Thank You,
B. Scott
BristolScott@hotmail.com

First I want to say I am a Believer in Jesus Christ. Second most Believers are sheep being lead to slaughter. X-mas which I will call it because it has nothing to do with Christ. He was born on 9/11…check it out astronomers…

http://www.apostles-gathering.com/signsintheheavens.htm

and you believers in Jesus Christ…x-mas came into being because the Catholic church wanted the pagan romans to convert to Catholicism…they allowed them to bring their pagan traditions with them…The rest of the Believers excepted those same traditions…along with Sunday worship…which are both abominations to the Lord…God hates all so called Holidays because they are pagan and against his commandments…Read about Aaron and repent you sheepish Believers…or except your punishment.

Jer.32:5 And when Aaron saw it, he built an altar before it; and Aaron made proclamation, and said, To morrow is a feast to the LORD.

32:8 They have turned aside quickly out of the way which I commanded them: they have made them a molten calf, and have worshipped it, and have sacrificed thereunto, and said, These be thy gods, O Israel, which have brought thee up out of the land of Egypt.

Read in Galatians when Paul tells the new Believers to stop going back to their old pagan ways..He tells them he is afraid of them because they did not take Gods words to heart..

Galatians 4

4:8 Howbeit then, when ye knew not God, ye did service unto them which by nature are no gods.
4:9 But now, after that ye have known God, or rather are known of God, how turn ye again to the weak and beggarly elements, whereunto ye desire again to be in bondage?
4:10 Ye observe days, and months, and times, and years.
4:11 I am afraid of you, lest I have bestowed upon you labour in vain.

As Believers in Jesus Christ we need to study the word of God on our own…not what the church teaches…most of which is a watered down version of the word of God. Stop being sheep to man and start being sheep to the Lord!

Those who choose to not believe in the God of the universe were given that very choice by God himself…it is called free will.

(oh yeah… um… kinda agnostic)

How can anybody possibly be “offended” by this graphic? Geez, some of you really need to get a life.

Merry and jolly,
Donna

I think your infestation of “liberal Christians” is really a bunch of fakers, fundamentalists in disguise. Or just plain old trolls.

Despite the fact that these pagan religions are long dead; modern neopagan religions are reconstructions based on limited data. There can is no argument over the fact that Christianity assimilated pagan festivities into their own celebrations; it’s the softer form of religious conversion. However, because these parent religions did die out, for the longest time the only reason why people celebrated Christmas is because of a celebration of Jesus’ birth. Given that we’re all talking about invisible pink unicorns, this motivation is just as viable as that of the pagans who originally introduced the winter solstice holiday. To say that axial tilt is the philosophical or motivational reason behind the Christmas season is equivalent to saying it is equivalent to the Ramadan or Haunnaka seasons, which are also celebrations shifted towards the winter ecological season (although their dating is done with a lunar calendar, so they move around a bit).

George Carlin said, to paraphrase, “don’t worry about the words, worry about the person using them.” The axial tilt gag probably began as a benign pun and is still used as a benign pun. However, it is also used as a “your beliefs are invalid” attack and it is this attack which some people find offensive, and this offense is reasonable (even if the belief from which it derives is not). Unfortunately, the state of intellectual debate across the world today has lost the maturity to say “I’m sorry for offending you, but I’m going to keep it up as a benign pun” because people are so damn certain they’ve got the right answer that anyone who has a problem should not only suck it up, but don’t deserve a little bit of polite sympathy because the offended person is a dirty heretic.

Gareth, keep reading the blog and you will notice how much antireligous posts there are. It is sickening to say the least.

Cripes, if you all are that sensitive, why don’t you just not read this blog and go comment somewhere else? Please don’t let the door hit you on the way out, seeing how fragile you all are.

Gareth, keep reading the blog and you will notice how much antireligous posts there are. It is sickening to say the least.

Philip

“Well, you guys jumped all over her for saying the same damn thing! Are you really that blinded by hate? I’m a complete atheist and I can see her point, and people like you are *NOT* helping.”

