C
ChasNemo
Guest
YUP, IT'S TRUE. BIBLE THUMPERS HAVE ALWAYS BEEN ARROGANT, BRAINDEAD
SCUMBAGS!!!
Once Upon a Time the Religious Right Demonized Christmas, Even Banning
Its Celebration
By Rob Boston, Posted December 8, 2007. http://www.alternet.org/stories/69928/
It's the Christmas tale the Religious Right doesn't want you to hear:
Their spiritual forebearers hated the holiday and even banned its
celebration.
It's ironic to hear Religious Right groups portray themselves as the
great defenders of Christmas - their spiritual forebears hated the
holiday and even banned its celebration.
The Puritans of Massachusetts Bay frowned on Christmas revelry,
considering the holiday a Roman Catholic affectation. A law in the
colony barred anyone from taking the day off work, feasting or
engaging in other celebrations on Christmas, under penalty of a five-
shilling fine.
The law was repealed in 1681, but Christmas celebrations remained
unpopular in New England and other colonies for many years. That did
not change after the Revolution, because many Americans viewed
Christmas as a Tory custom, a reminder of the expelled British.
Although Christmas became popular in the South as early as the 1830s,
other regions were apathetic. Writer Tom Flynn notes in his 1993 book
The Trouble with Christmas that Congress did not begin adjourning on
Christmas Day until 1856. Public schools in New England were often
open on Dec. 25, as were many factories and offices. Many Protestant
churches refused to hold services, considering the holiday "popish."
Not until after the Civil War did Christmas begin to seriously affect
American cultural and religious life. European immigration increased
sharply after the war, and many of the newcomers came from countries
with strong Christmas traditions. Germans, Italians, Poles, Swedes,
Norwegians and others brought the holiday and many of its features,
including Christmas trees and Santa Claus, to America in a big way.
The celebration spread, and in 1870 Christmas was declared a federal
holiday by Congress. But practices in the states continued to vary. As
late as 1931, Flynn reports, nine states still called for public
schools to remain open on Christmas Day.
It might also surprise Religious Right activists to learn that many of
the Christmas traditions they defend so vociferously have, at best, a
tenuous connection to Christianity.
Several of the holiday's most common features grow out of pre-
Christian religions. The ancient Romans celebrated Saturnalia in mid-
December, a time of general merriment, feasting and gift exchanges.
Slaves were given time off and were even permitted to play dice games
in public. During this period, many Romans decorated their homes with
evergreens as a reminder that life would persevere through the dark
days of winter.
Evergreen trees had long been viewed as a symbol of fertility by Pagan
peoples. When winter came and most trees lost their leaves and
appeared to die, the evergreen was a reminder that life would endure
and that long days, warmer weather and a harvest would come again.
Germans were early boosters of the Christmas tree and brought it to
America. (The pious legend that Martin Luther decorated the first
Christmas tree is not taken seriously by scholars.)
Candles, a necessary item during the dark winter period, were a common
Saturnalia gift. Some scholars consider them a precursor to Christmas
lights.
Originally celebrated on Dec. 17, the Roman Saturnalia eventually
expanded to last an entire week, ending on Dec. 23.
So where did the Dec. 25 date for Christmas come from?
Many scholars believe that date came from another Roman festival, one
that became popular around the middle of the third century - the feast
of Sol Invictus, the unconquered sun.
During this festival, various gods related to the sun in the Roman
pantheon were honored. The festival was most popular during the reign
of the emperor Aurelian (270-275 A.D.), who attributed his military
victories to the sun god and may have wanted to establish a solar
deity as supreme in the Roman pantheon. Images of Sol Invictus
remained popular and appeared on Roman coinage even during the reign
of Constantine the Great (306-337 A.D.).
There is some evidence that early Christians celebrated the festival
alongside Pagans, and that church leaders, seeing these practices
under way, simply appropriated the date for the birth of Jesus as
Christianity grew and became the dominant religion of the empire
throughout the fourth and fifth centuries.
Michael Grant, the late scholar of the ancient world, noted in his
1985 book The Roman Emperors that Dec. 25 was "a bequest of the solar
cult to Christianity, converted into Christmas Day."
Legal codes laid down by the emperors Theodosius I and later Justinian
made Christianity the state religion and banned Paganism. Church
leaders were generally tolerant of people taking old practices and
adding a Christian gloss to them. Overt worship of Pagan gods
disappeared but the Dec.25 date - and many residual practices
associated with the old festival - remained.
As strange as it may seem, when Religious Right legal groups go to
court to battle the "War on Christmas," they may really be defending
practices historically associated with the worship not of the son of
God but the sun in the sky.
