Author: thinkerthinker Date: Dec 23, 2007 07:21
> On Dec 22, 10:21 am, "Miller" chartermi.net> wrote:
>> Is Christmas primarily a secular holiday?
>>
>> Scott
>
> Yes, it is really a celebration of the shortes days of the year and
> the solstice. Christianity merely grafted traditional celebrations
> onto its institutional protocals.
It is true that Christianity grafted traditional celebrations onto previous
traditions of solstice celebration (which were, I believe, religious), but
that doesn't mean that Christmas today isn't a religious holiday. In the
same way, the cross is the primary symbol of Christianity, but the cross was
used for execution in Roman times. When Christians place crosses in
churches or homes today, the purpose isn't to just to remind themselves of
the method of executing criminals in the Roman Empire. The origin of
something isn't necessarily relevant to its current meaning.
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