Admin webmdave Posted September 4, 2007 Admin Share Posted September 4, 2007 By Bob P America loves to invent holidays in recognition of great ideas and achievements. We have at least one official holiday for nearly every occasion and dedicated to nearly every group — except atheists. At 13-14% of the population, atheist Americans number between 30-50 million, making them perhaps the largest of any single identifiable minority. Atheists comprise a larger portion of the U.S. population than Blacks, Jews, or Gays, yet because of the social stigma cast by religion, atheists are largely invisible. Or worse, they are demonized and marginalized by buybull thumping Christians who equate atheism with immorality. Such fallacy! Many, if not most of the great scientists were/are atheists or at least, deists, rejecting a personal god. Where is the Atheist day of recognition? Perhaps change is in the wind. There are at least five new books on atheism, some of which have made the bestseller list. Atheism has been a recent topic on several of the major television networks. There are many famous atheists who could be symbols for our day, including Einstein, Watson and Crick. Thomas Edison said that religion is all bunk. (Would a light bulb with the caption, "I see the light," be the atheist holiday symbol?) The Internet now has many freethought sites and blogs. Perhaps we could share an event, like, say Groundhog Day. When Puxatawny Phil fails to see his shadow, atheists could fail to see the big, white-bearded guy in the sky. Another thought is to pick the longest day of the year, June 21-22, in direct contrast to the shortest day of the year, December 25 when early deities, including Jesus and Mithras, were said to be born, symbolically ushering in Spring and new life. By celebrating the longest, and presumably hottest day of the year, atheists would represent the approaching of winter and the symbolic escape from religion's hell, fire and brimstone. But an atheist holiday could have several obvious advantages in addition to recognizing famous scientists: No obligatory presents to buy. (There are some good atheist T-shirts and Darwin fish, however, in case you do) No resulting traffic jams, and likely no snow and ice. No productive work lost. No need to buy a $4.00 greeting card emblazoned with some inane statement that no one really reads anyway. No need to deceive children that a fat bearded guy in a red suit is going to give them something, only if they've been good. No exhaustive planning required. Billy Joel's music is optional. (No, not Kate Smith singing 'Gawd bless America'.) No guilt from believing ridiculous fairy tales that the faithful are expected to honor and believe, even for those many so called 'believers' who actually know better but cannot say. The knowledge that some of us, at least, have overcome the mental bondage and self imposed guilt of religion. All this can be achieved without a credit card. All we need now is a name for this holiday... Anyone have any good ideas? Athenova? Freedoma? Freemas? Lets have some suggestions, OK? Happy belated Atheist Day! May the force be yours, entirely. To monitor comments posted to this topic, use . http://exchristian.net/exchristian/2007/09...or-freemas.html Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
♦ nivek ♦ Posted September 4, 2007 Share Posted September 4, 2007 Boss... Already have "Atheist's Day" according to the faithful.... "A fool says in his heart there is no God" "April 1st is All fools Day!" "Happy Atheist's Day!" sheeze... kFL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pandora Posted September 4, 2007 Share Posted September 4, 2007 Boss... Already have "Atheist's Day" according to the faithful.... "A fool says in his heart there is no God" "April 1st is All fools Day!" "Happy Atheist's Day!" sheeze... kFL I know I've heard it before, but it was particularly funny as a response to the poor OP's intent. I am sure that if such a thing existed, Christians would come up with some counter-holiday (like the See You at the Pole Day) to drown out our voices. Even so, I still think it's a good idea. We're supposed to honor diversity, right? And who says we need the gubnit's sponsorship... let's just all get together, name it, and celebrate it. Once it's there, we can then worry about making sure we get off work and such. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fweethawt Posted September 5, 2007 Share Posted September 5, 2007 Christless has a nice ring to it. Merry Christless to all. And to all a good life! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LithaB Posted September 5, 2007 Share Posted September 5, 2007 I was reading responses to this on the main page and saw that October 12th is Freethought Day. I "googled" Freethought day and learned that devotees of the holiday celebrate the entire month of October through Halloween. Who knew? I even have time to make plans for celebration this year! Anyone have Freethought traditions? