Summary
Gray betrays her ignorance I HAVE seldom read such a clutter of offensive nonsense as in the article by Muriel Gray, (Seven Days, October 31).
The suggestion that "most educated people are fully aware that the majority of Christian festivals are themselves little more than clumsily rehashed pagan ones" merely confirms that Muriel Gray is herself not sufficiently educated in such matters to have any credibility as a commentator.See the full content of this document
Extract
Readers'views
For example, the reason why the birth of Jesus Christ came to be celebrated near to the winter solstice was that, given the circumstances of the Roman Saturnalia, it was then a safe time for such a celebration by a persecuted minority within the pagan Roman empire.
That there are "gods who don't like us mixing dairy produce with meat" is a statement that betrays ignorance of the details and origins of such a Jewish prohibition. "Thou shalt not cook [an animal] in his mother's milk" (Exodus 23:19) was a departure from an earlier pagan fertility rite in Canaan and some would say also good animal husbandry.For good historical reasons many Christian festivals do take ...See the full content of this document
Sponsored links
