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> A low faction of Japanese people claim to "believe in God" but Japanese participate in religious rituals at a high rate. Most people in the UK celebrate Chri
by blowski 4y ago
> A low faction of Japanese people claim to "believe in God" but Japanese participate in religious rituals at a high rate.
Most people in the UK celebrate Christmas, including atheists.
- Hamuko 4y agoGiving my mom a pair of headphones doesn't feel that religious to me.
- baby 4y agoDon’t you set up a tree and listen to Christmas music
- soperj 4y agoChristmas tree has it's roots in Pagan traditions. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yule https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yule
- vorpalhex 4y agoThat is still religious.
- bialpio 4y agoDoing something that has religious roots doesn't automatically make it religious. The question is: what are you getting out of it? We're setting up a (now fake) tree during holidays, but treat it as tradition and a nice decoration for winter. Another example: Halloween.
- Teever 4y agoChristmas Trees are something coopted by Christianity and are pagan in origin. Also there's very little about baby Jesus in 'Here comes Santa Claus' or 'Frosty the Snowman'
- Hamuko 4y agoI mean, I hear Christmas music if I go outside, but I don't actively do it. And I can't remember the last time we've had a Christmas tree. To me, Christmas is mostly about giving gifts, eating (especially chocolates) and watching TV.
- baby 4y agoOh noes :( you should get a christmas tree next time!
- nindalf 4y agoPaying my respects to my ancestors doesn’t feel religious to me - those folks, maybe.
- lern_too_spel 4y agoGP's point is that you don't have to be superstitious to perform religious rituals. Many Japanese people are superstitious though, just not in the pray to a deity form that we are used to in the West.
- coliveira 4y agoModern Christmas is essentially a non-religious celebration, unless if you go to church. It is mostly about family gathering and gift giving, so even atheists have no problem with that.
- notart666 4y agoChristmas itself has its roots in "pagan" tradition not Christian. More aptly Old Norse. During the conversion of Scandinavia is when this change occured. Though it appears in every cultural group similarly as the winter solstice which is not religious.
- blowski 4y agoPagan gods are still gods.
- rthomas6 4y agoOP's point exactly. Christmas is a set of rituals.
- wl 4y agoThe pagan origin of Christmas is a myth. Something that specifically deals with alleged Northern European origins: http://kiwihellenist.blogspot.com/2018/12/concerning-yule.html http://kiwihellenist.blogspot.com/2018/12/concerning-yule.ht...
- butterknife 4y agoWould you not classify Saturnalia as pagan? I understand it's not related to the currently hip Nordic paganism.
- wl 4y agoChristmas as rebranded Saturnalia is also a myth: https://talesoftimesforgotten.com/2019/12/08/just-how-pagan-is-christmas-really/ https://talesoftimesforgotten.com/2019/12/08/just-how-pagan-...
- butterknife 4y agoCounter opinion piece: https://www.academuseducation.co.uk/post/how-saturnalia-became-christmas-the-transition-from-ancient-to-present https://www.academuseducation.co.uk/post/how-saturnalia-beca...
- themaninthedark 4y agoThe religious rituals they participate in are things like going to the shrine at New Years to pray, paying money to the local shrine for blessings for birth, new house, etc. Not something like putting up a Christmas tree and giving presents, maybe more like going to Christmas Eve and Easter sermons.
- yunohn 4y agoIndeed, most religious-origin festivals are celebrated by atheists as well. As an atheist, I enjoy the culture and tradition associated with such events. Asian festivals have lots of lights and colors and rituals have dancing, singing, and art forms alongside. All of these come with tasty and nutritious food. In some ways, I feel we’ve lost this beautiful richness in our modern non-religious lifestyles.
- nemo44x 4y ago> In some ways, I feel we’ve lost this beautiful richness in our modern non-religious lifestyles. Well, the celebrations are spiritually meaningless when actual, sincere theological views of the world are discarded for essentially material things. That the supernatural meaning of life has been replaced by "progress" in Western societies (we are continuously advancing towards better and better things) reflects this - we can build a paradise on Earth rather than have our spirits ascend to heaven when we are gone from Earth. So yeah, the celebrations are basically just another get together with a dead tree nearby and the exchange of material things we've been lured into buying "on-sale", etc. If anything, it's even worse because of all the obligations and because of the lack of shared belief of a super natural thing, there's nothing that really brings us closer to each other.
- xboxnolifes 4y agoI feel sorry to those who need to believe in ghosts to socialize with other people.
- nemo44x 4y agoI don't think that's what I was saying. It was a comment on how when a religious celebration is still celebrated but the religious part has been hollowed out, you can't really find true meaning it anymore. Today it's just a commercial event where we stand around a dead tree and exchange presents for some reason. We are acting out the celebration of Christmas but we aren't actually celebrating it. It's a completely inauthentic event and at best a pastiche of the actual thing. I think it's why I like Thanksgiving and the 4th of July more - it's essentially the same thing without the artificial Christmas obligations around it.
- the_af 4y agoChristmas as "celebrated" by atheists is not a religious ritual. We gather (sometimes), eat, drink, and give presents to kids. Just like in birthdays (also not religious). Any party or celebration is in some sense a ritual, just not necessarily a religious ritual.