Do you celebrate religious holidays?

[tbpckisa]

As Easter is coming up, I was just wondering how many Atheists/Agnostics actually celebrate religious holidays -- Christian or otherwise.

Please explain your answers to the poll. Do you celebrate out of tradition, out of fun (i.e. Christmas = presents!!), or are there other reasons?

If you do not celebrate, why? Out of dissent, do you just not care, or is there another reason??

Thanks.

[ST88]

A few religious holidays have been sufficiently secularized for anyone of any faith to take part, like Christmas and Easter. Other holidays, like Michaelmass or All Saints Day, I don't celebrate. Valentine's day is an excuse to give and consume chocolate; St. Patty's day is an excuse to drink beer.

Adding to this is I'm married to a Catholic, and whatever she wants to celebrate is fine with me. Although "celebrate" is probably the wrong word. It's like picking a day out on a calendar at random and having a nice dinner out or going to the zoo on that day. It's just that choosing the day in this case isn't so random.

[bigmrpig]

I do celebrate Christmas, and Easter to some extent. I am atheist, and I suppose I celebrate them mostly out of tradition. They're traditions I enjoy and I've never felt any tradition needs a particular reason to follow. I have no reason to drink sparkling juices every new year at midnight, but I do out tradition. I don't celebrate Christmas or Easter for religious reasons. I don't really celebrate them for any reason.

Traditions don't really need reasons =)

[The Happy Humanist]

Tomorrow our family is gathering at our mountain house for our traditional cookout, including ham, steaks, burgers, salmon, and homemade salads. We call it "Feaster"! None of us is religious, although one daughter calls herself "spiritual." But we still enjoy any good excuse for a pig out!

We "do" Christmas too, although we officially call it Solstice, just to make our friends wonder.

[Dilettante]

I'm a Catholic agnostic --in other words, I'm not sure how much, if any, of the Catholic religion is true, but I am nonetheless Catholic by culture and social mores at least, just like someone can be Jewish but not particularly religious. So I do celebrate some religious holidays in my own way, and I even had my oldest son christened by a priest friend. Things like eating fish instead of meat during Lent don't really work for me because I quite enjoy fish (and as I grow older I increasingly prefer fish over beef or poultry).

[McCulloch]

I celebrate for the sake of tradition, fun and inclusiveness. One great thing about being atheist is that I can just as easily (without guilt) celebrate all of the fun things to do with all of my neighbour's holidays and leave the bad stuff alone.

I live in Toronto, Canada. Toronto is a very diverse city. I can celebrate Hindu, Muslim, Sikh and Christian (Western Catholic, Eastern Orthodox and Protestant) holidays.

[Katsuro]

I celebrate easter and christmas simply because those are the main holidays of the year and that's when you have time of from work, school etc. However I don't celebrate them in terms of religion, for me it's just about having fun, getting presents and general good times with friends and family. IE it's an excuse for a party.