I am tired of the prejudice against atheists - so I am becoming a

[Left Below]

follower of Mithras. This gives the added benefit of celebrating Dec 25th with my friends and family since it is the birthday of Mithras (not Jesus, who, according to the Gospels was born during late summer harvest).

other Mithras facts-

1) Hundreds of years before Jesus, according to the Mithraic religion, three Wise Men of Persia came to visit the baby savior-god Mithra, bring him gifts of gold, myrrh and frankincense.

2) Mithra was born on December 25 as told in the “Great Religions of the World”, page 330; “…it was the winter solstice celebrated by ancients as the birthday of Mithraism’s sun god”.c

3) According to Mithraism, before Mithra died on a cross, he celebrated a “Last Supper with his twelve disciples, who represented the twelve signs of the zodiac.

4) After the death of Mithra, his body was laid to rest in a rock tomb.

5) Mithra had a celibate priesthood.

6) Mithra ascended into heaven during the spring (Passover) equinox (the time when the sun crosses the equator making night and day of equal length).


source for facts - http://jdstone.org/cr/files/mithraschristianity.html


Now I can relax and join in with the believers..... whew!

[Atman]

1. Seven states limit or prohibit atheists from holding public office

Massachusetts is one of them, believe it or not!

[LostinVA]

28. That cannot be legal

[Atman]

32. Doesn't sound legal, but...

From a tidbit entitled "Political Doubt" in the RAW DATA section of this month's Playboy magazine (see, I DO read the articles!)...

"7 state constitutions or statements of citizens' rights limit or deny the right of atheists and agnostics to hold public office. In TX, MA, NC, SC, MD, TN and PA, you just gotta believe."

Unfortunately, the item wasn't sourced. So take it for what it's worth.

[LostinVA]

34. I believe it's on the books, but that has to be illegal

[windlight]

39. I wonder is you are

a Wiccan if it would count... your not a atheist and agnostic...?

[babylonsister]

2. Tired of the prejudice? Hahahaha!

I've never espoused either. Just believe what you believe, or not, or try to find yourself, or not!
How bout someone who doesn't spend a lot of time thinking about it, or the lack thereof? :hi:

[Buck Laser]

3. What about FSM?

I mean, it's all around us, and you can get Flying Spaghetti Monster bumper stickas. Why would you wanna bother wit' some furriner? Buy American gods!

[beam me up scottie]

7. ROFL!

Welcome to DU!

[baby_mouse]

31. FSM is BEYOND nationality.

anyway, surely he's italian?

[Sabriel]

36. Didn't pasta originate in China?

That would make His Noodliness Chinese, right?

(Why do these FSM threads always give me the munchies?)

[baby_mouse]

40. I thought they evolved seperately.

AH! NO! I meant that His Noodliness works in mysterious ways and gave the light of his true form to the East and West to show he had no favourites!

Sorry.

Mm, yes, M&S coconut bites for me later...

[Kutjara]

4. Shhh or the fundies will think you're...

...accusing Christianity of plagarism. I mean, where would we be if the One True Religion turned out to be a cobbled together bunch of random myths and preexisting religious traditions? Unthinkable.

I worship Sol Invictus myself. We get to get drunk at Christmas too!

[PublicWrath]

8. We'd be just exactly where we are!

Bacchus: The Passion of Priapus

[LittleClarkie]

5. Oh, well, that's entirely different from atheism. DIE HERETIC!!!!

BURN!

[beam me up scottie]

6. Yay !!!!

oh...


I thought you said Mothra

[oasis]

19. naughty

:spank:

[beam me up scottie]

21. Hey! Stop persecuting me!

Help!

Mothrastrian Oppression!!!

[NMMNG]

23. Bwahahaha

Thanks, I needed a chuckle. :-)

[spag68]

9. atheists

have the same right as everyone else. As a former catholic, I like to say "I am a religious man, not a religion man".

