The Ancient Mythological Origins of Christmas

Every year around the Christmas holiday season we see the Christofascists claim there is a "war on Christmas" as they seek to force their religious beliefs on all.  Thus, each year it is appropriate to remember that Christmas was a holiday created by the Catholic Church to commandeer pagan festivals and revamp them into something that satisfied the Christian story line.  It is likewise important to remember that the whole narrative of virgin births and of a god dying and rising to conquer death were not a new story lines in Palestine and the Roman Empire at the time the Jesus story came into being.  A piece in Salon looks at the real origins of Christmas.  Here are excerpts:

The familiar Christmas story, including the virgin conception and birth of Jesus, is found in the gospels of Matthew and Luke. Scholars have pointed out that these stories are somewhat disconnected from other parts of these Gospels and the rest of the New Testament. In fact, by the time he is a young boy in the temple, Jesus’s parents seem to have forgotten the virgin birth. They act surprised by his odd behavior. There is never any other mention in the New Testament of these incredible events! These stories seem to be an afterthought, written later than the rest of the gospels that contain them. To make matters more interesting, the stories themselves have inconsistencies and ambiguities – contradictory genealogies, for example. Our Christmas story (singular) is actually a composite.

Or consider the idea that Mary is a virgin. The Greek writer of Matthew quotes Isaiah as saying: “a parthenos shall conceive and bear a child.” The Hebrew word in Isaiah is “almah,” which means simply “young woman.” But the Greek word parthenos can mean either a virgin or a young woman, and it got translated as “virgin.” Modern Bible translations have corrected this, but it is a central part of the Christmas story.

One part of the answer comes from Hellenistic culture. (It is no accident all New Testament books written in Greek.) In this tradition, when a man did something extraordinary there was the assumption that he did this because he was different, either divine or semi-divine. They would make up a story about how he came to be divine.

Almost all Greek heroes were said to be born of a human woman and a god–even Alexander the Great, Augustus and Pythagoras.  The father typically was Zeus or Apollo. The god would come and sleep with the woman, pretending to be the husband or as a bolt of lightning, or some such.

[I]t appears that these birth stories were added toward the end, so scripture got frozen before they could get integrated.

Think of it as a frog and pond. The pond is real, the frog is not. They are fictional stories in a real setting. They don’t always get the details of the setting right, but they are fictional characters in real places. The Magi follow their star from Jerusalem to Bethlehem. The author has in mind a real star that would be in front of you in this situation. It would have to be a star in the far southern sky. Remember what I said about the Heavenly Host being stars? The star in Matthew and the angel in Luke are two variants of the same mythology.

PFOX Idiocy: Billboard Features Gay Non-Twin

PFOX - Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays - the Christofascist funded small group of "ex-gays for pay" is a never ending clown car/train wreck.  It's as if the Three Stooges were in charge of PFOX's constantly bungled efforts.  Just in time for the holiday season, PFOX put up a billboard adjacent to busy I-95 in the Richmond area that purports to show identical twins and makes the false claim that no one is born gay.  The problem?  The model whose photo was used int he billboard is (i) not a twin, and (ii) is a proud gay.  Greg Quinlan - PFOX's tortured, self-loathing "ex-gay for pay" president makes a buffoon out of himself and PFOX yet again!  Here are highlights from Huffington Post:

A new wrinkle has emerged in the controversy over an "ex-gay" group's Virginia billboard which purportedly depicted a set of "identical twins."

Model Kyle Roux, who hails from South Africa, says he was shocked that his image was used in the Virginia-based ad, especially because he identifies as an "out and proud" gay man, NBC affiliate WWBT first reported.

"It just seems like there no place in today's world for an organization that is promoting this as being some kind of deviant or distasteful lifestyle, because I've lived my life openly gay and happy for my entire life," Roux, who added that he is not a twin as the billboard proclaims, told the news station. 

The ad, which appeared recently beside I-95 in Richmond, depicts two men, one dressed in a suit and the other in a white T-shirt, and says: "Identical twins: One gay. One not. We believe twin research studies show nobody is born gay."

A representative for PFOX did not respond to The Huffington Post's initial request for comment.

As noted in a prior post, the researcher behind the twin study that PFOX cites says that PFOX is misreporting and twisting the findings of his work - something PFOX seems to do constantly.

