Reply #37: Those holidays incorporated 'pagan' traditions [View All]

[Cirque du So-What]

in order to co-opt the 'old religions' into the new, shiny one. Early adherents to Christianity didn't have the luxury of being hard-line 'fundamentalists' - not until they'd consolidated power, and that took many centuries to accomplish. First the pandering to the pagans, then the Inquisition.

I got my undergrad degree from a private liberal-arts school that required two religion classes as general education requirements. I chose World Religions for one of the classes, which was taught by a RC priest. I was surprised to hear him admit that the myth of Mary & the whole virgin birth thing had already been done to death by practically every other civilization preceding the Christian era, and that these mythologies likely influenced the account of Jesus' birth. I already knew this, but it was still surprising to hear it come from a priest - an ordained defender of the faith. These facts get taught in all manner of Christian seminaries, but no minister will freely admit these inconvenient truths to their parishioners.