I was raised a Roman Catholic and so I celebrate Easter. Every Easter, my family goes to church and afterwards we open our Easter baskets ( yeah, it sounds kiddie but hey FREE CANDY!) Not to sound like a Conservative Right Wing Christian but I have a deep faith in God that is often shaky sometimes. But when it is, I think about stuff he created, nature, life, sun. And I think that those things had to be the work on a higher power. That's what gets me through my crappy life. That and heaven.
did you know that the egg is the symbol of the pagan holliday Oestara?
collecting and decorating eggs is the way to celebrate the event...it is around easter time because it's another attempt at the christians & catholics to quash paganism...just like christmas falling right around Yule. The Yule tradition is to find a mighty tree and decorate it and celebrate and hope for a bountiful spring harvest...
most christian/catholic holy days have their beginnings in paganism...
here are more ways to have fun during Oestara than eating bags of candy and eggs. Click Here
Not to turn this into a fight about religion, but paganism seems as derivative of Roman/Greek/etc gods as Christianity does of Paganism. There are several mentions of Dionysus, Janus, and a few others in the article you linked to. So maybe the egg was cribbed from the Greeks.
(edited by PalpatineW on 30.3.02 0022)
I didn't expect to find a salesman drinking coffee this late in the morning. How long you been here, Joe?
Originally posted by rikidozanmost christian/catholic holy days have their beginnings in paganism...
That statement is misleading. Yes, Christians co-opted some of the traditions and superficial aspects of Pagan holidays, but that should in no way take away from the spiritual aspects of Christian holidays, in this case the resurrection of Jesus.
BTW Puerto Rican: Good to know I'm not the only practicing Catholic on this board :)
Everything's cool when you're Yun [point] Cheol [point] Su [point]
I knew about the Pagan aspect lifting of Christianity and didn't mean to come off as disrespectful. It just seems that unlike some of the christmas traditions, a six-foot tall pink rabbit hiding eggs seems REALLY out of place for what the holiday celebrates (well, the eggs kind of fit, but the rabbit?)
well, I just looked at the site about the pagan holiday, and there is a brief mention of the "Moon-hare". I guess it does make a little tiny bit of sense then.
(edited by astrobstrd on 30.3.02 1421)
"Your mother ate my dog!"
"Well...not all of it."
Originally posted by Tha Puerto RicanI was raised a Roman Catholic and so I celebrate Easter. Every Easter, my family goes to church and afterwards we open our Easter baskets ( yeah, it sounds kiddie but hey FREE CANDY!) Not to sound like a Conservative Right Wing Christian but I have a deep faith in God that is often shaky sometimes. But when it is, I think about stuff he created, nature, life, sun. And I think that those things had to be the work on a higher power. That's what gets me through my crappy life. That and heaven.
Not to pick out one thing from a post that put a smile on my face, but what's with the dig on conservative Christians? You shouldn't be afraid to say you have a faith, and doing so doesn't make you a bad person, or a Bible thumper or something. I'm a conservative Baptist, but that doesn't make me any more similar to Pat Robertson than you, as a practicing Catholic, are like any of the pedophilic priests in the news recently.
BDC
"Hitler had pieces of flair that he made the Jews wear."
THese right-wing conservative Christians try to shove the bible down your throat. They preach such ridicolous notions like homosexuality is a sickness or masturbation will send you to hell or September 11th attacks were caused by our lack of faith. These people are what turn off non-believers IN THE FIRST PLACE! And thse conservatives also control the goverment like Bush or Aschroft. That's my promblem with them.
(carefully putting on his flame-retardant underwear before posting)
I am a confirmed Roman Catholic who is currently attending some other services to see if there is a branch of Christianity that better reflects my own views. I recently attended a Unitarian Universalist service, but it left me a little bit cold. I agree with many of the Unitarians' viewpoints, but the service seemed more like an academic discussion/lecture that had little to do with religion than a celebration of a Supreme Power and faith. Another friend of mine suggested an Episcopalian Church might be the way to go, so I may check that out, too.
I think what bothers me about Catholicism includes that some of the most public figures in the church seem to be the most ignorant. I also disagree with its views against divorce, abortion, birth control, homosexuality, etc.
It's interesting that Tha Puerto Rican discusses his own faith and how he feels it when he thinks about the things that He has created. I feel like Creationism and Evolution go hand-in-hand. Maybe God set the ball rolling, but other forces of nature and evolution and human science have helped it to progress. I don't think God intervenes very much in human society these days.
