Born in a cave, buried in a cave.

The Holy Land is full of caves and tunnels, many of which are very ancient. In Turkey they have whole underground cities, at Petra (in Jordan, IIRC) there is a whole Greco-Roman city carved into cliffs.

If people bomb your house, you lose a house. If they bomb your cave, you get a bigger cave sometimes. In the desert you have two building materials--mud and rock. Take your pick.

In Iceland they have to divert roads because the place is littered with elves, in Israel, because every square inch of ground is an ancient monument, a sacred site, or a gravesite.

And he's right you know.

Besides, if the Pope wants to ban Christmas, he has the power to ban Christmas. That's his prerogative. He's the Pope and always right about matters of the Faith (since Pope Dingus in the XIXth century said so).

Besides, I am totally OK with this. Not a Roman Catholic, but it would save me a fortune if somebody banned Christmas. I'm surprised that those spoil-sports and wet blankets in the "War on Christmas" crowd haven't tried it on again themselves, like their/my Puritan Ancestors did.

I am descended from both the accused and the accusors at the Salem Witch Trials. All in all, I like the accused better than the greedy, bulling, hypocritical SOBs who did the hanging.

Well - if he wants to be as historically correct as possible, he could mention that there is no contemporary evidence for the existence of Jesus, outside of the oral history copied into the religious works of the religion built around him.

FFS - some guy in Rome says that their mythos doesn't mention some of the details that were added to the myth later, and next thing you know people are upset enough by the meaning of this offhand remark that the guys who consider themselves in charge have to put out a statement that he didn't just change the entire belief system.

Am I the only one who thinks this is not healthy?

I read a pretty good analysis a while back that a lot of the Nativity mythology is derived from a series of mistranslations and misunderstandings. The text is probably saying that Jesus was born in the lower room of Joseph's family ancestral home (kataluma - which could also mean "inn" but is probably referring to the home in this context). It was not uncommon for people to have animal feeding troughs (mangers) in this area because animals were often brought inside at night.

Ennuipoet: Sybarite: I read a pretty good analysis a while back that a lot of the Nativity mythology is derived from a series of mistranslations and misunderstandings.

I was told the Bible was the inerrant word, now you are telling me different. Well. I'm sorry, but I am going to have to set you on fire now.

I love this one. Inerrant word in which language?

"It is a subtlety that God learned Greek when he wanted to become a writer, and also that he did not learn it well."

- Nietzsche