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jlf1961 -> RE: Anti Obama Propoganda by conservatives (12/13/2012 2:26:39 PM)
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After reading the wal-mart line, I will once again say.
The DATE for Christmas was set by Emperor Constantine, who chose the same day as a high feast for the Roman sun god.
quote:
Either as a means to unify his empire, or to make converting to Christianity easier, Constantine sought to blend Christian and pagan traditions. At that time, two prominent pagan winter festivals were celebrated. The first, starting on December 17 and lasting seven days, honored Saturn, the Roman god of agriculture. The second, starting on December 25 and lasting through January 1, commemorated the birth of Mithras, the Persian god of light. Constantine merged many of the traditions from these festivals with the Nativity story in the Bible and Christmas was born. From its beginning, Christmas was a holiday (or holy day), gifts were exchanged, families and friends gathered to feast, and a birth was celebrated; just like in the Roman and Persian festivities.
The celebration is of the birth of Christ, not based in Siberian Shamanism, again that is written history.
As for the traditional trappings of Christmas, such as the tree, mistletoe and other odds and ends, they were adopted by the early Catholic Church (Please remember that for the longest period of History since Christ, the Catholic Church was the ONLY church.) to make it easier for pagans to assimilate into the church.
For that matter, All hollows eve and all saints day are adopted pagan customs, eggs were not a part of the earliest Easter celebrations, and I think the Easter egg came from Ireland, not sure so dont quote me.
Not bashing Christian holidays, but, lets face a few facts, No one knows the date and day that Christ was born, unfortunately, no one that was present at the event had enough sense of mind to actually record the date for future generations. Easter is on no set date because it is at the same time as passover, and I can guarantee you that there is no Rabbit hopping around when Christ was crucified. All saints day was moved to the same day as Samhain to make it easier to accept the Gaelic festival tradition along with the beliefs of the church at the time.
Of course, some ultra conservative Christian fundamentalist lunatics will say I am the minion of Satan for attacking Christian holidays.
Now for the actual history of the Anti Merry Christmas crusade.
In December 2010 a lawsuit brought by the ACLU against the Mesquite, NV school district for using the phrase "Merry Christmas."
Conservatives please note the ACLU does not in any way speak for all liberals. Also note that Obama had nothing to do with this act. In fact President Obama has wished many people a Merry Christmas, it has even been caught by various media outlets, but I digress.
quote:
If Christmas has any enemies, chief among them may be Protestantism — the form of Christianity adhered to by most of those dedicated to "saving" Christmas from godless atheists. The reason is because Protestantism eliminated most of the many holy days that once made up the long Christmas holiday season. Protestants removed much of the religious significance of the holidays, leaving behind very little that could stand up to the relentless commercialization and secularization that characterize modern society.
Conservative evangelical Christians complain about people taking the "Christ" out of Christmas, but they seem to forget that they have already taken the "Mass" out of Christmas (Mass being a service including Holy Communion). When was the last time a prominent figure on the Christian Right has argued that Americans should remember to attend Mass on this Holy Day? I've never seen it and I don't expect to ever do so. This is just one of many masses that have been excised from the season.
Yes atheists have filled lawsuits against christmas trees, nativity scenes, school christmas pagents, even school choirs singing traditional christmas carols. However, again I must stress that not all Liberals are Atheists, and not all Atheists are liberals.
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