Also, I often wonder if there really is one True God, and all religions are just their own take on this idea. Since our own human perceptions are limited, we only see little bits and pieces of God - Christians see Him as God and Jesus Christ, Jews see Him as Yahweh and Moses, Muslism see Him as Allah and Mohammed, etc. Once we leave this world and move on to the afterlife, our perceptions will greatly increase, and we will finally fully understand God and fully perceive Him (or Her, as the case may be).
Anyway, being in a weird mood on a Saturday night and having read the earlier posts in this thread, I just wanted to add that. Thank you for putting up with my babbling.
"HOLY CRAP! A wuvluv is in my house." - Dean Rasmussen
"If fantasy wrestling is, by rule, gay, does this make this fantasy interviewing lesbian?" - Excalibur05
For an interesting take on paganism, read the books of Tom Robbins. For another, read Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley (the Arthurian myth from the point of view of the women in the story).
While it's all fiction, both authors include much on the way Christianity ``took over'' from the old ways, especially in Europe.
I myself am an RC (Recovering Catholic) who has spent time celebrating pagan rites. As it turns out, almost all Christian holidays were set to supercede (others would say subvert) the pagan holidays of the day. It was an excellent strategy: people were used to celebrating at those times of year, the Christians just gave them new reasons to do it (me, I would have preferred to celebrate by frolicking naked in large fields, but hey, chacun son gout).
As for why the Catholic church tends to maintain its old and outdated precepts like ``homosexuality is wrong'' is mostly a question of logistics. There are a tonne (yup, metric) of Catholics in the world, a very significant and growing number in third world countries in Africa and South America. These people have been schooled in Catholicism by old-school missionaries to have old-school beliefs. So for every first world Catholic who can handle the idea that using condoms isn't going to send anyone to hell, there are 10 or 15 or 20 staunchly conservative Ethiopians who disagree strongly. All of these people look to Rome for guidance. If John Paul II rocks the boat too much he risks losing a massive population of Catholics. Meanwhile he can keep putting off the Westerners by saying something to the effect of, ``God said it, we can't undo that.'' Eventually I'm sure they will, but it won't be any time soon.
I understand that religion shouldn't be a subjective venture. At the same time new religions spring up specifically because they provide things that the current society has evolved to desire.
Originally posted by Tha Puerto RicanTHese right-wing conservative Christians try to shove the bible down your throat. They preach such ridicolous notions like homosexuality is a sickness or masturbation will send you to hell or September 11th attacks were caused by our lack of faith. These people are what turn off non-believers IN THE FIRST PLACE! And thse conservatives also control the goverment like Bush or Aschroft. That's my promblem with them.
I think it would be difficult to name a single instance in which George W. Bush or John Ashcroft has shoved their Bible, religion, or faith down your throat or anyone else's. Too many people equate talking about one's own faith with attempting to force it on whoever may be listening.
BDC
"Hitler had pieces of flair that he made the Jews wear."
At the risk of turning this into something that really should go into the Politics folder:
Click Here to read about what opponents of Ashcroft say about his career in politics. If you click on the link to the ACLU report "Not Moderate, Not Compassionate, Not Conservative", you can read the following:
"Ashcroft's Senate career was marked by repeated and sustained attacks on the separation of church and state that was established in the First Amendment. Ashcroft frequently led his colleagues in attacks on the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. For example, Ashcroft: -- Favored school vouchers, which would force taxpayers to support religious beliefs and practices with which they disagree, finance discrimination in education and weaken the public schools. -- Sponsored a Senate resolution in support of the posting of the Ten Commandments in an Alabama court, despite a court ruling that such a posting would violate the separation of church and state. -- Led proponents of so-called "Charitable Choice" legislation, which provides for direct funding of religious institutions to provide social services in a proselytizing manner."
Ashcroft is a fundamentalist Christian. He is opposed to abortion rights (even in cases of rape, incest, and threats to the mother's health) and he has attacked the separation of church and state. This is an example of "shoving religion" down American's throats.
Past hills of chambermaids' dark bare arms and fields of muscles quilted to the bone, Right now I'm flying over, yeah right now I'm flying home.
Six of the seven days out of the week have "pagan" name origins, so are Christians supposed to not live those days?
