Unspun: Chrismahanukwanzakah & The Borg of Religions

"Christianity, unlike just about any other religion I know, has a tendency to be the Borg of Religions. And some Christians, apparently, cannot be Christians without trying to convert every other human to their brand of Christianity, by force or governmental coercion if necessary, or damning them to hell when conversion doesn't happen.

Many people — including Christians — don't recognize this, but it's not a new development and it's truth is pellucid to all who examine Church history. Although there is some dispute about the early origins of Easter, Halloween and Christmas, it seems clear that they either originated by the assimilation of pagan celebrations, or that at least parts of the modern-versions incorporate pagan symbolism and traditions. This is why, for example, Jehovah's Witnesses and other Christians do not celebrate some of them. (I know, some Christians don't count JW's as Christians. The question of whose G-d trumps all other versions and who gets to decide is a related question, but outside the scope of this blog article.)

Christianity — the consummate political movement in many respects — naturally assimilates other practices in order to sustain itself. At various times in history, it has done this by a combination of the stick and the carrot. The height of the Inquisition and the modern infiltration of the United States government by religious fundamentalists are examples of the stick, the ugliest versions of Christianity at work. Whichever version of the incorporation of Christmas into the Christian tradition you buy, the fact that Christian leaders more or less peacefully acquiesced (various theologians such as Tertullian and Augustine opposed it as a pagan festival) in allowing and modifying the meaning of the practices of pagan religions rather than simply killing off others may be viewed by some as the carrot.

Whether via the carrot or the stick, Christianity essentially annihilated these other religions.

But then, in a sense, they were simply returning the favor the Jews and the Romans had visited upon them. Before the Jews expelled Christians from the synagogues and inserted curses into the liturgy (so Christians wouldn't say them and would thus expose themselves), Christianity was considered a sect of Judaism. It was treated by the Romans the same as other Jewish sects and exempted from military service, etc. After the expulsion, the Romans followed suit and no longer counted Christians as Jews. Christianity became illegal in the Roman Empire until the Edict of Milan in 313 C.E. ("C.E." is the designation Jews and Muslims prefer to "A.D." "A.D." means "anno domini," which translates "year of the Lord" and is a reference to Jesus; "C.E." is the acronym for "Current Era.")

The adaptability of Christianity in this sense is the stuff of legend. And there's no reason to believe this will ever change. In fact, Robert Heinlein, in his book Stranger in a Strange Land shows just how adaptable Christianity could be in his not-fantastical version presented in a world posited in some non-descript post-World-War-III future that severely tested the underlying tenets of Christianity. The unprovability of Christianity (as with other religions) is its strength. When things don't fit, Christianity makes them fit. When G-d doesn't answer your prayers, that's your answer. Your child survived cancer? Praise G-d! Your prayers were answered. Your child succumbed to cancer? We cannot understand the ways of G-d."