Members of a church in Kansas City, Ks., are protesting the secularization of Christmas by dressing like Jesus at their jobs, malls and restaurants.Pastor Kelly Lohrke advised parishioners of the Praise Chapel Christian Fellowship to wear at minimum a crown of thorns and a sash or robe during the week leading up to Christmas.”A lot of businesses and people are saying that they have to say, ‘Happy Holidays’ and ‘SeasonÂ’s Greetings,’” church receptionist Chelsea Johnston told FOXNews.com. “TheyÂ’re not allowed to say ‘Merry Christmas.’ It makes us upset because that is the holiday and it goes against our freedom of speech.”The 600-member church posted videos on YouTube of congregants wearing Christ-like garb in public — which they say has led other churches across the country to consider similar demonstrations.
OK Folks one more time: Christmas is secularizing BECAUSE it was made a national holiday. This is ONLY happening to Christmas because it is the ONLY religious holiday that has been nationalized — e.g, made mandatory for all Americans. I cannot get my mail, or do my business on Christmas, but I certainly can on Passover or Ramadan. When you make unbelievers comply by force, they will comply the way they can without changing their views, and that’s why Santa is more important than Jesus this time of year. The only solution is to deal with it. It’s too late to change.It’s not rocket science.But it’s OK, because it’s not JUST Christmas anyway. Check out our new Christmas page, and don’t forget to read about other gods whose birthday was December 25. AND — check out that new quote generator!AND — Stay tuned for a new guest announcement for the convention (just trust me — book your tickets now).
Why am I getting those annoying symbols in my posts? I don’t see them when I enter the post.
To Redlilac, They seem associated with the apostrophe in words like don’t doesn’t etc. Is the apostrophe in HTML symbols
And yet in my posts they seem normal
I don’t get those weird apostrophe symbols when I compose a comment in the box here, but if I compose in Word and then paste here, that’s the problem.
RedLilac
Tarma’s explanation is what I’ve also found to cause this.
I started copying and pasting because this value field does not allow you to view your full text until actually posted.
Dave, is it possible to reset the html borders to accommodate the visible text value field?
Huh? There’s a Preview button rite next to the Send Comment button!
Can Word be set to type in PlainText?
phreedumb proposed the following:
Neo, exactly how deep were your studies? Rather shallow I suspect. Why? Because you most likely viewed Christianity much the same way you view Dave’s page (or should I say Mr. Ed’s page) about Christmas. And that is taking it at face value, believing it for a season instead of doing your own research to see if it stands up to the claims…
Do yourself a favor…and research Mr. Ed’s claims. They are bogus…”
Unlike phreedumb, I do check out claims before they become part of my belief system.
Of the Egyptian god Horus, refer to this link: http://www.religioustolerance.org/chr_jcpa5.htm
Of his father Osiris, refer to: http://www.egyptianmyths.net/osiris.htm
Of Attis, I found little to link him with the story of Jesus, but, but was intrigued by his resurrection as an evergreen tree. Refer to: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Attis
Regarding Zoroaster, while by some accredited with inventing monotheism, and the concept of god v. devil, I found no evidence to support that, particularly in light of the fact that he lived nearly a thousand years after moses. If you’re curious: http://www.hyperhistory.com/online_n2/people_n2/persons1_n2/zoroaster.html
I lost my link , but info is plentiful on Hindu websites regarding both Krishna and Mithra. God taking human form, children slaughtered to prevent the prophecied coming, etc.
I was unable to confirm every statement Mr. Buckner made, but, I was able to confirm to my own satisfaction that he has made a point, even without stating it in his article, that there is little if anything original about who Jesus was, nor the story of his life. I also learned that there are about fifty versions of life of Jesus preserved by various sects of early christians, but only four are embraced by modern christians. King James whittled them down until the Bible told the story he wanted told.
Merry Soltice!!!
NeoWolfe
NotSoFast
pretty moronic of me to overlook the preview button – thx
though still would be easier for text field alignment
(though still would be easier with text field alignment in the first place)whatever, now I can deal with it
don’t know about your word question
an addendum with qualifiers,
Mr. Buckner,
I am absolutely piqued by the connection between the stories of Jesus and the mythologies of older civilizations. And while I understand your post was a blanket statement, not a thesis or article, or book, throw us a bone and add some references. The research I was able to do between my son’s Game Maker sessions, and World of Warcraft rendered enough bits and pieces of the puzzle to give your argument powerful persuation, but the picture you presented in your post would be absolute proof positive that the story of Jesus is pagan in origin, provided it can be substantiated. I’m a single parent in the purest form of the word, and I don’t have time to haunt libraries and browse newpaper morgues. Someone has to have written a book on this, complete with all the bibliographies. Throw me a bone if you can.
