Inspiration for a Natural World-View
Religion
Holiday Gifts for Freethinkers
Nov 29th
Some of us freethinkers still enjoy celebrating the holidays and giving gifts. After-all, Christmas is just a mishmosh of ancient traditions. In fact, the only contributions of Christianity are it’s name (Christ Mass) and Santa Clause; Saint Nicholas being the patron saint of children, giving them gifts every December 6th.
Evergreen and holly trees were important in German festivals because they remained green in the winter. The Yule Log comes from the Norse God Yolnir. Hanging decorations on a tree was in honor of Yolnir’s story, who hung himself on a tree and killed himself with a spear. It was Queen Victoria, who came from a German Family, that popularized the tradition of an evergreen tree among English Families. Although winter festivities have been part of many cultures, the specific date of December 25th was declared Natalis Solis Invicti - the Birth of the Invincible Sun - by a Pagan emperor in 274 CE. Prior to that, the day was associated with a secular celebration of the Winter Solstice. It wasn’t a stretch for religions to turn the celebration of the Sun, into that of the Son of their God (Christianity wasn’t the first to do this; see Jermey’s article The Familiar History of Jesus).
Many of us falling under the definition of a Bright can celebrate December 25th with confidence. It’s a tradition spanning many cultures, and it is a great time to be with family and bring light to short winter days.
Here are a few ideas of how to shop for the freethinkers on your list:
Support a freethinking group. Give the gift of a membership to a group such as the Freedom From Religion Foundation, Atheist Alliance International, or donate to a Secular Student Alliance at your local college. Or purchase t-shirts, books and other swag from the website of a particular group to support their cause.
A Magazine Subscription. Many groups have magazines that you can subscribe to, such as the Council for Secular Humanism’s Free Inquiry and Skeptical Inquirer. The Skeptics Society has Skeptic Magazine. Publications that focus on science news, making stories understandable and entertaining, are great gifts; Discover Magazine and Scientific American are stellar publications.
Freethinking Swag. Here are a few of my favorite vendors:
- MadeWithMolecules.com: Jewelry, shaped like specific molecules, representing chocolate, red wine, and caffeine.
- WearScience.com: I particularly like their Teach the Controversy line of t-shirts.
- Evolvefish.com: A variety of mugs, shirts, buttons, bumper stickers, and nick-knacks. It’s not the best produced website, but they have lots of low cost items that would make great stocking stuffers.
- ThinkGeek.com: This is more of a science centered site. They have a ton of original products that will surely entertain and amuse. From laser pointers that reach clouds and Japanese toys using nano technology to evolution play sets and Einstein action figures.
The Familiar History of Jesus
Nov 24th
I once conceded that there probably was a real-life Jesus Christ, or rather Jesus of Nazareth (“Christ” is Greek for “The Anointed”). However, as I gleaned information from more sources, a different picture began to emerge.
At the time that Jesus apparently lived, there were all sorts of guys running around claiming to be messiahs. According to the Jewish faith at the time, the Messiah was going to come back and then all would be nice and chipper for the Jews. So of course plenty of people claimed to be that Messiah and they all had followers who claimed miracles. So perhaps Jesus was just one of these guys and his story just got embellished over the years. Stories tend to get exaggerated in their re-telling. The Resurrection was told four different times in the bible alone – Matthew, Marc, Luke, and John – and each time it became more and more miraculous. Beginning with Mark in 70 CE, the two Marys find Jesus’ tomb empty. Fast forward to John in 100-125 CE and all of a sudden there are angels, voices and all sorts of supernatural shenanigans slopped on top. The four stories of the Resurrection are factually incompatible. So much for the infallibility of the Bible.
Even if you could find historical explanations within the miraculous events regarding the details of Jesus’ life, it all falls apart when you are introduced to Mithra. Who is Mithra exactly? Only one of the most popular gods of the ancient world! The Romans loved him right up until Constantine converted to Christianity, causing worship of Mithra to decline. Or did it?
Mithra was born on December 25th. It was a virgin birth. During his lifetime he had twelve followers, and performed many miracles. He was said to be the savior of all mankind. His father was the ruler of the Zoroastrian gods. He was betrayed, and executed after the last supper with his 12 disciples… but don’t worry, he was resurrected. Sound familiar?
The stories and legends of Mithra’s life/death/resurrection were firmly in place by 800 BCE. Mithra’s worshipers believed strongly in a heaven and hell. They believed that Mithra would one day return during a time of judgment to give them eternal salvation. But even to Mirtha, this chain of events wasn’t anything new. Virgin birth, performing miracles, death by crucifixion and resurrected, have always been a part of hero myth since the Greeks (and probably before them).
Mithra’s story was transposed onto one of the Messiahs running around Jerusalem, and that Messiah became Jesus. Outside of the Bible there are no actual historical descriptions of anyone like Jesus. You’d think that a reformer like him, with growing followers shaking things up for the ruling Romans, would’ve gotten at least one line in history. The Romans were great record keepers. But even in their records of crucifixions, historians are unable to find a hint of Jesus. Not even the apostles show up in any history outside of the Bible; except for maybe Peter, but even that’s a stretch.
The first historical mention of Jesus happened much later. The first book of the New Testament was written 70 years after his death, during a time when the average life expectancy was 30-40 years. But before that, the first recorded Christian teachings began with St. Paul around 40 CE – only he never heard of / mentions the name of Jesus. You’d think, if he existed, that the founder Christianity would be worth a mention now and again. St. Paul never mentions a savior. It wasn’t until after Paul’s death, when early Christians were trying to find new converts, did the name Jesus begin to appear. December 25th, the ancient day of celebration for the winter solstice, became Mithra’s birthday, became Christmas. The spring fertility festival -symbolized by eggs and rabbits (for their high reproductive rates)- became Easter. Hijacking other holidays is important to forming new myths. Compatibility helps pull people over to your side. It didn’t hurt that when Constantine converted he pulled the whole Roman infrastructure over. Bishop and Cardinal were Roman administration titles. Mithra’s worship declined while Jesus’ worship rose (as Mirtha did to the Gods before him).
It took another 200 years for the New testament to solidify. At the time various local leaders had different versions of events – and even entirely other gospels that they were using, such as the Book of Q. Did God come down and tell the Pope what his infallible words really were? – Do I really have to answer that question? (the answer is no) – A group of Christian leaders got together at the Council of Nicea and voted on it. It was later refined at the First Council of Constantinople, and modified several times after that… by men. Factor in another 1200 years of handwritten biblical translations and you get to the King James Bible, so I’d say it’s rather reasonable that the book has probably been modified quite a bit.
- Jeremy
