Does religion feature in your christmas?

[Mindtrope]

I have some very religious members of my family.
I always think it odd that she sends me cards with pictures of camels and sand dunes at christmas time.The only thing we do is listen to Carols at Kings, sweet in a traditional way, but not for the religious aspect.
Is your house a jesus free zone?

Yes we go to Church on Christmas Eve but we are practicing Christians throughout the year.

Jesus features in our Christmas we tell our kids that it is an important part of the festive season

We are cultural Christians I suppose. We attend our local church maybe 6 times a year.
We read the Nativity story with DS and we have a couple of nativity sets. DS advent calendar is one that gives him a different figure a day so an advent calendar and nativity in one. He will have a chocolate one as well. This year he is a king in his class nativity play.
We will attend church one Sunday in advent, probably 18th and also go to the Christingle on Christmas Eve.

No religion and don't send any Christmas cards, we make a charity donation instead. Christmas to us is spending time with the family. Love it

My sister is a pastor. She doesn't have a christmas tree, nor her grown married children- also very religious.

They consider it pagan.

Slender: this is verse people are referring to
"1 Hear the word which the LORD speaks to you, O house of Israel. 2 Thus says the LORD: Do not learn the way of the Gentiles; do not be dismayed at the signs of heaven, for the Gentiles are dismayed at them. 3 For the customs of the peoples are futile; for one cuts a tree from the forest, the work of the hands of the workman, with the ax. 4 They decorate it with silver and gold; they fasten it with nails and hammers so that it will not topple. 5 They are upright, like a palm tree, and they cannot speak; they must be carried, because they cannot go by themselves. Do not be afraid of them, for they cannot do evil, nor can they do any good.”

OP - You're correct in that they are not totem poles strictly as we usually think of them. But they're essentially the same and they are not, not, not Christmas trees.

I promise!

Did you actually think Christmas trees were around in biblical times?

A very small minority of Christians consider it pagan to have any kind of holy image. (They have a huge problem with Catholicism for this reason). So those people would send specifically secular Christmas cards and never anything Christian. Strictly speaking, those people often technically don't practice Christmas at all because it's not 'biblical'. We have both sides of the spectrum in our family which makes sending cards tricky.

Other Christians will try to weed out the bits of Christmas that don't have a specifically Christian theme on the basis that it might be left over from the older festival and in any case, detracts from the Christmas story.

But very, very few Christians would take the Jeremiah verses as a foreshadowing of and warning against Christmas trees, especially given the ever so much more likely explanation involving the pagan rituals as described in these verses. I wouldn't think your DS is doing this - you always have your fringe element though. I'm not sure I particularly appreciate you picking and choosing nut-job web explanations of obscure verses and pretending this is what the bible teaches.

Like a PP I am an atheist with a culturally Christian background.
Do not go to church but love carols and always donate when there is a choir singing carols, usually in a railway station.

But may favourite are the Ebony Steel Band which plays next to John Lewis in Oxford St.

Love having a tree, trad Christmas dinner, but don't note the solstice as anything other than an interesting date in the change of seasons - the beginning of longer days - hooray!

I always make a conscious act of charity giving at Christmas. In 'the spirit of Christmas' and because amidst much present giving charity seems important.

I don't care what comes from where or pre dates what.

I just LOVE CHRISTMAS. I adore the story of the nativity, we have a nativity scene, we "sing away in a manager" I think its a great anecdote to the mass spending and consumerism ( which we fully indulge in) I like the incense, myrrh and exoticism of the middle east, turbans, kings and camels... I adore Father Christmas too - North pole shebang. Then the tree, where ever that comes from, I adore it all - at this miserable time of year, all of it - I am thankful for.

Agree with charity Blu its a big part for us too.

I thought Martin Luther started the Christmas Tree tradition, have I got that wrong?

" 'Atheists but culturally Christian here too'

That's like being a vegetarian that eats steak. confused"

Nope. It is possible to believe in many of the philosophies of Christianity, to have grown up with the parables and have absorbed them in to your thinking, to have deep familiarity with the major church festivals, to know the Lord's Prayer, and not to believe on God or any god.

