult only when one half of the relationship believes they have a right to force their religion, or religious strictures on their family.

Where does it say that @Fretfulmum is stopping her partner and his family from sharing their faith though? She already sat through one set of prayers, she does not need to sit through another. They also need to not assume to pray as much as they like, or would at home, in a house which also has atheists in it.
Nobody has to partake of anyone else's religion, especially in their own home!

Good thing OP is not preventing her husband from doing that then.

@TriOptimim

Just because you are unable to love and respect someone who doesn't share your religion doesn't mean everyone is

In tribute to the late Tina Tuner, "What's love got to do with it?".

Sometimes, love is not enough. People who are devoted to their faith would like to share that with the children. It becomes increasingly difficult when children are involved and have conflicting religious views. Religion is not just a title, it embodies a person's entire life/views/upbringing.

@mnhq we should be able to pin a post at the top of a thread telling people to read the OP's comments as well as the op, especially if there are key updates. It's so bloody tedious having repeated 'cancel the cheque' type comments because people don't bother to look beyond the first post.

Do you know what's even more rude? Not reading any of the posts from @Fretfulmum and numerous other posters, who clarify that this did not involve merely 5 minutes of sitting quiet. It was much more than than. Go back and read the thread properly, or at least OP's comments!

Read the OP’s posts FFS.

Did you even bother to read the thread?

I think it's really rude of you tbh. You didn't mind partaking in any of the other festivities for Christmas which is a RELIGIOUS holiday but you couldn't just sit quietly for five minutes.

Just because you are unable to love and respect someone who doesn't share your religion doesn't mean everyone is.

So some Christians say, but (1) the Bible doesn’t, and (2) it is incompatible with God being an omniscient, omnipotent creator.

I think it's a bit sad.

I agree that no one should impose their beliefs on others.

But from the OP,

Your children do not attend Church..maybe on the odd occasion but not weekly.

You do not pray at home.

...and yet the people are telling the OP that her DH is being unfair. The OP's DH is not really practicing his Christian faith within his family home. It goes both ways.

OP, I understand your concerns but you chose to marry a devout Christian and your DH chose to marry an atheist. It was doomed from the start. I would never ever date someone who had a different faith to me (unless they were an agnostic). But it causes big issues... if it's not within the marriage, it's the outside family members. I hate to say it. But maybe you need to reconsider this relationship.

@SpecialCharacters

He gave man free will.

The reason not to do just give people holiday time for the days they want to celebrate is that it causes societal disintegration. Diversity does not result in a stable nation or country. We need to celebrate things together, know and understand our common history, invest in our historical community and require others who wish to be here to join the ship, not boat off on their own. Your plan means destruction, which is the end of a house that will become divided against itself. A stable and happy world for our children depends on us maintaining our community, which relies on common heritage and culture, including Christmas.

If God exists, then all evil is the result of him.

He is, allegedly, our all-knowing, all-powerful creator.

When he made the universe, he did so knowing every single decision that every human being would ever make. If he wanted any given human to make a different decision, at any time, he would have made them (or the external conditions around them) differently.

He chose to cause everything that ever happened, exactly as it happened, despite having unlimited power to create different outcomes.

@secular37

"disease.. is the result of MEN not God."

+++

Disease????

@Grammarnut

"NB Renaming Christmas has been suggested and every time has been greeted with disapprobation even by those who do not see it as a religious festival. I think doing that would mean we would consign to the dustbin the last festival we have left in this country, for we hardly celebrate Easter much and Whitsun has gone down the pan. About time we revived them all instead, perhaps."

+++

In order to revive or even keep the Christian festivals of Christmas, Easter and Whitsun the country would need to become more Christian when the reality is that it is becoming less Christian.

That is all perfectly fine and people are absolutely entitled to not identify as Christian. However let's at least be honest about this and say that for the majority Christmas is a two day bank holiday with booze, food and gifts with nothing to do with Christianity- so let's describe it as such - Year End Festival perhaps?

Or alternatively get rid of it altogether and give those of faith the necessary additional leave to celebrate Christmas, Eid or Winter Solstice. So those that want to celebrate their religious festivals can do so and everyone else can just crack on.

War, disease.. is the result of MEN not God.

Glad he’s apologized, OP. Hopefully he can find a way to better navigate this in the future.

The only embarrassing person here is you.

That is one, very narrow definition of atheism. You can insist it’s the correct definition, if you like, but it isn’t consistent with the every day use (as in, the dictionary definition) or many philosophical attempts to define it.

Its one of the problems with discussing atheism and agnosticism, the words mean different things to different people.

Agnosticism just means you don’t know if there is a God (or gods)/consider it unknowable. You can be an agnostic theist or an agnostic atheist.

A gnostic atheist believes with certainty that there is no higher power. Which appears to be how you e described yourself.

Most atheists are agnostic.

Eh? They are two different things. Atheist is anti-theist. It actively rejects the concept of the existence of a deity altogether.

However, a lot of people are agnostic rather than atheist. Personally I do not believe in any sort of god/higher power or the possibility of it. I'm not agnostic, I'm fully atheist. And until someone can prove me wrong I will remain an atheist. However, I also don't believe anyone can ever prove me wrong.

That is not what I would call agnosticism. Agnosticism is believing that the existence or not of a god is unknowable. Most atheists are agnostic.