Explaining A Misconception About Christmas

[Andit]

I do find it interesting that so many early societies, most of which had zero interaction with others, had some sort of belief-system in a higher power.

[Darth Penguin]

Actually, it's the other way around. The separation of church and state was to protect religious groups from the state's persecution (as was the case in many European countries). Somewhere in the last half century things got muddled and lines got crossed.

So..the Church of England..had bishops in the House of Lords..had a huge say in Late English /Early British legistalton...and still have a measure of influence over Commonwealth( inclusing Canada's) afairs...

And that's without the Chief Rabbi and a recognised Iman in the House of Lords...

[Darth Penguin]

And while there is no real way to prove that Jesus is Divine, there is proof that He existed (texts by various Romans, including Pliny the Younger).

non wiki cite please.

[Andit]

non wiki cite please.

Learned about this long before wiki was a spark in anyone's brain. I'll see what I can do to find it later today, but not sure if my Latin will be up to snuff to find it (read the original Latin text back in the dark ages when I was going to HS and my brain has since been filled with useless trivia and can't remember the exact passage - on an aside, I've had the same problem trying to find the original text of Plato where he cites that we do not exist, we are simply the result of others' imaginations).

Apologies for my ineffectiveness.

[Andit]

So..the Church of England..had bishops in the House of Lords..had a huge say in Late English /Early British legistalton...and still have a measure of influence over Commonwealth( inclusing Canada's) afairs...

And that's without the Chief Rabbi and a recognised Iman in the House of Lords...

Apologies again, my sentence was very poorly worded. My reference was to the less mainstream religious groups that were persecuted by the heads of state (i.e., Pilgrims, Huguenots, Moors, Menonites, etc). The American constitution was originally meant to protect those groups.

[erin9mmm]

Christmas Video — History.com

Short and sweet sum up.

[Natalka]

great vid, erin, thanks for the link. I'll be watching the others, too.

[erin9mmm]

I found it interesting too and am also watching the others, thanks.

[DianneS]

As a person of faith I am very comfortable celebrating Christmas as a celebration of the birth of Christ without requiring others to celebrate the holiday in the same way I do. It certainly doesn't diminish my beliefs or my enjoyment of the season if others' understandings are different. However in the same vein, I choose to respect their beliefs, whether they be Jehovah's Witness, Sikh, Hindu, agnostic, Muslim , atheist, etc. and don't find it necessary to question their validity of their religion or lack thereof. To me that represents closed-mindedness.

I find that this annual 'Christmas dissection' thread does little to support the respectful, welcoming community SC tries to be.

[MortgageQueen]

Dianne,

All of the people on this thread regularly discuss a multitude of thoughts and ideas and many of us have opposite views. . . but I feel fairly confident we respect one another. I personally really enjoy hearing people's viewpoints.

"Discussion" would be drop-dead boring if we all thought the same thing. Most of us can disagree in a respectful way and still learn from one another. . .

[DianneS]

While some of this thread is respectful, I would most certainly say that some of it is not. I enjoy a good discussion as much as the next person....and in fact, some times even more than most. However, threads like this unfortunately have a well-documented history of going downhill rather quickly.

[MortgageQueen]

I think there was a point it may have headed in that direction, but we're back on track.

[MortgageQueen]

Christmas Video — History.com

Short and sweet sum up.

Very cool video and site Erin.Thanks!

[gryphon]

Sorry for all the trouble I caused.

[gryphon]

Can we all agree that this is a good message?