No, she was saying that she’s offended that Phil is attacking *her beliefs*. He’s not attacking Christianity here, he’s “attacking” (mocking, really) a lie, which is that Christ’s birth is the “Reason for the Season”, which it most certainly is not.

And you’re right, I’m “*NOT* helping” with perpetuating a lie. This lie is meant to force Christianity upon everyone who celebrates Christmas, and is variant of the “the US is a Christian nation” lie.

DennyMo,

““Reason for the Season” is a phrase commonly used by Christians to refer to the birth of Christ as what they celebrate at Christmas. This image co-opted that slogan and used it as a swipe at Christians, simple as that. Caesar’s silly bloviations really had nothing to do with the original complaint, only provided an opportunity to demean someone he disagrees with.”

My purpose wasn’t to attack *her*, it was to “attack” the notion that she’s under attack in the first place. The image isn’t an attack on Christmas *or* Christianity. It’s an “attack” on the idea that Christ is the reason Christmas exists, when the undeniable truth is that modern-day Christmas finds its roots centuries, if not millennia, before Jesus is said to have lived.

It’s ironic that you’d decry someone for “demeaning someone he disagrees with” immediately after you write, “Caesar’s silly bloviations”. Hypocrisy tends to take the air out of one’s argument.

I’m not sure why you lumped me in the category of those who “jumped all over her for saying the same damn thing”: I was supporting her point.

Lugosi

Try the old “flashlight and globe” demonstration, usually more quickly understood by the easily confused.

Why can’t you choose to interpret the remark as lighthearted play on words, a holiday joke? Laugh it off, then go enjoy your holiday your way celebrating whatever you want in the manner you want? Why are you offended that someone else wants to celebrate differently, express a different point of view?

I understand that a religious faith can comfort and provide “answers” to some people, and they are not necessarily unintelligent people. I myself, and the majority who read this blog, find more comfort in scientific fact and whatever knowledge we can glean when looking for answers. And I recognize that blindly following ancient stories and a magic man in the sky is dangerous, and that religion of any form should be kept out of schools and government. I applaud all efforts on that score.

But let’s not go completely over the edge and automatically label all believers as nutcases- LSwift had a good point: “but sometimes the criticism seems directed at a very broad audience as if even the most barely religious people are to be considered extremists.”

Yeah, there’s a fine line to be found there somewhere. carry on.

Jesus was not the reason for December 25th. Jesus was not born on December 25th. People celebrated December 25th thousands of years before the time of Jesus because of the tilt of the Earth on its axis!

Hopefully something with double-breasted lines, sort of like the Evil Galactic Empire or the movie-period Starfleet uniforms.

As for the whole “reason for the season” silliness. Here’s why.

> What Phil posted *is* 100% true and objective,

This is true. Axial tilt is the cause of seasonal (spring-summer-fall-winter) variation.

> the opposing view (which Liz is presumably defending, otherwise her post would be an extreme non sequitur), which is that *Jesus* is the “reason for the season”, is 100% false and subjective.

This is false. One must differentiate the physical season from the Christmas season–remember, people south of the equator celebrate Christmas in the middle of the summer! When people say “Jesus is the reason for the season” they’re talking about something completely different from “axial tilt is the reason for the season.” It comes from the word “season,” which means much more than just summer, winter, spring, and fall.

Football season. Baseball season. Television shows and their seasons. It’s just indicative of a period of time, no more and no less. No one would ever use “axial tilt is the reason for the season” to parody baseball, would they, and yet when a Christian makes the argument that their season is different, everyone jumps down their throat and they’re 100% false?

Historically, Christians developed “Jesus is the reason for the [Christmas] season” to counter growing capitalist secularism in their religious holiday. Then wags developed “Axial tilt is the reason for the [winter] season” to parody Christianity. To honestly equate “[winter] season” to “[Christmas] season” and from there say that the Christians are 100% wrong about a traditional time period tied to a date, which is not due to axial tilt, tends to indicate an ignorance of what is actually being said. That this ignorance appears to derive from intellectual absolutism is simply sad.