ATHEISTS DESERVE THEIR OWN HOLIDAY—NOTHINGDAY

Catholic League ^ | December 23, 2004 | William Donohue

[antiRepublicrat]

I checked what kind of replies you had gotten and was shocked to see that there were none.

Yes, strange. No mail either.

[antiRepublicrat]

The notion of the Son of God dying in place of His creatures is unique to Christianity

Not dying, but the notion of a god accepting pain or punishment for the good of the common people is not new. Prometheus was punished for bringing fire to the people, helping civilization start. Christianity brought a slightly new twist to an old tale.

Only Jesus died for sin.

AFAIK, no other religion has had this same concept of worldwide sin, therefore no need for this construct. In the others, individual people or populations who displeased their god were punished.

Jesus died once and for all (Heb. 7:27; 9:25-28; 10:10-14). In contrast, the mystery gods were vegetation deities whose repeated deaths and resuscitations depict the annual cycle of nature.

Jesus came back, too. However, those gods had been falling out of favor as people realized that there was more to good farming than praying -- like tilling, sowing, weather, crop rotation, etc.

Jesus’ death was an actual event in history.

The only reason his death was recorded in any way was because Christianity was lucky enough to have had him be executed by the Romans, who were excellent record keepers. The main figures of other religions were often not so lucky. I believe there is enough evidence that such a man lived and was executed, along with hundreds of thousands of others in Roman times. But that doesn't prove any other claims.

BTW, Siddhartha Gautama was a real person. Does that make his religion the true one? He was also in the process of sacrificing his life for enlightenment, but at the brink of death was saved by a village girl.

Unlike the mystery gods, Jesus died voluntarily

Jesus is God, immortal, omniscient, omnipotent. He dies, knowing he'll be resurrected. What did he lose? Nothing. I have no problem volunteering for something that's not going to cost me anything.