Bear with me fellow Atheists....?

Keep the MP3.Remind him christmas should be called "stolen-by-christianity-mas" as it was a pagan festival first.

Christmas was stolen from the Pagans by the Christians.

Jesus was born between the last week of March and the second week of April.Middleeastern lambing time, according to the bible.

Never was he born in December..

The mid winter feast or Winter Solstis has been with us for 10,000 Years and is the 12 days of parties and feasts held at the darkest time of the year, to celebrate the rebirth of nature and the start of the next year.

So give him the present with love on this great feast of the winter solstis.

That should make the narrowminded religous bigot take notice...!!

Personally, I don't celebrate Christmas, or at least the whole "gimme gimme" part. I'm not against giving to charity or having a feast with loved ones though.

You could take back the mp3 player, but if your buddy starts whining about why he didn't get anything, that's a point made. As a Christian dude, he should care more about kindness over materialistic things.

I stopped celebrating Christmas when I understood its significance with Jesus and Christianity ( about age 13 ) . However , now I know that Christmas was merely hijacked by Christians . Jesus ( if born at all ) was not born on the 25th December, he was born in the spring time.

25th December was traditionally the celebration of the winter solstice – the day the sun started to give us longer days , or the birth of the Egyptian God Horus , nothing to do with Jesus , nor Christianity .

If you look at all the symbols of Christmas , they are all pagan – the Balls of Knowledge , the Fairy on top of the Tree, the mistletoe , the Christmas tree itself used to be outside until the Christians persecuted the pagans and they had to hide the tree indoors.

Maybe you could ask your Christian friends why they are using Pagan icons to decorate their homes on Horus’s birthday ... they probably won’t have a clue what you are talking about .

Arm yourself with Knowledge.

Like so many others said, point out to him that Dec 25th is a pagan holiday appropriated by the early Christian church. The concept of exchanging gifts is also a fairly modern custom (19th century I believe). If you are celebrating the birth of an important historical figure nothing wrong with that at all. Heck the Americans celebrate MLK dont they?

HA! You should be like"right back at cha".

Remind them that Christmas is a pagan holiday. It is a remnant of the European Anglo Saxons polytheistic festival for the solstice. Roman Christians allowed it to survive in order to encourage conversion to Christianity.

When they tell you thats a bunch of BS, explain how Jesus was actually born in the spring (congruent to Easter), as evidenced by his first visitors - shepherds who were "in the field, keeping watch over their flock by night".

According to bethlehem-city.org, December temperatures are about 13 degrees celsius (55F). Now why would they be sleeping outside in 55 degree weather when they had perfectly good stables/homes to keep warm in? This passage is refering to springtime activities.

Also remind them that Christmas, irregardless of its origin, is a time for love, sharing and good will. Then give them the MP3 player and wish them a merry Christmas.

christmas is not so much about christ any more as spending a day celebrating family and friends and by swapping presents to show your love.

its a happy day for lots of people now.

take the mp3 player back for trying to ruin christmas! lol

I just call it Capitalist Greed Day and celebrate by spending an obscene amount of money on a good time for all around me. That's worth a holiday more than once a year.

You should tell them that if they are going to borrow Yule to do it right, put hay in their stockings for Odin's horse Sleipnir. Put on some pagan and heathen music on the MP3 player and just keep it yourself, or if you still feel generous give it to them after doing such.

Christmas was a pagan holiday long before Jesus, and it is a cultural/secular holiday now. Christians can do their thing, and so should everyone else. If Christians don't want to share, they shouldn't have co-opted someone else's holiday in the first place. "But we stole it fair and square" doesn't cut it.

Yes, return it, as the point of giving a gift is the joy the other gets in receiving the gift.

I wonder if they understand the "true meaning"?