Sunday, December 16, 2012

Thoroughly Enjoying...




We humanists and other secularists believe that being an imperfectly evolved primate is not a capital crime. Our imperfections are not worthy of death, eternal torture, or the torture of someone else in our stead. There is nothing for us to be "saved" from (in the sense that word is usually employed).

All that being said, many of us thoroughly enjoy every aspect of the Christmas story as mythology. We love the music, the devotional poetry, the art, everything. The idea of the birth of a child on the darkest night of the year as the light of the world is a wonderful idea. It builds on the myths of all the other gods (and sons of gods) who were believed to have been born on or near the winter solstice in pagan times. It only breaks down and becomes meaningless when we are told we must interpret the story literally and read it as history-- something the gospels were never intended to be.

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