Assalamu alaikum anyabwile,
I don't know if you realize, but I agree with you. If you will read my first post in this thread you will see I said exactly what you are saying.
My last post was addressed at rock, who I understood as saying that new years was not a religious holiday, and therefore it is ok to join in the celebration. I was clarifying that actually it <i>is</i> a religious holiday, so that justification is invalid.
1. I agree with you, anything the christians celebrate, we should have no part in.
2. the fact that it is a pagan holiday DOES matter, the pagans are worse than the christians, in that they believe in several gods and goddesses, they do not believe in the one god. So it is even worse to join in with the christians when they are celebrating something pagan.
The reason muslim men are allowed to marry christian women but not pagan women is because despite the blasphemy of the christian's belief of the trinity, they still believe in the one god (in a twisted way), and they believe in the same prophets that we do, except mohammed saws. The pagans do not recognize the one god at all, nor do they recognize the prophets or any divine revelation.
I understand you are very disgusted by the christian beliefs, and I don't blame you because I feel pretty much the same way. But it seems they are the only ones you are concentrating on as being un-islamic, they are the only ones you fear to copy, when in fact even the Qur'an says that the christians are the closest to our religion out of all the religions of the world. I don't have the ayat right now, but I can find it for you if you like. You are right about not joining the kafir... but christians arent the only kafirs. And there are worse beliefs in the world than that of the christians, and <b>all</b> of them should be avoided.
Hope that clears up my stance on this thread, and I will stop posting here because it seems like I keep saying the same thing over and over. If nobody understands my point by now, then Allaho alim.
wasalam