comment: >
  
  Well, I’m not. A majority of people believe in historical Jesus. There’s scholarly consensus on the matter too. There are sources for his existence within a century of his birth, let alone 200 years of his death
context: This is a friendly reminder to read our rules.
  Remember, /r/Showerthoughts is for showerthoughts, not "thoughts had in the shower!"
  (For an explanation of what a "showerthought" is, please read this page.)
  Rule-breaking posts may result in bans. >
  
  It's even weirder in Colombia where Jesus is actually the one giving you the presents apparently.
  So instead of not getting anything he's the one giving you the gifts. >
  
  I mean, that's kinda like giving out candy on your birthday at school >
  
  When I was in school, we gave out cupcakes at school on our birthday.  Does that count? >
  
  Him not getting present is fairly reasonable, when was the last time you bought your dead relative a present?
  And most people celebrate it like I do I think, where it's not about what the holiday is about, but family tradition >
  
  Well tbf the dead man in question did get better after a couple days. >
  
  Let me reword it then, how many of your relatives or friends who have ascended to heaven are you buying gifts for? >
  
  None of them since it's been a bit difficult for me to find the postal code for heaven. >
  
  it’s just “4”, oddly enough >
  
  Mista would like to have a word with you. >
  
  My immigrant parents have no idea the true meaning of American holidays. They just know it looks fun and there's tons of food. So really it's more like we're celebrating Winter Solstice, so all the fun parts of modern Christmas that the Christians co-opted and none of the religion parts. Unless, you are me in my 20s where my celebrations were more akin to Saturnalia. >
  
  That is kinda wholesome >
  
  As is usually the case in this sub, OP is mistaking etymology for meaning.
  Those of us who do not believe in Jesus are NOT, in fact, celebrating his "birthday." We're continuing a celebration that long predated the celebration's re-naming to Christmas, in fact. >
  
  Also, atheists don't believe that there is a god or that Jesus walked on water, but not all of them think that Jesus was made up entirely >
  
  Atheist here. I celebrate the American parts of christmas. The tree, Santa, gifts, holiday spirit. No church or religious aspects of it. I also believe Jesus existed, there's plenty of historical documents supporting that. But I highly doubt he was born on this date. There's no evidence to suggest we know Jesus' birthday, and Its too coincidental that it falls under the same date celebrating the winter solstace under Paganism and the Roman Empire. Most believe the date was chosen by Constantine when he converted the Roman Empire to Christianity to make the transition seamless, since most in the Roman empire celebrated Sol Invictus on that day. >
  
  You sound like 99% of religious Americans. >
  
  How so? The celebrating of the tree and Santa and all that but without all the religious baggage? Sounds good to me if so. >
  
  Tons of Americans say they’re Christian and believe in Jesus C but they don’t go to church but still celebrate the Xmas tree, presents, Xmas songs, American tradition, etc. At least we’re honest and we say we’re atheist/agnostic. 
  So, you/we sound like most religious Americans.
  TLDR; Christian Americans and atheists Americans celebrate Xmas very similarly. >
  
  I guess. To me it's more about intent and belief than anything. I don't disagree that many somewhat religious Americans treat this holiday as more of a corporate hallmark holiday like valentines day vs a truly religious day. I was raised in that American sense of let's open presents and relax. Jesus never came up. So maybe that's why I'm happy to carry on this tradition in my family as it holds little to no religious significance to me. >
  
  More TLDR; I know way too many Christians that never go to church but celebrate Xmas and when good things happen they say it’s due to god, etc. >
  
  I always thought it was about the winter solstice. Fairly certain Jesus was not born on December 25. >
  
  (I say this as a committed Christian critical of many traditions) It was just a solid marketing tactic. >
  
  Nah, Christmas is just millions of people celebrating Saturnalia without knowing it. >
  
  Absolutely this. But our people never stopped celebrating Yule/Winter Solstice(Saturnalia was the Roman version)
  Didn't even know that christmas was about jesus' death day until pretty late >
  
  I don’t know much about religion (atheist) but it’s not his death day. It’s his birthday. Do you mean Easter? >
  
  No, Easter is the celebration of spring and new life.
  It's the day of the goddess Oestre. >
  
  You're correct, but the Christian tradition is indeed the opposite of what you think. Easter is the celebration of Jesus' resurrection (new life) after his death 3 days before (Good Friday). Christmas is his birthday (the birth of new light, when the days start getting longer again). >
  
  Never understood the math on that. Jesus died on specifically Friday, then is resurrected specifically 3 days later on specifically Sunday (which is 2 days later). ?? >
  
  Well, ancient Roman tradition was that both the first and the last day were included in the count. So Friday, Saturday, Sunday = 3 days.
  In some parts of Germany, people say "in acht Tagen" (in eight days") when they mean "in einer Woche" ("in a week"), for the same reason. Explanation in English on Wiktionary. >
  
  As an Atheist, I know Jesus existed, I just think people are chatting shit about what he got up to >
  
  I know next to nothing about Christianity so I’ve just gone down a rabbit hole trying to understand people existing before Jesus and figuring out God and Jesus aren’t the same at all and wow. So much and so confused. >
  
  Well the kicker is that they are the same, along with the holy spirit, kind of.
  And since the holy spirit is what got Mary pregnant, and Jesus refers to God as his father, it kinda looks like he had 2 dads, both of whom are also him. >
  
  "How the hell are you pregnant Mary??? We haven't even had sex!"
  "Oh, ummmm.. it was the holy spirit that got me pregnant."
  "Ah, fair enough."
  The world's oldest cheating story🙃 >
  
  It happened because he had a dream where an angel confirmed that Mary was telling the truth >
  
  Could be he was a pretty decent guy and lied to everyone else and went along with it to either cover up for her infidelity or she had been raped >
  
  Or, and hear me out, he impregnated her himself and made up the story with her to keep from being outcasts. >
  
  Most of the "christmas" traditions are actually Yule traditions that predate Christianity. Christmas mass and the nativity scene are the only christian elements of the holiday >
  
  I’m not convinced I’m celebrating anyone’s birth or unknowingly celebrating any holiday of any religion. 
  I’m just spending time with my family. Surrounded by decorations of snowmen, snow, lights, Santa clause. Surely this doesn’t resemble the celebration of anyone’s birth. Even if it were so I do not do it with the intent of recognizing that person. 
  If I go out for pizza on a random day with my friends, am I celebrating the birthday of everyone on that day? >
  
  Christmas is just like any other day just presents included. >
  
  Pretty much everyone believes Jesus existed, surely? It’s just whether or not he was the divine son of god that’s a problem >
  
  Why would people believe he was real? There are 0 contemporary sources for his existence during his lifetime. The earliest is like 200 years after his supposed death. >
  
  There’s no need to make stuff up mate >
  
  Then why are you?