Do atheists enjoy Christmas movies?
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Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — Miracle on 34th Street
aciolino — 9 years ago(December 21, 2016 06:11 PM)
There must be a few atheists out there. What do you guys do with Holiday films? Do the "get" to you? Ever? If so, which ones and why?
Just curious. -
fshepinc — 9 years ago(December 21, 2016 07:48 PM)
Like everyone else, we enjoy the good ones.
Some of my favorites are:
Christmas in Connecticut
Miracle on 34th Street
The Ref
Scrooge (Alastair Sim version)
And of course, the original Charlie Brown Christmas and Grinch television specials. And I do have a rather soft spot for Santa Claus Conquers the Martians.
Zaphod's just zis guy, you know?
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DeepFriedJello — 9 years ago(December 22, 2016 01:02 PM)
And what does Santa Claus have to do with Christ's birth anyway, other than him being a saint. And how did he become a saint anyway?
Nowhere in this movie did I hear a mention of Christ or Jesus even though they kept talking about the true meaning of Christmas.
This movie seemed to suggest that the true meaning of Christmas was faith in Santa, rather than faith of a miracle birth. Also Kris Kringle thought that Xmas is too commercialized, even though he wanted everyone to go buy toys, so that he didn't have to. -
p25735-261-505738 — 9 years ago(December 22, 2016 06:57 PM)
A friend once told me, celebrating Christmas doesn't mean you believe in Jesus; it means you believe in Santa Claus. I've had no qualms about celebrating Christmas ever since, and I've always enjoyed Christmas movies.
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aciolino — 9 years ago(December 23, 2016 07:07 AM)
No you don't sound like Scrooge!
It's true that the holiday is highly commercialized and secularized (I'm 62 and have been hearing that my whole life!) but it is also true that for many it is a sacred holiday. And for some, it can be both. Or neither. -
trog-oz — 9 years ago(December 23, 2016 08:36 AM)
I know it's an Easter film (well a film about the events leading up to Easter), but I like
The Robe (1953)
and I'm an atheist. The Bible is a book of great stories, and some not so great. A lot of the stories were omitted from different versions of the Bible, because the sponsors disagreed with said stories. -
p25735-261-505738 — 9 years ago(December 23, 2016 08:48 AM)
Actually, it's always been a pagan holiday. You don't think Jesus was actually born on December 25th do you? That date was adopted to celebrate Christmas because it's the time of the winter solstice and pagan's would hold festivals at that time. In fact, many Christmas traditions have pagan origins. Look into it.
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aciolino — 9 years ago(December 23, 2016 10:10 AM)
These are old, tired, and worn topics you bring up and not at all relevant to the discussion. I respect your opinions, but really, these things you say have been bandied about for 2,000 years. You think you're informing anyone? We learned this in Catechism when I was in the 4th grade. Sheesh.
Good Lord!
Christmas is NOT and WAS NOT a "pagan holiday." The pagan holiday you refer to was "Saturnalia," a Roman holiday, and the early Christian Church chose to celebrate the birth of Christ (CHRISTMAS) on or near that holiday to be in competition with it.
That does NOT make Christmas a "pagan" holiday. Surely you can understand that.
Again, Good Lord!!! -
RomaVictorrrr — 9 years ago(December 25, 2016 08:34 AM)
These are old, tired, and worn topics you bring up and not at all relevant to the discussion.
These tired old ideas never get old. There are always people, young people, who don't know about the pagan roots of Christian holidays and they're fascinating.
And you should Yuletide to the list of pagan holidays turned into Christmas.
There's something in Christmas for everyone, including atheists. I'm not much of a believer anymore (in Jesus or Santa) and I still enjoy the heck out of Christmas. -
Meandeanmachine — 9 years ago(December 25, 2016 12:09 PM)
As a society, we raise our kids telling them Santa Claus is real. As they get old enough, they figure out the truth and we all stop pretending. It doesn't mean that it wasn't a fun concept for their young minds.
Now, take Santa and replace him with God. Some of us make that extra step in our minds, in our thought process, and we figure out that God as well isn't real. It's the exact same process. The existence of both Santa and God is supported by the same amount of evidence, i.e. zero.
Having said that, it's a completely irrelevant discussion when it comes to the enjoyment of a movie. Movies are judged by other criteria, not based on one's religious beliefs or lack thereof. There are good Christmas movies and bad ones. This is a rather good one.
Besides, Christmas movies are all about the kindness in us, that warmth in the heart, the innocence inside us, etc. Those values exist regardless of religion, they're universal. So, such movies can might as well have an equally universal appeal.
"Go. Sleep badly. Any questions, hesitate to call"