Holidays for everyone

The extremely negative response from the christians, both the posters and the people who wrote for this question - that tells you why we want to be able to celebrate these holidays without your gods, and if necessary without you.

This "you can't be good without god", and who are you grateful too ... this kind of nonsense says everything that needs to be said.

This is our country too. I know our mere existence troubles you, that we can indeed be good without any gods and we can indeed be grateful without an gods ... we can indeed be happy without fearing your hell or your heaven ... I know this disturbs you.

Too bad.

" And we are even free to recite Bart Simpson's Thanksgiving prayer, "Dear God, we paid for all this stuff ourselves, so thanks for nothing." "

A friend of mine gets exercised at American liberals' tone deafness to class distinctions. I think he overstates it a lot of the time, but I must admit you live up to his expectations with this one. For of course a number of people will be sitting down to dinners they didn't pay for, which were provided by people motivated by their particular religion to give to charity. And the majority of charitable work is done by religions - I am not aware of American Humanist Association's (or Ethical Humanist Society's) food programs. There are certainly food banks and other operations that are not associated with religion, and Gods bless 'em. But Old Sal and many other organizations are still going to be providing dinner this week because they think God wants them to.

rspeckhardt1

You wrote, "I just received a letter from someone who was upset with this campaign saying "the Christmas holidays are for Christians. Period. If you aren't a Christian, then don't celebrate them.""

It is really sad that besides the fact that some "Christians" do not have a clue what Christianity is even about but also about the only thing "Christian" about some of them is that they call themself one.

As I have said many times, God looks at the person, not the "label".

Take care, be ready.

Sincerely, Thomas Paul Moses Baum.

A holiday for non-believers? What a great idea! I would have a dinner party and organize a parade. But when would we have it? Holidays, not by coincidence, are spaced throughout the year. August seems the only month with no holidays, with March having only St. Patrick's day. So let's grab one of those months and get the ball rolling!! Herb, form a committee!

But what if God is Truth?

Then can you be good without truth?

Should we have perhaps a Truth day? a day to celebrate skepticism, a day to celebrate diverse methods of epistemology, diverse metaphysics,... then we can invent a santa claus to give presents for those kids that were more truthful. Oh wait, can't invent mythologies for Truth day unless we rationalize it, hmmm

Actually, setting aside poor humor, I kind of like the idea of a Truth day, a compassion day, a justice day...

hariaum

"Have You Found Jesus? Neither Have We." What a great T-shirt, billboard, bumpersticker and tattoo. OK, maybe not the bumpersticker. And, oddly, I have a Popeye shirt, so I'll wear that on T day and tell people why (thanks to Herb). However, I'm thankful for the fact that while I'll be spending my Thanksgiving willingly and happily alone (shipping the last kid off for a few days to spend T day with his brother in the army), I've been invited to nearly a dozen homes near and far, including Canada, which had their T Day October 12 but nonetheless said come on by on the US T Day. Peace and quiet and no 16 year old for 3 1/2 days. What more could a parent be thankful for?

Besides taking time off from our busy lives to enjoy a good meal with close friends, Thanksgiving is also a time for gratitude. Gratitude is simply a state of awareness, and secular humanists, as well as people of faith, are quite capable of expressing it.

This Thanksgiving I'm giving thanks to Professor Silverman for keeping atheists and humanists in the public eye. Thanks, Herb, for writing such great thought-provoking and insightful articles all year. Keep it going!

I appreciate your point about "paranoids will be paranoids." I just received a letter from someone who was upset with this campaign saying "the Christmas holidays are for Christians. Period. If you aren't a Christian, then don't celebrate them."

I agree that atheist/humanist advertising is needed to remind the public that we are a real part of American society. We are taxpayers, voters, neighbors and friends, and we shouldn't be dismissed or vilified. Frequent advertising will remind the media and the public of these simple facts.

I like Herb's billboard suggestion: "Have you found Jesus? Neither have we." I think I will have it made into a bumpersticker.