Do Atheist deserve the right to complain when they have to work on Christmas?

My roommate is an Atheist and he is complaining that he has to work on Christmas.

It's not like they're specifically targeting him to work, they just randomly picked him.

Why the hell is he complaining when he has nothing to celebrate?

EDIT: He's also a Socialist, why should he endorse this holiday of making people richer?

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*facepalm*

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Because most people don't see Christmas as a religious holiday or religious matter at all. To most it is seen as a day for family, food and gifts. Yes there are people who take it very religious and such but still many do not so yes he has the right to complain because it is a holiday for most and also a time for family.

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Was that at all necessary?





He refused to celebrate Thanksgiving with his family, I don't think that's it.

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Does it matter if he deserves to? If he wants to work for whom he works for, he has to go by their rules, religious day or not. Yeah, his boss is the resident Scrooge, but he has to work anyway, and there's nothing he can do without suffering the consecuences.

But actually answering the question of the topic, it's quite hard... As Cloud said, some people don't see it much as a religious day but as a family-gathering and jollyness day (counting myself.) But, if you say he doesn't even consider it a family day, then what is Christmas for him? Nothing at all. Then, it's just a regular Friday for him, so he has to work like every regular Friday.
That sound right?

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I'd say it's every bit as necessary as this topic.

But now that you've added more information about your roommate, he isn't the best example to use for the atheist argument. It sounds like he wanted a day off and is now whining because somebody at work ruined his plans. But even if he doesn't celebrate Christmas, he still has the right to complain... or, at least, he has as much of a right to complain as he does for any other normal day he wants off but isn't given off. Of course, if he didn't bother telling the boss that he wanted Christmas day off and just assumed they wouldn't pick him, then he needs to shut his hole.

As for the others, I'd say winged cloud's post covers atheists' "rights" quite well.

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Christmas is a social holiday, it's so-called roots are religious sure but even the date is more of a construct of the Roman Empire trying to make people not so rebellious. Thanks Giving is not religious it is about poor Native American's giving to some ungrateful people who end up shooting, displacing and marginalizing them, heck, how can a native population not be considered American when they were there first, IN AMERICA! Well, same goes for Aussy Land.

So yeah, Christmas is a time when most of the general people are free to potter around in kitchens, thus it is a good time to have off to catch up with family and friends I guess, I complain that I have to work boxing day but I hate work and rather be doing other things than serving ungrateful goose eating sods.

I would think this whole ponder is flawed due to things never being as plain as they may seem, people celebrate St Patrick's Day but most are not Irish. I guess I have no right to have Guinness pass my lips on that day. I've taken part in Gay Rights but I am not gay, I just feel something about it.

Few people would NOT moan about working Christmas time, it is not a case of right, everyone has a right to not want to moan more so if they are a minority. Minorities moan a lot it seems. Only people who would have issues with people wanting Christmas off are over the top Christians who want to scrap back some sort of meaning and people who work Christmas.

On the side of the whole leftist socialist bitching, Christmas has become about greed and companies getting richer but socialism is about making people richer, just in a different way (think on this) plus it is always nice to give people a little love and appreciation, be it a new spanking Hi-Fi or something you made yourself. Though we are socially constructed to accept the whole getting stuff at Christmas and buying crap.

I might lost the point, misquoted, misunderstood and made a few outlandish claims in this reply.

Oh wait, quick to the point answer.

Do Atheist deserve to complain about working Christmas? Bloody well yes! As do people are are not Christians, as do Jewish, Hindu, Jainism, Muslims, Buddhist, Shinto, Taoist etc etc.

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Yes. Yes we do.

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Well, I'd say they have a right to complain since they're working on Christmas, but moreso because they're working on a national holiday and not because they're atheists.

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Everyone has the right to complain about whatever they want to. Anyway, there's basically nothing religious about Christmas anymore, is there?

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Well you said he's a socialist, so that gives him the right to complain because everyone else gets the day off.

Seriously, the socialist bit was unnecessary.

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