DUH! Catholic Church Celibacy Rule Fueled Sex Abuse

Anyone living in the real world who was raised Catholic ought to realize that the requirement of priestly celibacy played a huge role in the worldwide sex abuse scandal that has wracked the Roman Catholic Church.  Between the Church hierarchy's neurotic obsession with sex and all things sexual and the role celibacy played in offering a safe hiding place for the psycho-sexually disturbed products of the Church's teaching on sex, the formula for sexual abuse of children and youths should have been foreseen.  Nonetheless, for over a decade, the Vatican has denied that celibacy had any role in the incidence of sexual abuse.  Now, an investigation in Australia talks about the elephant in the room. As The Guardian reports, the Church is finally conceding that just maybe, celibacy was the fuse that caused the explosion of abuse.  Here are highlights:

Celibacy could have contributed to the instances of child sexual abuse in the Catholic church, a report by the church’s Truth, Justice and Healing Council in Australia has found.

The report, released on Friday as a response to the royal commission into institutional responses to child sexual abuse, said “obligatory celibacy” for Catholic priests “may … have contributed to abuse in some circumstances”, and recommended priests undergo “psycho-sexual development” training.

Council CEO Francis Sullivan told Guardian Australia that priests needed to undergo “education” to develop emotional and sexual awareness, “like what you and I do as adults”.

Sullivan said the group was not suggesting abolishing the vow of celibacy, but rather addressing how priests can “keep the integrity of their vows”.

“It’s about learning the risks of blurring the boundaries. Knowing the risks that intimacy can bring,” he said. “We are not talking about lifting the vow of celibacy.”

The report said the church’s response to child sex abuse had been shaped by its culture and “clericalism”, which it defined as an “ordained ministry geared to power over others, not service to others”.

“Church institutions and their leaders, over many decades, seemed to turn a blind eye, either instinctively or deliberately, to the abuse happening within their diocese or religious order, protecting the institution rather than caring for the child,” the report said.

It said the selection process for priests may have contributed to a culture that ignored abuse.
The report also said the council would support a national statutory compensation scheme for victims of child sexual abuse above providing compensation directly to victims.

“The church should no longer investigate itself. It does not have the trust of victims,” Sullivan said.

As for the recommended "education" and "psycho-sexual" education, what we are really talking about if it is to be effective is years of therapy for priests screwed up by the Church's sexual teachings.

Friday Morning Male Beauty

Top Scientists to Media - Stop Providing Cover for Climate Change Deniers

Many wrongs go on in America and many bad policies are allowed to happen because the media fails to report the true facts and/or gives deference to those who do not deserve it.  Part of this latter phenomenon is when the media allows hate merchants like Tony Perkins or GOP Neanderthals like Sen. James Inhofe to state their views unchallenged even though there is nothing to support them other than toxic religious belief or, in Inhofe's case, idiocy.  Several dozen scientists have had enough of the media's tacit support of lies and groundless beliefs and have called on the media to stop giving cover to climate change deniers, most of whom are Republicans and Christofascists.  Think Progress looks at the matter.  Here are highlights:

Four dozen leading scientists and science journalists/communicators have issued a statement urging the media to “Please stop using the word ‘skeptic’ to describe deniers” of climate science.

The 48 signatories, Fellows of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (CSI), include such luminaries as Nobel laureate Sir Harold Kroto; Douglas Hofstadter, Director of The Center for Research on Concepts and Cognition at Indiana University; physicist Lawrence Krauss, Director of The Arizona State University Origins Project; and Bill Nye “the Science Guy.” Full list here.

The scientists and journalists were motivated by a Nov, 10, 2014, New York Times article “Republicans Vow to Fight EPA and Approve Keystone Pipeline” that referred to Sen. James Inhofe (R-OK) as “a prominent skeptic of climate change.” They note that same week, NPR’s Morning Edition called Inhofe “one of the leading climate change deniers in Congress.” The signatories note, “These are not equivalent statements” and the two terms should not be conflated.

“Proper skepticism promotes scientific inquiry, critical investigation, and the use of reason in examining controversial and extraordinary claims,” the letter reads. “It is foundational to the scientific method. Denial, on the other hand, is the a priori rejection of ideas without objective consideration.”

Inhofe has never been able to provide even ordinary evidence for his absurd conspiracy charge. “That alone should disqualify him [Inhofe] from using the title ‘skeptic’.”

