In my last post I discussed how the Winter Solstice and the birth of ancient “gods” not jesus are the reason for the season of celebration during the winter months. On this post I will talk about the paraphernalia surrounding the winter celebration traditions.

Lets start with Yule log (as the song Chestnuts Roasting on an Open Fire goes; Yuletide carols being sung by a choir) The yule log is a phallic symbol representing fertility. The reason for burning a penis shaped log… to worship the birth of the horned god Cernunnos who rules over wealth, prosperity. oh and yeah the underworld ( horned god that rules the underworld ?….why does that sound familiar )

Holly was also sacred to the “pagans”, maintaining its greenness on the sacred oak,(Yule log). It symbolized eternal life. It’s most common displayed as a wheel or wreath. The evergreen wreath or wheel symbolized the unending circle of life, the rotation of the seasons. The evergreen, of course, was a part of the earth that lived steadfastly through the winter darkness. It was also brought into the home to ward of evil Spirits. (glad I keep one at my front door)

If you would like to buy this shirt, just click on it. Doing so will take you to my store where you can change colors and sizes. Noel from the Gaulish words “noio” or “neu” meaning “new” and “helle” meaning “light” referring to the winter solstice when sunlight begins overtaking darkness.

REASON for the SEASON …  is the tilt of earths axis

The middle of December has always been a time of heightened ritual activity for as long as human beings have noticed, recorded and predicted the annual cyclic pattern of the sun. Known as the Winter Solstice, this annual celestial event marks the end of the ever shortening, ever darkening, colder days and signals the promise of the return of a life restoring warm springtime sun. The Winter Solstice was a time to celebrate that the worst of winter had been experienced and all could look forward to ever-increasing daylight.

Another historical factor influencing the festive aspect of this particular season was that beer and wine prepared earlier in the year would have fermented to the point of being ready to drink about this time. Additionally, livestock would have been slaughtered in this cold season to reduce feed consumption and the fresh meat that this practice produced had to be eaten quickly or cured for later consumption. Winter was a
time of abundance of food and drink.

REASON for the SEASON …  the birthday boy, Mithra!

The Roman Empire celebrated for centuries the rebirth of the Sun with food, wine and festival, which, for many, focused on the birthday of the sun god Mithra on December 25th. This “reason for the season” would all change in the 4th century when Christianity, the official religion of the Roman Empire, would highjack Mithra’s empire-wide birthday party by switching birthday babies to their own mythic god: the Jesus character for which, embarrassingly, no particular birth information could be located.

As mentioned, the birthday of Mithra, god of the “unconquerable sun,” was observed on December 25, a day that would, by the 3rd and 4th century C.E. become, for many, the year’s most sacred day.

Beliefs about Mithra can be traced back to the ancient religion of Persia (today’s Iran) at least 700 years before the advent of Christian narratives. The religion of Mithra was transmitted from its origin throughout the Roman Empire and eventually to points across the European continent by Roman soldiers beginning in the 1st century B.C.E.

Some beliefs held about Mithra to make you go “hmmmm” …

* Mithra was born on December 25th of the virgin Anahita.
* … as an infant was placed in a manger and attended by shepherds.
* … was considered a great traveling teacher and master.
* … had 12 companions or “disciples.”
* … performed miracles.
* … sacrificed himself for world peace (as the “Great Bull of the Sun”)
* … ascended to heaven.
* … was viewed as the Good Shepherd, the “Way, the Truth and the Light,” the “Redeemer,” the “Savior,” the “Messiah.”
* … is omniscient, as he “hears all, sees all, knows all: none can deceive him.”
* … was identified with both the Lion and the Lamb.
* … his sacred day was SUNday (appropriate for the Sun god), also known as “the Lord’s Day,” (hundreds of years prior to Christian traditions)
* Mithra’s religion had a eucharist or “Lord’s Supper.”
* Mithraism emphasized baptism.

In addition a very, very big problem for Christianity, then as it is today, was that not one contemporaneous source outside of the biblical text mentions anything about the biblical Jesus/Christ character, much less any information at all about his birthday. Nor does the Bible itself provide any specifics on this. This would become what can be called a real “birther” issue: a dilemma that presented a continual source of debate and infighting within The Church throughout the first three centuries of the Common Era. For example, around 200 CE, Clement of Alexandria wrote that some theologians were placing the birth on May 20 but others around April 18 or 19. The Basilidians, a gnostic sect from Egypt, placed the event on either January 6 or 10. Cyprian, Bishop of Carthage (c. 246 CE), and a future “saint,” placed the character’s birthday on March 28.

