To The Editor, Knoxville News-Sentinel

Christmas Day derived from pagan festivals

Many people seem to be conflicted as to the true meaning of Christmas. Is it about the birth of Jesus or Santa Claus?

To properly understand this holiday, we need to know the history behind it. Take, for instance, the very date of Christmas, Dec. 25. No one really knows the date of Christ's birth. It isn't even mentioned in the Bible.

Why, then, Dec. 25? The Babylonians celebrated the victory of their sun god. The Roman copy of this Babylonian custom was called Saturnalia. It was for centuries an abomination to Christians. However, during the reign of Emperor Constantine, the organized church compromised with the Romans.

Halloween and Easter also derive from pagan festivals, Samhain and the festival of the Babylonian fertility goddess Ashtarte, and retain, to this day, many of the same characteristics of these festivals.

They were incorporated into the celebration and eventually the worship of nominal Christians first in Europe and gradually throughout the world.

This, however, begs the question: Was this a good or bad thing?

If Dec. 25 was a date set by God to remember the birth of Jesus, you can be very sure that the world would have nothing to do with it.

CHRIS FORTNER

Knoxville