The signatories end by explaining:

As scientific skeptics, we are well aware of political efforts to undermine climate science by those who deny reality but do not engage in scientific research or consider evidence that their deeply held opinions are wrong. The most appropriate word to describe the behavior of those individuals is “denial.” . . . . We ask that journalists use more care when reporting on those who reject climate science, and hold to the principles of truth in labeling. Please stop using the word “skeptic” to describe deniers.

Physicians, cardiovascular scientists, public health experts and others all agree smoking causes cancer,” the report said. “And this consensus among the health community has convinced most Americans that the health risks from smoking are real. A similar consensus now exists among climate scientists, a consensus that maintains climate change is happening, and human activity is the cause.”

Cheney - Bush Knew About CIA Torture

Apparently wanting to make sure that, like himself, Chimperator George Bush can never again leave American territory, Emperor Palpatine Cheney is working hard to dispel the storyline of those who are trying to depict Bush as too clueless to have known about the CIA torture program and other war crime abuses being committed in the name of the American people.  MSN News reports on Cheney's effort to fully implicate George W. Bush.  Here are excerpts:

President George W Bush was fully aware and an "integral part" of the CIA's torture of terror suspects, his vice-president Dick Cheney said Wednesday. 

The long-awaited US Senate report released Tuesday on the program of harsh treatment and torture of detainees said Bush only learned details of it in 2006, four years after it started in the wake of the 9/11 attacks on New York and Washington.

Speaking to Fox News, Cheney denied Bush was kept out of the loop. He said the then-president "was in fact an integral part of the program and he had to approve it."


Asked if Bush knew specific details of how specific interrogations were being conducted, Cheney was more vague, saying: "We did discuss the techniques. There was no effort on our part to keep him from that."

Bush has yet to speak out publicly on the Senate report, which has drawn scathing criticism worldwide of what the CIA has called "enhanced interrogation techniques", amid calls for those involved to face trial.


"Such a gross violation of our liberal, democratic values must not happen again," German foreign minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier said, reflecting the embarrassment of Washington's European allies.
America's great power rival China -- often on the end of US censure for its rights record -- was equally unimpressed.

"We believe the US side should reflect upon itself, correct its ways and earnestly respect and abide by the rules of international conventions," Chinese foreign ministry spokesman Hong Lei said.

The United Nations said the program violated international law and basic human rights, and British-based advocacy group CAGE demanded criminal proceedings.

Around the world, human rights bodies demanded that current US President Barack Obama -- who halted the torture but has not gone after the perpetrators -- take legal action.

Bush and Cheney et al have done immense damage to America's ability to chide others on human rights abuses.  True, America has a very ugly history, if one knows accurate history, but the use of torture and war crimes makes it clear that nothing has really changed and America is plagued with hypocrisy.  People around the world are tired of being told by America to "do as we say and not as we do."

Quote of the Day - The Sad Truth About "Ex-Gays"

Every legitimate medical and mental health association in America deems sexual orientation as something that unchangeable and condemns so-called reparative therapy peddled by "ex-gay ministries" and unethical therapist who are either out to make a quick buck off of religiously tormented gays and/or their families.  These "ministries" always have what I call "ex-gays for pay"  who will claim that they have "changed" and are no longer homosexual.  It's usually the same small group of tortured self-loathing individuals who were losers in their lives, often falling into drug and alcohol abuse, who are willing to lie for money.  These sick individuals without exception blame their sexual orientation for their problems when, in truth, most of their psychological damage stems from religious brainwashing they received in childhood or from family rejection.  As noted many times on this blog, there are far more former "ex-gays" than those who continue to sell their souls and integrity to these foul ministries.  Now, PFOX, a totally Christofascist financed organization, has brought the ex-gay lie to Richmond, Virginia by placing a billboard sign - the image is above - next to busy I-95.  The billboard distorts actual scientific research as noted by the New York Daily News:

The nonprofit’s president is Greg Quinlan, who claims to be a former gay man who renounced his sexual identity in 1993. His group frequently touts their belief that homosexuality is not a biological trait, but an emotional disorder, according to Qinlan’s biography on PFOX’s website.

In a statement shared to PFOX’s blog, a spokesperson stood by their billboard and cited a Northwestern University Department Of Psychology study interpreted to show that if identical twins shared the same genes, they would either both be gay or not at all. The study’s author, J. Michael Bailey has even argued against PFOX’s intepretation in an interview with LGBT Science.

