Great Christmas essay by the Binksmeister

Who writes:

A Christian, Planning On Stealing Stuff

~ AND LO, EVERY YEAR around this time, we hear the same seasonal message– no, not the bemangered baby and Wise men and angels one, but how The Christians Stole Christmas.

You know, Norse yule logs, Druidical mistletoe, Roman saturnalia gifts, divine nativities, Germanic evergreens, feasting on roast beast, solsticial timing, all that and more was shamelessly pirated, hijacked, & filched from honest peace-loving environmentally-friendly pagans Whos down in WhoVille, by the imperialistic intolerant and narrow-minded grinchy Christer thieves. That’s the endlessly regurgitated story, anyway.

We’ve read it in the holy books of TIME, Newsweak, and on lots of atheist/ agnostic/ neo-pagan blogs, so clearly it must be true. Christmas = pure copyright infringement, via greedy religious extremism. It’s a favourite talking-point especially of nerdulent neo-pagans (a fake religion invented in the past century, via fictionalizers Robert Graves & Gerald Gardner & other ‘just makin’ shit up’ kinda sources), who are to ancient pagans what Ye Olde Renaissance Faire attendees are to the real Middle Ages.

Explaining Teh Stupid

The first error in thinking here is simple– something owned or done by somebody else is theirs forever, somehow. After all, pagans used baskets, therefore (either) (1) “real” Christians shouldn’t use dirty paganized baskets, or (2) the stupid old Christians, when they’re using baskets, only stole the ideas from pagans anyway.

The other implicit & unexamined notion here is this: in order to be a ‘real’ religion, you have to be pagan (or at least anti-Christian), so if Christians want their own religion, they may never use anything used before to be a ‘real/ original religion.’ No candles, incense, seasonal observances, statues, trumpets, singing, buildings, robes, poetry, rituals, philosophy, eating together, music, giving things, using plant-life, art, celebrating at particular times, or using any ideas or things from ever anywhere before. Cuz pagans got there first, and finders keepers, neener neener: and no take-backs. OOoooOOOooo– you proved Christianity is just a stealing-cult.. via a recently invented cheap re-writing of history for polemical purposes? Not so much, akshully.

How weird is that? Pretty much inhuman, I’d say. And pretty stupid. Even God thinks so.

There is lots more wonderful stuff. Go on over and read it all.

Merry Christmas Binks and family!