SCUMBAGS!!!
Once Upon a Time the Religious Right Demonized Christmas, Even Banning
Its Celebration
By Rob Boston, Posted December 8, 2007. http://www.alternet.org/stories/69928/
It's the Christmas tale the Religious Right doesn't want you to hear:
Their spiritual forebearers hated the holiday and even banned its
celebration.
It's ironic to hear Religious Right groups portray themselves as the
great defenders of Christmas - their spiritual forebears hated the
holiday and even banned its celebration.
The Puritans of Massachusetts Bay frowned on Christmas revelry,
considering the holiday a Roman Catholic affectation. A law in the
colony barred anyone from taking the day off work, feasting or
engaging in other celebrations on Christmas, under penalty of a five-
shilling fine.
The law was repealed in 1681, but Christmas celebrations remained
unpopular in New England and other colonies for many years. That did
not change after the Revolution, because many Americans viewed
Christmas as a Tory custom, a reminder of the expelled British.
Although Christmas became popular in the South as early as the 1830s,
other regions were apathetic. Writer Tom Flynn notes in his 1993 book
The Trouble with Christmas that Congress did not begin adjourning on
Christmas Day until 1856. Public schools in New England were often
open on Dec. 25, as were many factories and offices. Many Protestant
churches refused to hold services, considering the holiday "popish."
Not until after the Civil War did Christmas begin to seriously affect
American cultural and religious life. European immigration increased
sharply after the war, and many of the newcomers came from countries
with strong Christmas traditions. Germans, Italians, Poles, Swedes,
Norwegians and others brought the holiday and many of its features,
including Christmas trees and Santa Claus, to America in a big way.
The celebration spread, and in 1870 Christmas was declared a federal
holiday by Congress. But practices in the states continued to vary. As
late as 1931, Flynn reports, nine states still called for public
schools to remain open on Christmas Day.
It might also surprise Religious Right activists to learn that many of
the Christmas traditions they defend so vociferously have, at best, a
tenuous connection to Christianity.
Several of the holiday's most common features grow out of pre-
Christian religions. The ancient Romans celebrated Saturnalia in mid-
December, a time of general merriment, feasting and gift exchanges.
Slaves were given time off and were even permitted to play dice games
in public. During this period, many Romans decorated their homes with
evergreens as a reminder that life would persevere through the dark
days of winter.
Evergreen trees had long been viewed as a symbol of fertility by Pagan
peoples. When winter came and most trees lost their leaves and
appeared to die, the evergreen was a reminder that life would endure
and that long days, warmer weather and a harvest would come again.
Germans were early boosters of the Christmas tree and brought it to
America. (The pious legend that Martin Luther decorated the first
Christmas tree is not taken seriously by scholars.)
Candles, a necessary item during the dark winter period, were a common
Saturnalia gift. Some scholars consider them a precursor to Christmas
lights.
Originally celebrated on Dec. 17, the Roman Saturnalia eventually
expanded to last an entire week, ending on Dec. 23.
So where did the Dec. 25 date for Christmas come from?
Many scholars believe that date came from another Roman festival, one
that became popular around the middle of the third century - the feast
of Sol Invictus, the unconquered sun.
During this festival, various gods related to the sun in the Roman
pantheon were honored. The festival was most popular during the reign
of the emperor Aurelian (270-275 A.D.), who attributed his military
victories to the sun god and may have wanted to establish a solar
deity as supreme in the Roman pantheon. Images of Sol Invictus
remained popular and appeared on Roman coinage even during the reign
of Constantine the Great (306-337 A.D.).
There is some evidence that early Christians celebrated the festival
alongside Pagans, and that church leaders, seeing these practices
under way, simply appropriated the date for the birth of Jesus as
Christianity grew and became the dominant religion of the empire
throughout the fourth and fifth centuries.
Michael Grant, the late scholar of the ancient world, noted in his
1985 book The Roman Emperors that Dec. 25 was "a bequest of the solar
cult to Christianity, converted into Christmas Day."
Legal codes laid down by the emperors Theodosius I and later Justinian
made Christianity the state religion and banned Paganism. Church
leaders were generally tolerant of people taking old practices and
adding a Christian gloss to them. Overt worship of Pagan gods
disappeared but the Dec.25 date - and many residual practices
associated with the old festival - remained.
As strange as it may seem, when Religious Right legal groups go to
court to battle the "War on Christmas," they may really be defending
practices historically associated with the worship not of the son of
God but the sun in the sky.