 If anyone has an emotional disorder, it is Quinlan who, like most ex-gays and Christofascists is pretty much lying whenever his lips/their are moving.  In a Playboy interview, Dan Savage summed these people up well.  Here are a few on target quotes:

Judaism, Christianity, Islam and almost every other faith have constantly tried to insert themselves between your genitals and your salvation, because then they can regulate and control you. Then you need them to intercede with God, so they target your junk and stigmatize your sexual desire. If you have somebody by the balls or the ovaries, you’ve got them.

Look at Marcus Bachmann, Michele Bachmann’s husband. Anybody who has gaydar—anybody who has eyes—looks at him and sees a tormented closet case who has externalized his internal conflict and is abusing other people, doing his reparative-therapy bullshit. It’s so sad and pathetic. A lot of the self-destructive behaviors gay people are prone to drifting into are directed inward, and then you have these shitbags like Marcus Bachmann for whom it’s all directed outward. Marcus Bachmann is the photo negative of the guy on the last bar stool in the gay bar, drinking and smoking himself to death, except instead of destroying himself, he’s destroying other vulnerable queer people in an effort to destroy the queer inside himself.

You can’t beat the gay out of a kid, but you can kill that gay kid trying. One result is that once you’ve assembled yourself to appease your sports-obsessed father, to fool your peers, your girlfriend…once you put that together, it creates a cognitive bifurcation. The pride you take when you do fool people, when you put together this bullshit version, this Potemkin kid who isn’t you, and people buy it and you’re like, Oh wow—there’s power in that. There was for me. But some kids are crushed by it. The guys I knew who were self- or otherwise destructive were guys who believed they were terrible, that there was something wrong with them. The guys who were healthier believed there was something wrong with everybody else. I was that guy. I thought, I’m fine. My church is crazy. My parents are crazy. Everyone in my Catholic grade school is crazy. Everyone in this neighborhood I live in is fucking nuts. But I’m fine.

[W]hen I realized I was gay, it brought me into conflict with what my church was telling me. I didn’t just move two steps over and find the affirming Lutherans. I looked at the whole religion racket and it kind of fell apart, especially when I saw how much it was torturing gay kids.

As always, Savage holds no punches and the entire interview deserves a read.  Unlike Savage, I did "just move two steps over" and became a Lutheran after belatedly coming out in mid-life, although now I am more of a mindset that religion - even gay friendly faiths - is a racket.  If you want "fellowship" join the Moose Club, a country club, a yacht club or even a non-church affiliated charity group (it'd probably be cheaper!).  As for helping the sick, poor and the hungry, I say do that rather than build huge church buildings and related complexes that only serve members of the church "club."

Thursday Morning Male Beauty

Jeb Bush - Damaged Goods for the GOP?

Yesterday, deranged self-loathing closet case Rick Santorm announced that he will be running for president in 2016.  He's but the latest in a list of clown car candidates that seek to be the GOP standard bearer in 2016.  Given the lunacy of the GOP candidate field, it is perhaps no wonder that some in the so-called GOP establishment would like to have Jeb Bush as the GOP presidential nominee.  At least the man isn't outright insane.  But, as a piece in Salon suggests, Bush may not be the squeaky clean candidate that some think he is.  Here are some article highlights:

Whenever the deep thinkers of the Republican establishment glance at their bulging clown car of presidential hopefuls — with out-there Dr. Ben Carson, exorcist Bobby Jindal, loudmouth Chris Christie and bankruptcy expert Donald Trump jammed against Sens. Rand Paul and Ted Cruz, to name a few — they inevitably start chattering about “Jeb Bush.”

Never mind that his father was a one-term wonder of no great distinction or that his brother is already a serious contender, in the eyes of historians, for worst president of the past 100 years. And never mind that on the issues most controversial among party activists — immigration and Common Core educational standards — he is an accursed “moderate.”

Lacking any especially attractive alternative, powerful Republicans are pushing Bush to run in 2016.

Bush, a politician who has been around for more than 20 years, is so little-known to the American public. Most voters are ignorant about Bush’s record in Florida, where he was an exceptionally right-wing governor. They either don’t know or don’t remember, for example, how he signed a statute enabling him to intervene in the case of Terri Schiavo, a woman in a persistent vegetative state, despite her husband’s wishes. Florida’s highest court later voided that law as unconstitutional — and the conservative majority on the U.S. Supreme Court likewise rejected an appeal.

If Bush runs, extremism and corruption in the Sunshine State during his tenure will provide ample fodder for investigative reporters and primary opponents, as will many episodes in his long business career.