[SidDithers]

26. Yeah, except for those descriminations in State Constitutions...

http://www.godlessgeeks.com/LINKS/StateConstitutions.htm

except for those rights, atheists enjoy the rest of the rights that everyone else gets.

Sid

[China_cat]

37. Yep.

Just ask Herb Silverman who had to battle for 7 years just to become a Notary in SC.

[Poiuyt]

10. Doesn't Mithrism involve self-castration of some sort?

[Left Below]

11. Circumcision is a Judeo-Christian thing

I believe....

[PublicWrath]

14. circumcision predates both Christianity and Judaism and has

been practiced by many cultures all over the world. Ancient Egypt for instance.

[ken-in-seattle]

30. Lego circumcision

Joshua 5:2
At this time Yahweh told Joshua, 'Make flint knives and circumcise the Israelites a second time.'
http://www.thebricktestament.com/joshua/second_circumcision/jos05_03.html

[PublicWrath]

12. No, you are thinking of the cult of the Goddess Cybele whose

followers sometimes castrated themselves like her lover Attis, and then served her temple dressed in female garb. Both sexes worshipped Cybele, and castration was really only necessary for entry into her priesthood.

[newswolf56]

13. Also -- since Ramthi is an anagram for Mithra -- you can hang out at...

the beautiful J.Z. Knight's ranch in Yelm, Washington while she channels Ramtha.

In anagrammatical riddles, the substitution of one vowel for another is a legitimate means of concealing an oracular secret. This is especially true if the vowels interchanged are the first and last (alpha and omega) in the vowel order: note that A-0-U-E-I is one of the earlier such orders. Thus both Mithra and Ramthi (Ramtha) can join Jesus in claiming, "I am the Alpha and the Omega."

[0007]

17. First time I've heard anyone talk about that nut J Z Knight

in a long time. She got channeling popular for a while, 'eh? Very clever shallow lady

[genie_weenie]

15. Hey gotta give the Early Christians credit

plagiarize the best stuff from Mithras, Judaism, Isis/Osiris Horus, Zoroastrianism mix it together take gnostic elements and revealed circles of understanding, co-opt Platonism and Aristotelism and bingo! You're #1!

[PublicWrath]

16. Throw in the support of the Emperor Constantine and you've got a

religion that can pretty much mow down anything in its way!

[misternormal]

33. Interesting thing though...

... In Googling "Mithra", the first link on my search was a christian site that makes an attempt to not only debunk "Mithra", but also other claims that the Bible story contained stolen information.

[Jeffersons Ghost]

20. they did not!

early Christians assimilated it! don't call it plagiarism... and don't blame Constantine, it was his cronies who booted women out of authority in the early Church... Like Bush, all he needed was better advisers... Constantine maintained his friendship with Arius.

[genie_weenie]

24. Total Rip-Off!

If Dan Brown was alive back then they would have stoned him for his theft!

[LittleClarkie]

22. I dunno. I always thought it snuck in there when they let Gentiles

into what was a Jewish sect. The Gentiles brought along their mythology, and things got kinda mixed.

[Jeffersons Ghost]

18. MITHRAS IS A BUNCH OF BULL! LOL

just look it up and you'll see... besides athiests go to my chruch at UU and I like it that way.

[DireStrike]

25. You can't spell Christmas without Mithras! -nt-

[The2ndWheel]

27. The DireStrike Code

Let's do lunch.

[Javaman]

29. Sorry no thanks, but I'd am going to follow the teachings of Mothra...

I prefer the teaching of a giant moth that spews crap. :)

[China_cat]

35. You can be a Quaker and an atheist.

[Norquist Nemesis]

38. LOL! Joked to my daughter that non-Christians are being persecuted

Yesterday, I mentioned part 2 of the 10 Commandments was going to be on TV. Our regular Tuesday night NCIS was a repeat. Tongue in cheek, I said we're getting the short end of the stick because we all know how the 10C ends. :P