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Oldjew Posted September 9, 2007 Share Posted September 9, 2007 There ought to be a Madalyn Murray Day in celebration of her starting the first civil rights movement for atheist as America's most loved woman. And all four Solstice ought to become national holidays as well Halloween and one day to be called "Godless Friday" or "Godless Sunday" might be better. Then we should have our opposite of Good Friday and call it Bad Friday and call Easter Yuck Day when the yucksters hide their bibles on a yucky bible hunt after they hide all of the bibles by burying them and if found we have a large bonfire in which the bibles become fuel and we burn them up while we dance around the bonfire singing "Softly and tend to Lee Jessie James is calling, calling for you but not me. See on the port holes he's whining and wailing watching for you who screwed up but not me Come to Rome, come to Rome Earnestly, tend to Lee Jessie James is calling Oh scumbags come home." And after that we sing: I come to the weed garden alone while the devil is still sniffing the posies And the voice I hear the Son of a Bitch discloses And he walks all over me and out talks me And he tries to tell me he owns me And the joy we never share as I stand in the tar there None others are thankful they have never known. Or my favorite of all: Have thine own way with me Lard have thine own way moldy is me and make me if you will while I am waiting in the bushes yielded and tied up still Search me and try me for a crime I did not do Master today Wider than a slow woman wash my face just now as in thy opening of the presents humbly I howl. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Sage Nabooru Posted September 9, 2007 Share Posted September 9, 2007 Well it's a very technical issue. First of all, only one distinctly "Christian" holiday (depending on whether you truly define Christmas as "Christian") is officially recognized by the Federal state. While Bush declares Jesus Day in Texas, might I also say that in Oklahoma in the late 90's, their governor declared Hanson Day because the band was from their state. Really, you can get anything for a nationally declared holiday if you want to. That's why we have National Peanut Butter Week and somesuch. As someone mentioned there is Freethrought Day. If you want to declare any kind of atheist holiday, you are free to do so; it's your right. But no one can guarantee that the entire nation or even an entire town will celebrate it, any more than you can get everyone to celebrate Christmas (which I have sworn off forever, despite the corny TV commercials begging me not to). I support you in your effort to get some kind of recognition for yourselves in the form of a holiday. Everyone has the right to celebrate who they are. If the Christians try to protest by being insulting and demeaning to your freedom, fuck 'em. Remember, if you celebrate with dignity, they're the ones who will end up looking like a bunch of hateful nutjobs. The fact is that even officially declared holidays can promise to hold any sort of allegiance anymore. There are "observances", one of which is the National Day of Prayer, but even then nobody is demanded to participate. You may certainly apply to Congress or your local legislature to get an atheist holiday declared, and you may succeed. I personally wouldn't mind, since I hate the Christian evangelical stranglehold on the NDOP, like it's their own personal day to be smug about their political upper hand. However if you do so we should also be prepared to have national holidays and observances declared for Ramadan, Diwali, Kanbustu-e, etc. (it's only fair). It actually might be really fun. If we can get Ramadan and Hannukah declared as national holidays, we'd get five more weeks off a year. Say, is there a way we can get "National Ex-Christian Paid Spring Vacation"? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Robbobrob Posted September 10, 2007 Share Posted September 10, 2007 September 17, 2007 is US Constitution Day. That would be a good, already established, day we could take over. It celebrates when the Rule of Law became more important than religious and political leaders points of view. No god or king deciding what parts to follow and which ones to toss aside. Not a perfect document, but better than letting any one group run things without all of our say. Connect it to FreeThought Day on Oct. 12(th), and you can make it a monthlong celebration of freedom from other people's harmful thoughts and actions. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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