Another reason why the fundamentalist claim that there is a "War on Christians" in this country is laughable
The stock market, the American temple to pure, unfettered greed, is closed today. Why? Because today is the day we celebrate the fact that a man who may or may not have actually existed was nailed to a piece of wood.¹
When Americans talk about a "War on Christians" (it's gone beyond a simple "War on Christmas," you know) it not only makes me laugh, it's somewhat dangerous. These people hold so much power, but Christianity, as I've mentioned before, is a religion for the downtrodden. So these people have to somehow make themselves the victims (while decrying the "victimology" of current American society - only rich, white conservatives can be victims, apparently) while retaining their grip on power. Claiming that the evil secularists are trying to destroy Christianity is one way.
The stock market, people. Capitalism in its purest form. Greed waits for no man! And it's closed. Because of Good Friday. That damned "War on Christians"!
¹ You'll note that I didn't deny his existence. I tend to believe he did exist, although I don't believe he was everything people say he was. It's just that the first places he is mentioned is in letters written by someone who never met him, and in a book written at least 40 years after he died, and there's no archaeological evidence for his existence. That's all I'm saying.
When Americans talk about a "War on Christians" (it's gone beyond a simple "War on Christmas," you know) it not only makes me laugh, it's somewhat dangerous. These people hold so much power, but Christianity, as I've mentioned before, is a religion for the downtrodden. So these people have to somehow make themselves the victims (while decrying the "victimology" of current American society - only rich, white conservatives can be victims, apparently) while retaining their grip on power. Claiming that the evil secularists are trying to destroy Christianity is one way.
The stock market, people. Capitalism in its purest form. Greed waits for no man! And it's closed. Because of Good Friday. That damned "War on Christians"!
¹ You'll note that I didn't deny his existence. I tend to believe he did exist, although I don't believe he was everything people say he was. It's just that the first places he is mentioned is in letters written by someone who never met him, and in a book written at least 40 years after he died, and there's no archaeological evidence for his existence. That's all I'm saying.
posted by Greg | 3:35 PM
5 Comments:
Jesus was probably as real as the King Arthur figure.
If you have the National Geographic channel, they have been doing a Science of the Bible series this past week and on Thursday night (repeats on the 22nd) was an episode where a team carefully pieced together a crumbling codex of the long-lost Gospel of Judas. According to this gospel, Judas turned Jesus into the authorities at Jesus' request. The researchers posit that the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John were the most politically favorable "good news" of the time, so they were handpicked to go into the New Testament. It also helped abate the bloody persecution of Christians and left the battles mostly between Romans and Jews.
I think of the Bible as an anthology of selected and often conflicting tales about a man named Jesus.
I haven't been watching it, Ashley, but I know about the Gospel of Judas - it's been around for a while, but was never authenticated.
I don't have a problem with the four Gospels being the ones they chose, since the Judas one and others are mostly Gnostic texts written at least 200 years after the event, but you're right - it bugs me when people talk about the New Testament as being "divinely inspired" when it's pretty clear that the Church Fathers of the 4th century - who could be as evil and nasty as any other people - selected what books they were going to put in. It's not like we have a complete New Testament from AD 50 to point to and say "This is it."
Okay, wait, wait. Hold the phone.
Easter is about a guy named Jesus?
Yes, Chance, but its timing was pegged to the extant "pagan" traditions, as you'll note in my post today.
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