[CyberSpartacus]

The Romans incorporated many of the rituals of pagan religon into the Christian Church. One example is Christmas, Jesus was born in the spring (his dad was in town to pay his taxes which would have been in March.), not during the winter solstice December 25th.

[Linda Liberty]

Which phase of the paganization of christianity
are we in now (if any)?

[FormerLib]

If anything, the establishment of December 25th as the celebration of the Nativity of Christ was to establish a competing festival to the pagan practices.

[Utopia]

One example is Christmas, Jesus was born in the spring (his dad was in town to pay his taxes which would have been in March.), not during the winter solstice December 25th.

That is absolutely true. Dec. 25 was the date for the traditional celebration of the Sun God, in the pagan world. Whether you called him Ra or Apollo, ir didn't matter. Dec 25 was your day to give thanks. The Christians appealed to Constantine to have a date on their own, and Constantine said: "You can use Dec 25. Take it or leave it." So the early Christians decided that if they gave presents to each other (symbolizing the wise men), they would be different from all those other people also celebrating on Dec. 25.

[Mamzelle]

re: in town to pay taxes.)))

A reasonable assertion...however, you tend to view this from modern times, which have more rigorous dates and deadlines, commincations and modern transportation. Even the Romans would not have expected so efficient a census-taking as you would suggest in March. Some scholars believe the family remained in Bethlehem after the birth for several months, even to a couple of years.

Can't deny that there are pagan tones to religious holidays. One of the holidays least associated with paganism is the Feast of All Saints...Halloween.

[AnalogReigns]

Jesus was born in the spring ...

While it is true Christian leaders did in a sense "baptize" pagan holidays--in a missionary effort to help people forget the old ways...the fact of the matter is no one really knows when Jesus was born. I've heard scholars say a good guess is in Autumn, since that's when harvest is gathered -- and the traditional time to collect taxes. Your scholars say its Spring... Scholars have also scoffed at the idea that sheperds would be tending their flocks near Jerusalem in December--unfortunately for the scholars shepherds do actually, even today, tend sheep outside in December! Scholars are simply often wrong. The popular scholarly theory is that Dec. 25 or the solstice was Saturnalia-converted-to-Christmas--but we really do not know when Jesus was born, period.

We also don't know that Dec. 25 was NOT Jesus' birthday--as any honest scholar will reveal.

[pgkdan]

. One example is Christmas, Jesus was born in the spring (his dad was in town to pay his taxes which would have been in March.), not during the winter solstice December 25th.

His dad? To whom does the Lord God Almighty pay taxes? Surely you're not being so disrespectful to the Christians on Free Republic as to state that Saint Joseph was Our Lord's biological father.