Thursday 9 April 2009

Easter and Atheism

Ah, gotta love a holiday. :-)

I like to stay out of the 'Should Easter-time be a non religious holiday?" or "Should atheists be allowed to celebrate Easter?" but I will stick a few of my thoughts down.

1) I live in the UK where Easter is considered a national holiday. So I would be mad to ignore it on non-religious grounds. I simply love spending time with my family, seeing friends, writing, playing and relaxing.
2) I love chocolate. It's a weakness, but any excuse...
3) It has its origins in pagan beliefs, hundreds of years before christianity. We still carry those traditions today.
4) Is it hypocritical of me to celebrate the holiday? No. See point 3. Just because a church wanted to claim that time of year for their own purpose? BTW, I find paganism equally as silly (but considerably more fun than christianity!)
5) It's a part of British culture and history - of which religion is only a part.

So will I celebrate this time of year? Yes.
Will I demand that theists admit they hijacked a pagan celebration; insist they don't take part in pagan rituals like the giving of eggs? No.

Neither side is going to budge, let's enjoy the holiday. :-) *


* Disclaimer- If I do hear something from the church on TV claiming a 'moral monopoly' or how 'important it is to have religion in our lives' then it will be open season on bigots.

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