NeoWolfe
A response to ga4ry, quoted:
The Bush administration, speaking for the U.S.A., therefore must consider it tolerable that 6 million children die every day – children who could be fed if we weren’t wasting billions on stealth fighters, littoral combat boondoggles and non-effective defense against non-existant ballistic missiles from Iran.”
While it’s true, that Iran doesn’t have a missile system that threatens us, they do have missiles that threaten our allys in Europe. And with Russia back on the scene, one transaction will put them in position to strike us as well.
But, what really numbs and shocks my mind is that every attempt to solve problems, such as world hunger, is worsened when we make a move to separate ourselves from foreign dependence. We make fuel out of corn, then suddenly no one can afford corn anymore. But, no one in our supposed secular nation has the nerve to stand up and say that their are too many humans. We are a tumor on this planet, we are using it up, and just like a fatal bacterial infection, when the host is used up, and dies, the invading infection dies with it.
But in a Christian society, the thought of population control is repugnant. Just like abortion and birth control. So we fly headlong, oblivious, toward inevitable disaster. It’s like the housing bubble, the idiot bankers thought they could lend money to people who couldn’t afford their homes, because if they defaulted, the property would be worth more than they financed it for, and a foreclosure would yield a profit.
The brains who are worshipped with million dollar salaries and bonuses are bigger dumbasses than you and me.
But as the millions die in genocides and starvation, the entire civilized world is washing its collective hands, standing by and watching if a stable government might finally immerge, then they will send in the aid. Too late.
It might make us feel better if we could call upon some almighty force to avenge this injustice, but maybe its best that he doesn’t, because he might have to kill all of us, we all share the guilt.
NeoWolfe
This is a test. Let’s see what copying & pasting from my text editor does to the apostrophe.
I just typed something in my text editor, then saved it in Word Format, then copied & pasted it here. The apostrophe shows up correctly. I don’t know what to make of this problem you folks are having.
Tuen,
I don’t understand what you’re saying about text alinement either. My Preview seems to show the post exactly as it will appear when I post it.
neowolfe
I agree with this 100%.
I think ethanol from corn is dead. Word seems to be getting around that that doesn’t work. For one thing, it takes as much energy to make the ethanol as you can get from burning it. There are other substances that can be converted more efficiently & don’t deplete the food supply; but, in the 2nd place, any biofuel will put greenhouse gasses back into the atmosphere. We’ve got to cut down on internal combustion engines as much as possible.
Yikes…how can anyone have an intelligent discussion with those who believe in such junk science…
Last time I checked…this “christian society” provides more food to the world then any other nation…
I believe it was BECAUSE of the greenies of our soicety, who believe oil is the root of all evil, convinced congress that ethanol would save the planet…
Anyone with a basic understanding of economics would see that this shift would increase the demand for corn. High demand translates into higher costs.
Of course this would impact 3rd world nations more then more advanced societies…
So exactly who’s to blame for high food costs…?
Phreedumb,
It was not necessary to fill me in on the kindergarten version of supply and demand. It was at the core of my argument.
My point which you obviously missed with your “Non-junk” scientific mind is you can stop big industries in the united states from belching filth into the air, stop dumping chemical waste into the rivers, but you can’t stop them from using a free trade agreement to move to a third world country and go right back to the old ways. You can prove beyond a doubt that the destruction of the rain forest seriously depletes the planet’s ability to process CO2 back into oxygen, but, you can’t stop it, because it doesn’t belong to you. We can shut down every coal fired power plant in America, bankrupt the mining industry, but China has thousands more than we do and we can’t shut down any of them.
And it’s obvious that every measure taken, just opens up impending disaster on another front, ie, ethanol fuel from corn vs. inflated corn prices and global starvation. It’s far beyond the law of unintended consequence, it’s all our fingers and all our toes plugging the holes in the dyke, knowing the collapse is imminent. The only hope is clear reason and swift action, but instead we have pseudo-intellectuals like you who believe that if we pray and put faith back in government, god will fix everything. I think that’s a slot in the maze that the rat already tried a few hundred years ago. Remember the Spanish Inquisitions, and the Salem witch trials?
But, phreedumb, this post is not for you, because you are not looking for the truth, you are desperately scrambling to avoid it. No amount of inescapable logic will break you out of your insanity.
It is, on the other hand a wake up call to you free thinkers of the reality of the situation in which we live. When the bold thinkers come with bold ideas, don’t loose your nerve. They will need our support.
