ZMG's 100th Post: Stealing Christmas from the Christians

Well its that time of year again when the theists come out of the woodwork to proclaim that this month is only for Christians and followers of the one true faith. Whackjobs like Dildo O'Reilly have already claimed that saying Happy Holidays takes the season away from Christians. Shmucker Carlson also blabs on his blog that the fact that rational people fear a day that celebrates those individuals who couldn't validate their supernatural beliefs to save their lives somehow validates the notion that religious faith is alive and well. Don't know what Crayon Coulter is saying these days.. don't care. I only save my rage for those who are actually some kind of threat. As soon as her beauty fades, or conservative programs stop showing leggy photos of her instead of ever actually trying to validate a single thing she says (not like they can validate anything they say either), people will stop listening to her as they did that other Dr Laura Whatever-her-name-was who had her show yanked quicker than the Chevy Chase Show.

So many people to despise for being so stupid, so little time.

Well it seems to me that the ultra-whackjob conservatives don't want to share this time of the year with other religions because it appears to be taking religion away from those who want to believe in their faith. Well ok, but if that's the stance the religious rejects are going to take, then let's be fair about it.

Here are some of the major traditions of Christmas and their origins:

• Christmas Trees are derivative of Saturnalia (Ancient Rome) or many other Winter Solstice festivities as celebrated by polytheistic pagans long before jesus.
• Mistletoe was part of druidic worship because it was looked upon as promise of the return of spring.
• Yule Logs were burned as part of an ancient pagan festival known as Yuletide.
• December 25th was a date used by Persians to celebrate the birth of their sun god, Mithras until the Pope in 320 AD decided to officially declare (translation: Stop worshipping your sun god you pagans!) that it was to be the day to recognize the birth of jesus.
  
• Gift giving, while attributed to St Nicholas, was also a tradition during Saturnalia.
  

So, the way I see it. If the truly devout Christians don't want to share this time of the year with other faiths, then I see no reason for them to be allowed to have these traditions as well since they came from other religions.

After all, you God Warriors can't have it both ways.