Why do Christians love crosses so much?

Which probably won't affect much of the SL population

Why did your leaders take the name of a pagan goddess for your holiday?

http://www.cuddlesngifts.net/articles/?q=node/56

http://www.infostarbase.com/holidays/easter/history.html

Do you know what you are celebrating?

Don't get me started on christmas trees or any of a plethora of pre-christian symbols, practices and holidays that were co-opted over the centuries and are now touted as being christian idealogy.

Anyone ever see the movie, The Rapture? Damn I loved that movie. Being anti-religion, it was very thought provoking.

I'm not sure I'd call myself an "American Christian" (lol) but I can tell you, in my immediate area this belief does not really exist. I doubt, even in the more religious areas of the country, that this is a widespread belief. Although I'm sure alot of people think it'll happen at some point.

However without scientific polls we're all just guessing.

Well, I think there's at least there's one difference between groups like Al-Qaeda hijacking (etc), and Christian's "holiday hijacking". It's only holidays/dates/traditions being taken, and not an entire religion being used to justify killings.

I don't know what the reason for the adoption of the holidays were (maybe it's in your links, personally I don't care enough to find out), but I don't think it's a good analogy. (Nolan: not that you were saying it was, it was mentioned earlier.)

Anyway the stuff IS Christian now, as well as Pagan or whatever else was adopted from other religions.

Unless Pagans had them copywrited. But even with today's laws I'm not sure that'd hold up still!

I was pointing out the hilarious irony in Alby's statement; " Its Easter Time... Don't you pagans have some false gods to worship or something?". Easter is a pagan goddess. See, he said "you pagans" and preceded it with a holiday named after a pagan diety. LOL. Am I the only one that half choked, half laughed when I read that?

I wasn't saying that The Holy Roman Empire highjacked pagan holidays, although they did meld them with Christain holidays. I have studied this subject extensively, and there seem to be some rather logical reasons the Romans did so.

In the early days of Roman expansion, they had much less tolerance for those who held onto their own local and traditional (pagan) beliefs. They slaughtered 1000's. And yet, the pagans still worshipped their own deities. They realized that the pagans simply were not going to be wholly converted AND that if they eradicated them, who would be around to tend the crops and livestock? Who would provide labor? The Romans certainly didn't have enough manpower to do it on their own. The natural resources of central and western Europe were a highly desirable prize, and the Romans saw that in order to tap said resources, they would have to bend. So, over the years, they moved some dates around, combined some pagan holidays with Christian ones and the like.

I am certainly not taking issue with them co-opting said pagan practices, a la your copywrite statement. For me personally, it gives me some satisfaction that the indigenous groups prevailed, to an extent, and the telltales are still there today, for those who care to research a bit.

nolan, i'm starting to think that typing more might help me.

my points not register short.

aestre time!

you want copywrite you feelings subject?

I was simply responding to Garoad as he seemed to think I was possibly displeased that the Romans absorbed certain pagan practices.

Not trying to steal your thunder.

As a person who has studied this very subject for a long time, I felt compelled to chime in.

You won't get me to talk religion or politics very often, this is an exception though.