I've tried to bring it up once or twice, but people still think the tree and the presents, and then the eggs and the chocolate rabbits, are for Jesus.
You cannot tell them otherwise.
Although I do wonder how the churches "justify" having "Fall Festivals" where they carve pumpkins and go bobbing for apples and dress up in costumes and go trick-or-treating.
Forgot to add, that when I tried to say I was going to SERAM(South East Region Atheist Meetup) in Huntsville, right before christmas, my father exploded, and one of the things he was upset about was the fact that my mother didn't put up a christmas tree or wrap up presents, as if the lack of a tree and gifts was why I was going....
"Mary would have been stoned to death if no one "bought" the virgin birth. So they made it up to keep her out of trouble."
Why would they have believed their lie of virgin birth?
Surly these people were primitive by our standards, but they were not stupid.
Would not they have considered the story was made up for the reason of escapping punishment?
Constantine's reign as Roman emperor
(A.D. 306-337) dramatically changed
the direction of Christianity. This
grew out of his strategy for unifying
his empire by creating a "catholic"—
meaning universal —church that would
blend elements from many religions
The "Christianity" Constantine endorsed
was different from that practiced by Christ
and the apostles. The emperor accelerated
the change by his own hatred of Jews.
Constantine himself said, "Let us then have
nothing in common with the detestable Jewish
-(Eusebius, Life of Constantine 3, 18-19,
Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, 1979,
second series, Vol. 1, pp. 524-525).
For example, at the Council of Nicea (A.D. 325),
church authorities essentially replaced the
biblical Passover with Easter, a popular holiday
rooted in ancient springtime fertility celebrations.
British historian Paul Johnson summarizes
how Constantine's approach of merging religious
practices produced a corrupted Christianity
that meshed paganism with biblical elements.
When we consider the vast differences between
the mainstream Christianity of today and the
original Christianity of Jesus Christ and the
apostles, we can trace much of that change to
Constantine and the religious system he put
"Constantine corrupted and perverted Christianity
more than he aided it. He was an ambitious and
superstitious Emperor who murdered his own
kindred (his wife and son) while promoting
Christianity. He paganized Christianity while
using it as a political tool to solidify his Empire."
-Paganism Surviving in Christianity
by Abram Herbert Lewis
"The Control of Christianity by the State
under Constantine and his Successors"
Chapter X; pg. 203
Better to celebrate christmas in the winter I'd say because there's not much else to do. You can't really spend much time preparing and celebrating in the warmer months when there's crops to be tended. I'm not sure what the Amish belief is on this, but i know around here they don't plan weddings until after the fall harvest.
There is an interesting video i found not long ago, which explains the origins of christianity and other religions. I havent researched all its claims, but it sounds right to me. I cant put a link here but its on youtube and its called "real proof that jesus was not real"
And James it mentions Mithra, and several other earlier deities with the same story as jesus.
Enjoy. Cheers, Dave
I remember comedian Dennis Leary saying that while he believed in Jesus Christ, he also believed that Joseph, not God, had sex with Mary to bring him into the world.
Of course, some of the early sects of Christians, the "adoptionists", if I remember my Bart Ehrman correctly, also believed this, i.e. that Jesus became the *adopted* son of God after growing up into manhood. These Christians were a minority view and were stamped out as heretics.
Others have speculated Mary was raped by a Roman soldier (Monty Python's Life of Brian hints at this). But all of that assumes these are real historical persons and not wholly fictional characters, which is a mighty big assumption that's hard to justify.
Wow, now I can say that is something that wasn't touched on in my church(the later about roman rape) but I asked my mom at one time about the fact that there aren't any historical things outside of some random guy saying that there was a man named Jesus. Her response "His name is pretty special"(not really...)...
But that kinda reminds me of the whole easter thing..why is that adopted by christians when it is really a fertility celebration??