CFI's The Trouble with Christmas Charity Livestream [Teaser]

The one-man War on Christmas is back.
On December 25th, the Anti-Claus once again stands alone against the Yuletide by spending the day at the office. You can join in on the defiant delight and help Tom Flynn, author of The Trouble with Christmas, raise money for Secular Rescue, a crucial program that saves secular activists around the world who have been threatened by extremists.
Learn more at centerforinquiry.org/christmas/

[@jeffcolorado]

I am without a doubt, a huge Dawkins fan, but I think I missed the point of this one.

[@martinafern4654]

RIP, Tom. :-(

[@yoshtg]

99% of the people who celebrate christmas aren't even religious, at least not where i am from (germany). people celebrate christmas to have a great time with their kids or with friends. having an excuse to get some nice drinks / good food.

[@benjohnson2008]

Fox news warned me about this

[@BigFatHeretic]

On December 25th I shall wish everybody a very happy Isaac Newton day!

[@Jchamaon]

Pr. Richard! I need to meet you before i die! I survived the Syrian war & later on managed to go through my suicide crisis after losing faith because your chosen & utterly fluent words about the value of life existed and were captured & assimilated in my mind before it was too late to act! Has someone told you before that you played an Alpha role in their very own survival?

[@Muonium1]

You survived your own suicide?? neat!

[@Jchamaon]

@@Muonium1 I'm sorry! I meant that i went through it rather stable.

[@stoyanfurdzhev]

No wonder that magic never dies.

[@feoleb]

This is amazing

[@lyngs]

Merry Christmas!

[@josephromel4293]

Ridicolous these specials efctives!

[@PearlMarg]

A Yuletide parody of a duel in either 'Yojimbo' or 'A Fistful of Dollars' ! No worries (^.^) The red Santa will be alive again next year!

[@Archontasil]

This is why i subbed to this channel

[@saxquiz]

Once the UK is majority Muslim you won't have to worry about whether Christmas is logically sound or not!

[@kimsland999]

I'm like from the old days of a militant atheist. But now I have to refer to myself as an 'active' atheist spreading the good news (to these deluded theists). But I'll be damned if I lose Xmas presents and chocolate Easter Eggs (for that time). We celebrate these things as a family of NON religious people. So you'll have to snowball me down too!

[@rollofnickles]

What, no Festivus Pole? I guess the verbal bashing and the snowball fight could be considered a part of a Festivus Calibration.

[@biglee3816]

Boredom plus atheism equal cringy video by old people that I like.

[@temujin1234]

Crappy yet charming.

[@hobosorcerer]

Anti-Clause is such a great name

[@honesty1234]

Claws

[@A3Kr0n]

I gave a thumbs up but I'm still a bit baffled.

[@baldieman64]

Good call not letting Buddha see the snowball fight. There was enough trouble when he was allowed to watch historical videos.

[@drinksipa]

Santa was just playing a round of disc golf, leave him be!!!

[@quantumgravity92]

The funny thing is that children managed to grow out of religion

[@mattehcat]

and ended up becoming relativists that merely used force and power to keep control. There, I finished your joke.

[@Crocalu]

Working during Christmas? What is this about

[@mattehcat]

Not having values that respect rest.

[@borealphoto]

People have to work so others can rest.

[@mattehcat]

@@borealphoto lol, no. You can rest. You're just too greedy not to.

[@borealphoto]

Seriously, people do have to work so others can rest. To quote Fight Club: "We guard you while you sleep". I just rest at a different time.

[@mattehcat]

@@borealphoto no you don't. You actually don't. You're choosing to. And besides, if it's determined, shut up, they're bound to be their slaves; they're bound to serve us while we rest and you are forced to work. You gotta bend-knee to get those lovely coins, right?

[@halogenic]

I don't get. What's wrong with Christmas?

[@JameBlack]

Christmess just be banned

[@mattressmccabe1686]

Is that Dawkins dressed as Santa....?

[@Newwaver2007]

🤷🏼‍♂️ What’s this about?

[@Evolution1101]

What the fuck did I just watch?!

[@Jon-ep8ge]

I don’t really see what’s wrong with Christmas. I also don’t see the point of the video. It was strange that a small chunk of coal in a snowball can knock a man out by hitting him in the rear end.

[@LRBeforeTheInternet]

Shouldn't the "anti-claus" be too busy stealing presents this Christmas?

[@pollyfoofoo8703]

Covered the dog's eyes. Lol

[@patricklincoln5942]

What was the point in this? Are we about taking down Christmas now? What?

