Thursday
January 20, 2000
Blind patriotism
It is interesting that the gentleman [Arash Salardini, "Lessons in
Christianity's origin"], who has never personally known me, confesses
to harboring "contempt" for me and accuses me of an "inferiority
complex." And yet he feels obligated by "the etiquette of correspondence!"
I have touched a nerve, it appears, and it has propelled Mr. Salardini
to launch a search for the holy grail of proofs regarding a causal link
between Mithraism and Christmas.
I, as a "poorly educated man," would like to assure Mr. Salardini
that my years in the poorly educating system (!) of American universities
has taught me at least one thing: Dogmatism and blind patriotism is the
greatest peril that can fall upon a tribe, nation or group. His letter
reminded me of a passage by Emma Goldman which I gladly will quote:
"Indeed, conceit, arrogance, and egotism are the essentials of
patriotism... Patriotism assumes that our globe is divided into little
spots... Those who have had the fortune of being born on some particular
spot, consider themselves better, nobler, grander, more intelligent than
the living beings inhabiting any other spot. It is, therefore, the duty
of everyone living on that chosen spot to fight, kill, and die in the attempt
to impose his superiority upon all the others."
Mr. Salardini writes: "I await any historically based link between
Christmas and Horus or Odin from Mr. Tabib. He needs not to merely list
festivals he obviously knows little about in his next letter as he has
in his last two."
I will gladly respond to this challenge, but I will not quote passages
in my letter. I trust that those in need of enlightenment will read the
following passages which I have linked below:
The first one is on the similarities of Christmas and the Roman, Egyptian
and the Persian traditions. Again, I am not denying that Mithraism is related
to Christmas; all I am refuting is that Mithraism is the sole source of
Christmas celebrations ... click
here
If you still have time on your hand, I suggest an article in infidels.org
which again explores a multitude of influences on Christmas traditions...
click
here
On the relation between Christmas and the Nordic traditions, I suggest
an article in the Seeker Magazine which aptly brings evidence in support
of my argument: ... click
here
Soon there will arrive another Christian tradition named Easter. It
coincides more or less with Noruz and the Persian new year. I trust that
we will have another discourse (although I am ashamed to call this a discourse)
regarding the Zoroastrian origins of Easter. And having been blessed with
Mr. Salardini's "high education," I am sure he will enlighten
us regarding Easter as well.
Ramin Tabib
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