Julius I (337-352 CE), pope of the Roman church, finally put his foot down on the Jesus character’s birther problems, looked around at all the partying going on during Winter Solstice and officially proclaimed December 25th as the divine character’s birthday. Designated as the “Feast of the Nativity,” most scholars agree that the date of this observance was chosen simply because this was the day that Romans observed the birthday of Mithra. Importantly for Pope Julius, placing it at this time of the year counteracted and absorbed the highly popular Saturnalia festival period as a Christian observance.

On February 27, 380, the “Edict of Thessalonica” made Christianity the official religion of the entire Roman Empire. From then on through what would become known as the Medieval period, The Church reigned supreme and, with the force of government (and its torture chambers for those who challenged church doctrines) behind it, succeeded in pulling off the ultimate birthday boy switch: from Mithra to their own character in what even today is still called “Christmas.”

Actually this is only a few of  the ways Christians STOLE the winter holidays; we still have to deal with Anglo Saxon celebration of  yule ,the Norse god Odin/Santa, decorated evergreen trees, mistletoe, etc… maybe my next post.

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Since my contract for work was not renewed I have been working on some T-shirt designs

Please check out my store @

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I am also available for graphic/design work @bluefoxgraphix.com

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(This stems from a discussion I was having on twitter)

No one wants to see religion destroyed and disappear from earth, more then me. Religions have history of violence, bigotry, war, and oppression with continued obstruction to progress and evolution in human thought and culture.  Unfortunate banning and or outlawing it will not work. It is of my opinion Atheist should encourage people to think for themselves but should NEVER encourage talk about outlawing or banning away the theist freedom to practice their religion, especially those of us who live in the USA. It goes against the major tenet the United States of America was founded.

The First Amendment (Amendment I) to the United States Constitution is part of the Bill of Rights. The amendment prohibits the making of any law “respecting an establishment of religion”, impeding the free exercise of religion, infringing on the freedom of speech, infringing on the freedom of the press, interfering with the right to peaceably assemble or prohibiting the petitioning for a governmental redress of grievances.

Clearly, the initiation of aggression on another is wrong, and should be prevented. I tell you this, if a religious person tried to kill me because something that their holy book said, I would resist. On the same token if an atheist tried to kill a religious person because of their peity, or tried to simply ban their ideology, It should be resisted as well. Ideologies can be wrong or right, good or and bad. But you cannot ban them; you cannot control outlaw or ban peoples thoughts, imaginations, beliefs, or values. (Think about it, can you outlaw Atheism?) When others talk about banning religion; its the same bigotry and prejudice showed by the religious fanatics to us atheist, LGBT and others they don’t agree with. You can, however, control actions, particularly actions that are aggressions against others, or yourself. Also we can and should control it by keeping it out public schools and governments.

Banning a thought or ideology is an aggression, and it is immoral, just like killing another is immoral because your holy book said something like “stone to death those who work on Sundays” we will find ourselves in great dire straits if you are attempting to find fault in a “free marketplace of ideas” where ideologies are allowed to stand or fall based solely on their own merits. Hopefully in the near future atheist will be the majority, unless some extremist tries to physically destroy or ban religion, in which case we will go backwards.

Next obvious question is; What is the best way to get rid of religion?

It would be proper education. Not just spitting back facts education but teach children critical thinking skills, encourage them to question everything. Teach them science, all the sciences. The more knowledgeable and better educated someone is, the less likely they are to be religious. Sooner or later they will see that religions are ancient superstitions that are well past their sell-by date.

For adults or others; its about educating them about their own and other religions. How churches are about self propagation and funding themselves. All the rest is window dressing, and counter productive. If you encourage people to look at other faiths, they might actually change religions! If you encourage people to think critically they might realize theology doesn’t really make any sense at all. If you encourage them to actually read the unsanitary parts of the bible, torah, qur’an etc., or the brutal things the various religions have done, my goodness, they might doubt that their religion is even moral at all.

Of course , people respond to different stimuli.

