You can go mad trying to figure out any consistent theory behind a lot of fundie wailing, until you realize that it's all really just about their need to feel persecuted and to impose rules, including rules they want to impose on each other. That's the only explanation for this phenomena.
Hold on to your hats, folks. The Worldnutdaily, which has been a central clearinghouse of "war on Christmas" bullshit, has now declared their own war on Easter. Joe Kovacs, the executive news editor for the Worldnutdaily, has a column declaring that Easter is a pagan holiday that should not be celebrated by Christmas.
"Most Christians, whether knowingly or unknowingly, violate this very first commandment of God each year by placing before God the actual name of a pagan goddess of fertility and the dawn.
In case you haven't figured it out by now, her name is - believe it or not - "Easter."
That's correct, folks. The word Easter is actually the name of an ancient, heathen goddess who represents fertility, springtime and the dawn.
Some of her symbols are flowers, bunnies, eggs, the sun and the moon. Who'da thunk?"
He's right, of course. Easter is a pagan fertility festival that was coopted by Christians centuries ago. But the same thing is true of Christmas (one of the reasons why the Puritans made it a crime to celebrate Christmas in the early days of the American colonies) and the Worldnutdaily is one of the loudest voices denouncing the entirely mythical "war on Christmas" every year.
I can't wait for Matt Staver and the American Family Association to condemn the Worldnutdaily for their vile attack on a venerated Christian holiday. Nah, that's not likely to happen. The real threat, as everyone knows, is a store clerk saying "happy holidays" to someone whose religion they don't know; merely calling a Christian holiday satanic and pagan, that's perfectly fine.
Maybe if they'd appropriated less, they'd have less cause for aggrievement.
PS: Dear Mr. Brayton, love your blog, but if you're going to capitalize "Christians," then you should also capitalize "Pagan." And even Mr. Kovacs didn't, in the section you quote, call Easter "satanic" -- is there a reason you're conflating the two?
Picture found here.
4 comments:
For a fun look at Easter (and lots of other things too) -- and its conflicting traditions -- we love Eddie Izzard's "Dress to Kill" video.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_XJfRzNOJNE
Jan at Rosemary Cottage
Yep, that's exactly what I figured. Joe Kovacs sent me an effusive and flattery email last week asking if he could use one of my paintings of the Goddess Eostre for an article they were working on; I told him I was familiar with his site and he could piss right off. (Well, slightly more politely. But only slightly.) And so there it is. I'm afraid to say I'm not surprised that they're bashing the Catholics (and us, of course). What an asshole.
Thalia,
Good on you! No way should your lovely art work "grace" those pages!
Sorry to be late in commenting, H, but -
Christianity's first roots were as an underground religion. It's great heroes were its "witnesses", or in the original, "martyrs" - those who believed enough to die for it. "Blessed are those who are persecuted for righteousness' sake" goes the refrain.
When the Emperor Constantine chose Christianity to be a tool for (attempting) reunifying the Roman Empire, he brought it aboveground, made it not just legal but a way to get ahead in society, and caused the religion to have a shape that was convenient for emperors and elites, not marginalized martyrs.
And Christianity has had a struggle since, internally. The doctrine says 'Blessed are the presercuted', but if your religion runs society, where's the presecution? When you're fed to lions it's easy to see. Where is it when your Church is burning the libraries?
So yes, there's a long, long history of the Christian search for persecution. The teaching says you're going to be persecuted, you will be blessed for it, and persecution is the seal of truly being Christian. Small wonder that any personal aggrevement becomes the Work of Sathanus Against You. And that they seem to be constantly looking for any aggravation they can, and equating and conflating standing in line with being torn apart in the Colosseum. It's the reassurance of validity.
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