Tag Archives: QI

The Myth of the Pagan Christmas; or Why Stephen Fry was Wrong on Mythmas

Posted on December 22, 2009 by Chris Jensen Romer

Almost everyone “knows” Christmas derived from Mithraism, or Saturnalia, or Yule, or whatever. From this weak claim often follows the stronger claim Christianity is really just reinvented paganism. I strongly suspect it is a nonsense, and in this post I will explain why… It all started for me when Stephen Fry repeated on QI the old chestnut about Mithras being celebrated on December 25th, and his supposed similarities to Christ. This annoys me, and the fact that it keeps being promulgated shows a remarkable lack of critical thinking, or willingness to examine the evidence. I have briefly summarised here some of the problems with this, and provided links. Continue reading →

Posted in Debunking myths, History, Religion | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 33 Comments

Christmas Shopping, CJ Style

Posted on December 1, 2009 by Chris Jensen Romer

Bah Humbug! OK, I have to accept that now it’s December people are going to talk about Christmas. Unlike Lisa I love Christmas – and as her birthday is three days before and no one is ever available to go out or do anything for that reason, I can see why she is not keen on it. I have favourite Christmas Songs – I think Greg Lake’s I Believe In Father Christmas is my favourite, which will surprise nobody. Still having to listen to them every time I leave the house is enough to kill anyone. If I had the money buy a copy of Lou Reed’s album Berlin and Pink Floyd’s The Wall just to cheer myself up. Continue reading →

Posted in Dreadful attempts at humour, Social commentary desecrated, Uninteresting to others whitterings about my life | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 3 Comments

Debunking the Myth that Jesus Never Existed – the Historical Sources for Jesus, Part One

Posted on March 9, 2009 by Chris Jensen Romer

It seems bizarre to many that some people believe that Jesus never existed. Not Jesus the figure of faith, miracle working Son of God – nope – even a historical holy man Jesus, who inspired the stories in the bible. … Continue reading →

Posted in Debunking myths, History, Religion | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 27 Comments