[@klaxoncow]

I have nothing against Christmas. It's actually quite an enjoyable "family and friends" celebration. My favourite time of the year. I mean, don't get distracted by the name. Christians stole it and relabelled it "Christ mass" to be Jesus's "official birthday" (in the same way as the Queen has an "official birthday", as well as her actual birthday - the day she was actually born - except that, for Jesus, we have absolutely no clue when his real birthday might have been. If, of course, there ever even was a historical person called "Jesus" in the first place, onto which all this supernatural nonsense was stuck.) But a good 90+% of what everyone does at Christmas has simply got bugger all to do with Christianity. For example, dragging an evergreen - the Christmas tree - into the living room or hanging up the holly and the ivy and the mistletoe. Spotting the pattern yet? Yes, this is all, in fact, pagan magical herbal folklore. It's all plants and their supposed magical powers. The thing about the evergreen is that, well, it's ever green. It doesn't have leaves that drop off in the autumn. Unlike most everything else in nature, the evergreen apparently lives on through Winter, while the rest of nature "dies" off. So the pagan "magical thinking" here is that the tree has magical powers to resist "the death of Winter". Thus, drag the bugger indoors and, via some "proximity magic", maybe that "resist the death of Winter" superpowers it has might rub off. Stand close and you might be within its magical "resist death" force field. Nonsense, of course. But you can see the primitive superstitious logic involved. Just like wearing "lucky pants" for an exam. As if the proximity of a particular bit of underwear - or other clothing item or "lucky pencil case" - will have any effect whatsoever on your exam performance (other than the purely psychological - I'd even avoid the word "placebo", as it's really, in reality, closer to "anti-nocebo". It's not so much that the "lucky pants" are believed to do anything, as it is simply avoiding the nocebo of feeling things will go wrong in its absence, so you're not taking the chance). Mistletoe is another "proximity magic" thing. The interesting thing about mistletoe, of course, is that it has red berries, even in the depths of midwinter. Similar to the evergreen, the idea there is that it apparently has magical "fertility powers". Because, look, while everything else in nature dies off - loses its flowers, loses its berries, loses its fertility - the mistletoe happily carries on. The magical thinking being that it must have some supernatural fertility magic to it. Ergo, if you're a young couple seeking to expand your family, then get yourself under the magical mistletoe and let its "fertility magic" rain down on you - because, yes, apparently magic obeys the laws of gravity (and that's why you should put your presents under the tree, of course). "Kissing" under the mistletoe is the family-friendly Christian version of events. This is fertility magic, so it's a little more than mere "kissing" that was originally expected of couples under the hanging herb. Presents is a thing from Roman Saturnalia. Decorative lights is a "Sol Invictus" thing, as it's offering little lights to that big light in the sky to welcome its return (a star on the top of the tree - nominally the star that guided the three wise men - is just a coincidental adaptation thing, as that's not really where it comes from). You get the gist, I'm sure. If you run through all the various "Yuletide" traditions - and note that Yule is a pagan god - to locate what's actually Christian then it boils down to the actual "Christ's mass" - a service held on Christmas morning to celebrate Jesus's "official birthday" - and those nativity scenes you see and nativity plays that children are forced to wear towels on their heads to indoctrinate them into the cult. And, well, I don't know about the rest of you, but as a grown adult, these things do not invade my life at all. I'm fine with Christmas - or "Winterval", if you're keen on Orwellian language editing - as, whatever the various silly superstitions that combined to create it, I think we human beings (in the Northern Hemisphere at least) do require a big annual party, where we reconnect with friends and family, have a bit of a hedonistic blow out, in celebration of the underlying theme of these Winter festivities. The Winter has not killed you. Excellent. I'm not quite dead yet. And, in the end, what better reason to have a big old party? This is the one and only life we'll ever lead, so a joyous annual reminder to be grateful that we've beaten death for one more year (followed by the "Auld Lang Syne" nostalgia of the year that's passed) seems like a decent reason for a party to me. (Ultimately, in a more nihilistic sense, is it perhaps the only legitimate reason?) Personally, I take all my remaining holidays from work in December. I'm not one for the hot weather of Summer - it just exhausts me and ruins my concentration - and being around friends and family, enjoying movies and Christmas specials on TV, and all that jazz is much more my jam. Your mileage may vary, of course. But I feel that not only should the Christians not be allowed to "hijack" this festival any longer, but we also shouldn't let them ruin our fun either. Merry Christmas, you miserable bastards!

[@nalissolus9213]

cringe...

[@spunkternal]

Wtf was that?

[@bdf2718]

I have no idea what this advert was meant to signify. And, whatever its purpose, it was boring as fuck. Please don't tell me what it was about, because if I learned I would support the opposite viewpoint purely to assuage my anger at having watched this shit to the end in the hope it would make sense.

[@LearnChina300]

Lol the coolness factor of this is at zero like watching a bad gay porno just compare this to Muslim al massiv tyson and ali

[@ngdukic]

Self indulgent, juvenile, inane dross. What a waste of time. I gather Dawkin's does not approve what is uploaded onto this channel?