Casey and Mike discuss the Christmas, its secular existence and how Atheists interface with it, plus bonus conspiracy discussion.
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Sam Mulvey is a producer and the technical brain behind Ask an Atheist. He is a collector of vinegar varieties, vintage computers, antique radios, and propaganda.
I am a parent and I deal with Santa the same way my parents did when I was young – I don’t really say much one way or the other. But to be honest, my behavior is far from neutral – my son gets a stocking full of gifts and candy every x-mas morning, as well as a single gift next to his stocking that we called a “Santa gift”. We celebrate the way we do largely because it’s family tradition – stockings and Santa gifts are as important to our holiday as singing songs, playing games, and eating magical… Read more »
Growing up Jewish, with many schoolmates and friends and cousins who were Christian, I was told very early on that Christian kids celebrate Christmas with Santa. I was “in” on the big secret at a very early age and was told to keep this privileged information strictly confidential so as to not hurt the feelings of Christian mommies and daddies who like surprising their kids. In high school I babysat for a family with two girls who said the Lord’s Prayer before bedtime, and they asked me what prayer I said. I had to explain that my family had different… Read more »
I use to celebrate xmas in my younger years. I fell for the entire Jesus stuff hook, line, and sinker. As I slowly grew away from christianity I still did the family gathering thing, went to a church once a year just to watch a xmas play with the family, still wrapped and gave gifts, decorated the house with lights, and put up a tree. Currently, I don’t celebrate xmas in the traditional sense. In fact, just the word “Christmas” makes me kringe. I certainly don’t like the “Christ” part, and I don’t particularly like the “Mass” part either. So… Read more »
I grew up in a Mormon family, but my mom was never all that into religion. She was into the Mormon stuff mostly because “it’s the best way to raise your kids,” and not because she felt strongly about the doctrine. She did, however, love Christmas (and still does!) and she instituted some pretty cool holiday traditions that my sister is passing along to her kids and that I still celebrate with my loved ones. Tradition #1: The kids get to open one gift on Christmas Eve night. MYSTERIOUSLY, that gift always ended up being new pajamas! Eventually, when I… Read more »
Possessive “its” takes no apostrophe
Why isn’t this episode on the podcasts list?? 🙁 It skips from S2E11 to S2E13 (with a 3min extra in between).