I love to mock, use humor, irony, sarcasm and snark. This hits deeper to the theist emotional bias. I try my best to mock and criticize the beliefs, absurdities and actions, not the person although sometimes I cant help it(that’s my fault). Like Scott Adams (of Dilbert fame) said “Mockery is an important social tool for squelching stupidity. I’ve never seen anyone change his mind because of the power of a superior argument or the acquisition of new facts. But I’ve seen plenty of people change behavior to avoid being mocked.”

I know this post is more the rational side of me typing but as this post is more for fellow atheist or people who believe atheist want to outlaw religion, I think its the way to go.

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One thing that the “right” does very effectively is take a position or issue and frame it in the worst possible terms for liberals to defend.  And sadly, many on the liberal side don’t like to “go there”, but the fact is, it is effective and I am not scared to “go there”.

Before the ink had dried from U.S. District Chief Judge Vaughn R. Walker ruling on  same-sex marriage ban being unconstitutional, the religious “right” was set to appeal.   Since I know this fight will be ongoing for a while . I want to show how stupid the sanctity of marriage argument is. Remember people Gay rights are human rights. Each of us should stand for the full recognition of same sex marriage.

but I digress…

When it comes to marriage equality, not only is the tide turning, but the bigoted and homophobic arguments being made against marriage equality are reminiscent of the racist arguments made against interracial marriage – with wild examples of marrying pets or “ruining the sanctity of marriage” (which is a joke in a country with so much infidelity and divorce, let alone immediate marriage on demand by drunken people in Las Vegas for example.  The “Biblical argument” is also a farce as I’d like to see an explanation about why the “coveting thy neighbor” one is so easily ignored.

A full 20 states (including my home state and former one also,NJ) allow marriage among first cousins, and another 6 allow it under “certain circumstances”.  States generally also recognize marriages of first cousins if they were married in a state where such marriages are legal.

Yet, we don’t see the same thing for same sex couples, because first cousin love is sacred.

Six states allow for pregnant teens or teens who already have had a child to get married without parental consent - however, there are some restrictions when the teen is 16 or less; so there are some real safeguards in there.  A number of other states allow a teen to get married with parental consent if under 18, which would play well in situations where parents want their children to be married (like an arranged marriage for example) or if the parents think that it is a good idea that their pregnant 15 year old should “do the right thing” – because of course, there should never be sex outside of marriage, right?

Yet, same sex couples well above the age of 21 who are in a deeply committed relationship don’t get the same treatment – because we need to save the embarrassment of a teenage unmarried mother in those households with “good family values”.

So let’s call it what it is – as long as that icky scary relationship between members of the same sex are confined to far right conservative hypocrites or after hours parties that Republican Senators secretly attend – things are just peachy.  But when it comes to discriminating for no reason other than bigotry, ignorance and homophobia, then society needs to be saved from itself.

And the ability for a 16 year old pregnant girl to marry her first cousin should be protected with the utmost vigor – because THAT is the sanctity of marriage that should be maintained.

Since I know I will hear the same old tired arguments here is a quick Q&A  (match them up)

If you have something new to add sure post below.

Anti Gay Marriage:

1. The Bible says it is a sin.
2. Being gay is a sin greater than the sins that heterosexuals commit.
3. Homosexuality is destroying our nation/God will smite us.
4. Marriage has traditionally been between a man and a woman. Can’t change the rules now.
5. We are a Christian nation.
6. The Constitution doesn’t mention marriage.
7. The judge should have recused himself because he has a gay bias.
8. People get to vote on who gets to have civil rights and who does not.
9. Next we will have bestiality.
10. Being gay is gross.
11. People choose to be gay.
12. It’s Obama’s fault.

Pro Gay Marriage

1. Funny how you pick and choose the parts of the Bible you will follow.
2. We don’t share your religious views.
3. The nation is just fine.
4. Slavery and other wrongs are/were also justified as time honored practices.
5. We are a secular nation/separation of church and state.
6. 14th Amendment.
7. A straight judge would also have a bias.
8. If the majority ruled certain minorities would have fewer rights, e.g. womens’ suffrage.
9. Animals and children cannot consent.
10. Some of the stuff you do is gross to me.
11. People are born the way they are born. Did you choose to be straight or were you born that way?
12. Whaaaaat? The judge was a Reagan appointee.

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