Five months after he left the governor’s mansion in 2007, he joined Lehman Brothers as a “consultant.” No doubt he was well-compensated, as reporters may learn if and when he releases his tax returns someday. The following year, Lehman infamously went bust — and left the state of Florida holding about $1 billion worth of bad mortgage investments.  

There are many equally fascinating chapters in the Jeb dossier, rooted in his declaration three decades ago that he intended to become “very wealthy” as a developer and, yes, a “consultant.” His partners back then included a certain Miguel Recarey, whose International Medical Centers allegedly perpetrated one of history’s biggest Medicare frauds. . . . . . Indicted by the feds, Recarey fled the country — but not before Jeb placed a call on his behalf to his presidential dad’s health and human services secretary, Margaret Heckler. For serving as the flunky of a crook, he received a generous tip of $75,000 from Recarey, a mob associate.

He performed a similar service, with more success, on behalf of the Cuban militant Orlando Bosch, for whom he sought a presidential pardon from his father. The boastful murderer of dozens of innocent people — and a prosecution target of the U.S. Justice Department — Bosch deserved a pardon about as much as the worst jihadi in Gitmo. But his sponsors were the same Cuban-Americans in Miami who had fostered Jeb’s real estate business there, so he ignored the Republican attorney general’s denunciation of Bosch as an “unreformed terrorist.”

If Jeb runs for president, it will be fascinating to see whether the mainstream press, which vetted his brother George W. so inadequately during the 2000 presidential race, performs any better this time. But one way or another, American voters are going to learn much more about front-runner Jeb than they know — or remember — today.

Ouch!

Rolling Stone UVA Rape Story Unravels Further

According to a new Washington Post story, the claims of an alleged rape victim as recounted in a Rolling Stone article last month seemingly have unraveled further as students (and friends) of the alleged victim raise additional doubts.  The story increasingly looks like another hoax like the Duke lacrosse fiasco some years back.  Here are some excerpts from this latest story:

[T]hree students —“Randall,” “Andy” and “Cindy,” as they were identified in an explosive Rolling Stone account — told The Washington Post that they found their friend in tears. Jackie appeared traumatized, saying her date ended horrifically, with the older student parking his car at his fraternity, asking her to come inside and then forcing her to perform oral sex on five men.

In their first interviews about the events of that September 2012 night, the three friends separately told The Post that their recollections of the encounter diverge from how Rolling Stone portrayed the incident in a story about Jackie’s alleged gang rape at a U-Va. fraternity. The interviews also provide a richer account of Jackie’s interactions immediately after the alleged attack and suggest that the friends are skeptical of her account.

The scene with her friends was pivotal in the article, as it alleged that the friends were callously apathetic about a beaten, bloodied, injured classmate reporting a brutal gang rape at the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity.  . . . . “It didn’t happen that way at all,” Andy said.

[T]he friends remember being shocked. Although they did not notice any blood or visible injuries, they said they immediately urged Jackie to speak to police and insisted that they find her help. Instead, they said, Jackie declined and asked to be taken back to her dorm room. 

They said there are mounting inconsistencies with the original narrative in the magazine. The students also expressed suspicions about Jackie’s allegations from that night. They said the name she provided as that of her date did not match anyone at the university, and U-Va. officials confirmed to The Post that no one by that name has attended the school.

Also, photographs that were texted to one of the friends showing her date that night were actually pictures depicting one of Jackie’s high school classmates in Northern Virginia. That man, now a junior at a university in another state, confirmed that the photographs were of him and said he barely knew Jackie and hasn’t been to Charlottesville for at least six years.

The friends said they were never contacted or interviewed by the pop culture magazine’s reporters or editors.

The article’s writer, Sabrina Rubin Erdely, did not respond to requests for comment this week.  Rolling Stone also declined to comment, citing an internal review of the story. The magazine has apologized for inaccuracies and discrepancies in the published report.

Curious about Jackie’s date, the friends said that they tried to find the student on a U-Va. database and social media but failed. Andy, Cindy and Randall all said they never met the student in person. Before Jackie’s date, the friends became suspicious that perhaps they hadn’t really been in contact with the chemistry student at all, they said.

U-Va. officials told The Post that no student with the name Jackie provided to her friends as her date and attacker in 2012 had ever enrolled at the university.

Whatever the agenda of "Jackie" and Sabrina Rubin Erdely, they have done nothing to help legitimate victims f sexual assault.