I am not sure what the Bunny officially represents, but it does have good meaning. The egg to me reminds me of the newness of life upon salvation. Just like a Christmas, when people come up with the "it's pagan to have a tree!" nonsense. The tree is a symbol of the tree that Christ was crucified on. The lights represent the star that led the Magi to the manger, while the presents remind us of the gifts they brought to the baby Jesus.
I frankly don't care what the days have become as far as symbolism and money makers are concerned. I'm just happy that the world remembers the blessed Virgin birth, and the resurrection of the creator of the universe.
I am Kman, and I am proud to be a right wing conservative Christian. In fact, the name of my company is Right Wing Sports. It sure beats the heck out of what I was before.
edit to correct spelling
(edited by Triple Preperation H on 1.4.02 0125)
I AM THE BEST WIENER IN ALL THE LAND!
Originally posted by GavintzuAt the risk of turning this into something that really should go into the Politics folder:
Click Here to read about what opponents of Ashcroft say about his career in politics. If you click on the link to the ACLU report "Not Moderate, Not Compassionate, Not Conservative", you can read the following:
"Ashcroft's Senate career was marked by repeated and sustained attacks on the separation of church and state that was established in the First Amendment. Ashcroft frequently led his colleagues in attacks on the Establishment Clause of the First Amendment. For example, Ashcroft: -- Favored school vouchers, which would force taxpayers to support religious beliefs and practices with which they disagree, finance discrimination in education and weaken the public schools. -- Sponsored a Senate resolution in support of the posting of the Ten Commandments in an Alabama court, despite a court ruling that such a posting would violate the separation of church and state. -- Led proponents of so-called "Charitable Choice" legislation, which provides for direct funding of religious institutions to provide social services in a proselytizing manner."
Ashcroft is a fundamentalist Christian. He is opposed to abortion rights (even in cases of rape, incest, and threats to the mother's health) and he has attacked the separation of church and state. This is an example of "shoving religion" down American's throats.
That's as a senator. Who cares? Congresspeople support a lot of things I don't agree with, I just hope that when it comes time to turn certain things into laws, that my side wins out. So Ashcroft fought for those things as a senator. Big deal. That has absolutely nothing to do with his job as Attorney General. They are wholly separate. I agree with his stance on abortion, but as long as its legal, he needs to uphold those laws. It's no longer his job to try and change them, like he was free to do in the Senate.
BDC
(edited by BDC on 1.4.02 0911)
"Hitler had pieces of flair that he made the Jews wear."
Also, the ACLU isn't the most unbiased source when it comes to such things...I remember them [or someone of a similar stripe] being in an uproar because Ashcroft had the audacity to hold a Bible study in his office. I thought the way they behaved when he was first nominated as AG was disgusting. There was nothing behind it but anti-religious bigotry, similar to the way people acted when JFK was running for President.
I've noticed a fad among some of the more conservative Christians to refer to Easter Sunday as "Resurrection Sunday" in order to get rid of the pagan name. I'm pretty conservative too, but to me the name doesn't really matter. I like TPH's pointing out that the days of the week also having pagan origins.
Originally posted by WTF13Also, the ACLU isn't the most unbiased source when it comes to such things...I remember them [or someone of a similar stripe] being in an uproar because Ashcroft had the audacity to hold a Bible study in his office. I thought the way they behaved when he was first nominated as AG was disgusting. There was nothing behind it but anti-religious bigotry, similar to the way people acted when JFK was running for President.
I've noticed a fad among some of the more conservative Christians to refer to Easter Sunday as "Resurrection Sunday" in order to get rid of the pagan name. I'm pretty conservative too, but to me the name doesn't really matter. I like TPH's pointing out that the days of the week also having pagan origins.
A bible study has no place in a government office, subsidized by my tax dollars.
I don't go to church and pitch my hard earned money into your collection plate, why should MY earned dollars go to fund cult activities?
Can you imagine the brick all the O'Reilly-ites would collectively shit if the government subsidized or publicly endorsed an Islamic or Hindi organization?
Point of reference as to where Bush's interests lie: after the September incidents, the event to "promote religious unity" wasn't held at a neutral location, it was held in a Xian (Catholic?) building, and predominantly celebatory of Western mainstream religions.
Randomwrestling: Not only do we actually know who Chris Hamrick is, but we know he sucks!
On "Around the Horn" tomorrow, Bob Ryan will make his first appearance since his suspension last month after his comments about Mrs. Kidd. Speaking of "Around the Horn", TJ Simers, the guy from the LA Times, hasn't been on for weeks....