We live, culturally, in a Christian country. Whether we believe in God or not our constitution is built on the relationship between church and monarchy. Our laws, culturally, reflect Christian roots: Sunday trading laws, bank hol on religious festivals, laws around marriage and so on. Manu customs also reflect Christian roots.

These all form the way of life that is culture.

If Christianity has the privilege of a place in our establishment, Bishops-go-Free in the House of Lords etc, Christians don't get to say non-religious people cannot claim to have a cultural link to Christianity.

Such arrogance!

Maybe christmas trees were around in biblical times.
*"The use of evergreen trees, wreaths, and garlands to symbolize eternal life was a custom of the ancient Egyptians, Chinese, and Hebrews. Tree worship was common among the pagan Europeans and survived their conversion to Christianity in the Scandinavian customs of decorating the house and barn with evergreens at the New Year to scare away the devil and of setting up a tree for the birds during Christmastime."

During the Roman mid-winter festival of Saturnalia, houses were decorated with wreaths of evergreen plants, along with other antecedent customs now associated with Christmas. The modern Christmas tree is traced to the symbolism of trees in pre-Christian winter rites, wherein Viking and Saxon worshiped trees.]*

We go to carol services and Christingle. We chat about the meaning behind Christmas but when asked if I believe by the dc I tell them the truth. That it is up to each person to believe what they want to and not everything in the bible would have been possible and has been exaggerated over time.

Maybe it is all a big misunderstanding and the Wise Men brought gold, frankincense and fir. (non-drop Nordmann, natch).

I had a Catholic friend who would only send religious-theme cards.

So I was very careful not to offend her one year, by sending her one of the (to me) hilarious cards I'd found: shepherds in a field, watching their flocks by night, with a great big Angel Gabriel appearing in the sky.
And one of said shepherds yelling, 'BUGGER OFF!! YOU'RE SCARING THE SHEEP!'

Having said that, I do love Carols from King's. It's just not Christmas without it.

The thing is, the celebration on 24th/25th December is Christmas. It may have roots in other stuff, and it is celebrated in different ways in different places, but it is Christmas. Ok, don't celebrate in a religious way if you don't want to, but don't mock others who do or say that it isn't actually Christmas.
If you want to celebrate a midwinter or Equinox or hogwatch, go for it- I won't say you are celebrating Christmas at the wrong time of year...

Team Santa here.

We live, culturally, in a Christian country. Whether we believe in God or not our constitution is built on the relationship between church and monarchy. Our laws, culturally, reflect Christian roots: Sunday trading laws, bank hol on religious festivals, laws around marriage and so on. Manu customs also reflect Christian roots.

Given there are now more people of no faith/faiths other than Christian in the UK now hopefully that will start changing.

Can't wait. The church takes so many liberties.

I don't care what people choose to believe/do themselves, but when it affects others negatively, it needs dealing with.

If Christianity has the privilege of a place in our establishment, Bishops-go-Free in the House of Lords etc, Christians don't get to say non-religious people cannot claim to have a cultural link to Christianity.

Such arrogance!

If that's directed at me you've got the wrong end of the stick. I'm as atheist as it's possible to be!

That's interesting. But hammer and nails? This is referring to the pagan poles used by contemporary tribes at the time of writing. We know about these tribes and their rituals because there is historical evidence (so I learnt in text books at college). Evidence overwhelmingly in favour of God banning idols, not Christmas trees!

no it doesn't. In our house it's time off, time to sit and eat/drink/walks/films/board games. We rush around so much and appreciate the time off.

Another Team Santa here!

The whole real meaning of Christmas and the date of Jesus' birth seems so ridiculous with only a cursory knowledge of history and religion....

Eat, drink and be merry!!!

Yes, Church is central to Christmas for us. But then we go to Church all year anyway

I can't imagine Christmas without Carols by Candlelight and Midnight Mass.