NeoWolfe
Finally the preacher gets a witness, NotSoFast stated:
“I think ethanol from corn is dead. Word seems to be getting around that that doesn’t work. For one thing, it takes as much energy to make the ethanol as you can get from burning it. There are other substances that can be converted more efficiently & don’t deplete the food supply”
The picture is unfortunately so much bigger. The technology to totally remove CO2 from coal fired power plant exists, by pumping boiler exhaust through transparent pipes full of water seeded with algae. Sunlight and plants changes CO2 to pure oxygen. A process called “stressed algae” produces synthetic crude oil.
Cellulose, the fiber that holds plants together is actually a complex sugar that with enzyme treatment can be reduced to a substance from which you can produce ethanol. That means that any plant bipoduct, lawn clippings, sage brush, prairie grass, scraps from sugar factories whether cane or beet can be used to make fuel. Tree branches and recycled paper, and yes, algae.
The problem is that corrupt politicians and oil companies have the horse out of the gate about twenty years late. And now, making it cost effective in short order is a monumental task, but so was landing on the moon. At the expense of our economy and our national security we have been sold down the river. But, now, those who sold us are global, and couldn’t give a damn if America disappears. They have theirs, stashed all over the planet.
Japan believed when they hit Pearl Harbor that they had taken us out of the global equation. They were so wrong!! But, the time for clear thought has arrived, we can’t afford any more sleepy mistakes. The age of the free thinker has arrived.
NeoWolfe
NotSoFast
It may be a quirk in my own system. If so, sorry for all the fuss. As you pointed out, the preview button remedies the issue. Thx for looking into this.
Championed by Christians, overpopulation is irresponsible and self-indulgent and is snowballing the effects of our bad habits exponentially. But we are also at the intersection of advanced physics and moral primitivism. We’re living with messianic ideology and apocalyptic weaponry. That’s why the freethinkers of the world are making all this noise. We’re fighting for the very survival of our species.
hey neowolfe you got me all jeeped up.
unique religious statues
The most accurate catholic mass offertory procession intelligence may take a bit of time to stumble on.
Tuen,
The issue of text being bigger than the comment box, I bitched to Dave on a different thread a couple of weeks ago, and now it’s working perfect. The problem with the preview is that you cant make correction in the preview box, and if you make a correction in the comment box it goes right back to a quarter of your comment out of sight, so you have to preview again for the next correction. Pain in the ass!! Dave did something to fix it for me, maybe he didn’t realize it was site wide.
Anyway, didn’t mean to get you all “jeeped up” but it’s hard to talk to people when they’re asleep. Nice post, by the way.
NeoWolfe
NeoWolfe,
Your overview is exactly what I’ve noticed except my text still travels beyond the value field. No biggie though, I can deal with it now. Having built HTML form fields, I still suspect it’s a numerical parameter issue but cannot deny the possibility of quirks within my own system.
Anyway, I am both humbled and inspired by many of the excellent thinkers on this blog (including yourself). It’s unprecedented how we transcend our immediate world and communicate worldwide with people we may never know outside of cyberspace. Through both cordiality and contention we productively examine issues and in so ultimately contribute to the well-being of humanity by enlightening all our brothers and sisters to the fruits of knowledge and the folly of religious dogma. The blogoshere is one giant leap for humankind.
In Safari, at least, to see the whole post as you enter it, drag down the lower right corner of the text box until it is big enough.
I just checked with Firefox and it doesn’t seem to allow this.
This test’s for Word apostrophes.
Human overpopulation is indeed the biggest threat to life on the planet.
How ironic that what once was a strategy to maximise the success of an ancient tribe and its priest-kings through fecundity is now working against our survival.
All because they were amongst the first to use written words to pass on their memes with a much slower rate of mutation.
US Catholics, with their birth rate close to that of the rest of the country, seem to be ignoring their leadership’s efforts to expand the tithing base. Not so, elsewhere in the world.
Religious efforts to limit contraceptive instruction and use are adding to the problem, especially for the poor. I could make the case that it is a Crime against Humanity.
Dropout, to quote you:
“Religious efforts to limit contraceptive instruction and use are adding to the problem, especially for the poor. I could make the case that it is a Crime against Humanity.”
Yes, you very well could. Until I inevitably piss you off, welcome to those who possess clarity of vision to see outside the box. Nice post.
NeoWolfe
DD Dropout,
Following up on one of your thought-provoking points, I submit this quote:
Falsifying the claim chronically offered by theists that only religious societies can be socially successful, “Christian America” in fact scores as the most dysfunctional nation in the first world.
Gregory S. Paul – Free Inquiry magazine (Dec 2008-Jan 2009)