The Liberation of the Winter Solstice (aka, The War on Christmas)

There has been much criticism by Republican anti-war activists about the Liberal War on Christmas. What they do not understand is our noble motive for this campaign. We are trying to bring Democracy and Pluralism to this Holiday, which has long suffered under the tyrannical rule of the Christian Mythology.

Christianity is of course merely a hodge-podge collection of various stories and myths, unabashedly plagiarized from dozens of sources, and fused into a monolithic myth that was branded as being a historical narrative.

One of the most obvious examples of this is the appropriation of the Winter Solstice. Even the particulars, such as a virgin birth, being born in a stable or cave, the appearance of wise men, and the attempted infanticide are parts of other pagan myths which were "cut and pasted" into the myth now known as Christianity.

All that is required to see thru the plagiarism is to skim some of the source material utilized by the Christian plagiarizers. A cursory reading of the myths of Horus, Attis, Mithras, Adonis, Osirus, Vishnu and others will make it more than apparent that there is something very funny going on. And if a person makes this effort, and attains this concluison, more than just the Winter Solstice will be liberated - the person themself will be liberated from the dogmatic tyrnany of the Christian myth.

:applause:

And I'm sure the Republicans who are pushing the meme, "Liberal War on Christmas," don't care that it's been commercialized as far as capitalism allows.

Their hypocricy knows no bounds.

As a Unitarian youth, our Christmas pageant was focused on illuminating the pagan roots of the Christian Christmas myth. I think I read the bit on the Zoroastrian influences.

Being a somewhat naive child, I was truly puzzled by the need to take Christian mythology literally and the controversy which surrounds any mention of the "plagiarism" you mention. Religions have always borrowed freely from each other, especially the popular parts that resonate strongly.

Unfortunately the concept of metaphor has become discredited, as if somehow Universal Truth isn't true unless it's a demonstrable fact.

BTW- Slightly off topic, but my avatar is the "Red Crystal" - not some pagan or new age thing. The International Red Cross movement has added the "Red Crystal" emblem, and here are the three emblems together---


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and I volunteer 300-400 hours/year, mostly helping the "disoriented and newly homeless" (fires, floods, hurricanes, earthquakes), So, I shall carry the "Red Crystal" as my avatar with pride and honor.

I will be the 24X7 Local Disaster Assistance Team Captain for November 21-28 and December 17-January 2 2006.

I don't "War" on Christmas. That's Bill O'Reilly's job.

Last year I worked with one "newly homeless family" over Thanksgiving Weekend, and three "newly homeless families" on Christmas, and still another "newly homeless family" on New Years.

Fires and explosions don't know about Thanksgiving, Christmas, or New Years -- and Bill O'Reilly only knows how to use it to divide.

to my Roman friends. I really like this time of year, for the games are upon us. After a brutal training regimen, our gladiators anticipate the contests. The coin is tossed, and the Falcons elect to receive. Let the games begin.

REAL old time religion. Sing along if you like. Gimme that Old Time Religion....


General Paganism:

It was good enough for Cupid
It was good enough for Cupid
His wings look kind of stupid
But that's good enough for me!

We remember Ariadne
To whom Theseus was a cad, he
Split and left her feeling badly
Good old Bacchus set her free!

Odinism: Loki:

We will go and worship Loki
He will tell a dirty jokie
And get locked up in the pokey
But that's good enough for me!

We will sing a verse for Loki
He's the old Norse god of Chaos
Which is why this verse don't
rhyme or scan
But it's good enough for me...

Buddhism:

Oh we all will follow Buddah
Oh we all will follow Buddah
And we'll eat no food but Gouda
Which is Gouda-nuff for me!

It was good enough for Buddha,
As a god he's kinda cute-a,
And he comes in brass or pewta'
And that's good enough for me!

African:

We will hang out with Anansi
He's the spider god we fancy
And he wears eight legged pants,
He's got enough legs there for me!

The Ashanti god of all, hey
I will visit with Nyame
I will bring him a salami
And we'll both sit down to


And just to round it out

Atheist/Agnostic:
Gimme NO kind-a religion
Gimme NO kind-a religion
Gimme NO kind-a religion
It simply ain't for me!

.

the other day. I said I didn't think it made sense and he told me that the church no longer subscribed to that story. However, he didn't want to concede to me that god is a woman...if humans were made in the image of god, then god is a woman, because women continue the creation and creating.

to thrash believers, and trumpet their moral and intellectual superiority. Never mind that there are DUers who might be very questioning Christians; might be well aware of all the mythology and history in your post and still choose to celebrate Christmas with a child in a pageant as a Wise Man or an angel; and has, without a doubt, utter contempt for fundamentalist, wing-nut Christians, or they would not be posting on this board. There's been a scarcity of these posts, in the excitement over Fitzmas -- but, here we go!

ON EDIT: I was unaware of Bill O'Reilly's book on this topic -- despicable!

And the real point is that there never has been a "war" on holiday celebrations - the war is actually be waged against tolerance and pluralism by those who KNOW they are RIGHT and everyone else is WRONG.

There are a contingent of rabid fundamentalists who INSIST that Christmas is about THE HISTORICAL BIRTH OF JESUS CHRIST, and anything else is both blasphemy and a trick of the Devil. Now some Republican opportunists are seizing that resentment (which is what they work with best) and making out liberals as co-conspirators with Satan to talk about something OTHER than the Baby Jesus on Christmas.

That's what this is about.

"The War on Christmas : How the Liberal Plot to Ban the Sacred Christian Holiday Is Worse Than You Thought"
by John Gibson
$16.47 at Amazon
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/customer-reviews/1595230165/ref=cm_rev_sort/104-0216026-3175945?customer-reviews.sort_by=-HelpfulVotes&s=books&x=12&y=6

Great review:

Gibson only reports a small part of the story, October 22, 2005
Reviewer: Gen. JC Christian, patriot (Tremonton, UT United States) - See all my reviews
Although I'm supportive of Gibson's efforts to defend Christmas against the forces of pagan idolatry, I was very disappointed with his failure to examine the war's beginnings. For instance, he ignores the problem of Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer completely.

In was a sad day in 1939 when Rudolph made his debut and began pushing aside the more traditional, God-fearing reindeer. Today, if Donner, Blitzen and the rest are mentioned at all it is as Rudolph's persecutors, the bullies who barred him from playing reindeer games.

While many would rise to defend Rudolph by ascribing his popularity to the love Americans have for the underdog, I think there is something more sinister at work here, the siren call of homosexuality.

Think about it. Rudolph is a "flashy" reindeer, a flamboyant reindeer. His fabulously bright red nose flouts the conventions of traditional reindeer notions of propriety, more so than even Prancer's beaded buck-purse. Rudolph obviously uses it to seduce young, inexperienced bucks in the hopes of rutting them raw.

Yes, the story of Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer was the first shot in the culture wars. It's a shame that Gibson failed to include it in his book.

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Who luvs ya pb?