It seems like the war on Christmas starts earlier and earlier each year.

Mat Staver, dean of a recently accredited fourth tier law school founded by douchebag Jerry Falwell, recently published a list of "naughty and nice companies." Basically, if a company puts out a "Christmas Catalogue," it's nice. If it puts out a "Holiday Catalogue," it's naughty.

Staver says shoppers should let stores know that they will not shop there until the establishment does recognize the roots of Christmas and the word itself. He stresses the importance of that move in stopping the erosion of the holiday and the liberty to celebrate a religious origin for cultural customs.

I see. So stores should be certain that we know the roots of Christmas so that they can stay on the nice list. December 25th is of course the birthday of a very important deity in the Zoroastrian religion named Mithra. Mithra "saved us" by spilling blood (from a bull, not from himself). Worship of Mithra involved eating bread and drinking wine, baptism and confirmation. Obviously, Mithra shares his birthday with another important deity, Ishtar.

Of course, the celebration of Mithra's birth was by no means the only reason to celebrate during the winter. Many cultures celebrated around the time of the Winter solstice. It was a time when there was less agricultural work to do, and it was also a time to celebrate the fact that nights would begin to get shorter, and days longer.

The "War on the Winter Solstice" began when a bunch of Christians tried to take the meaning out of the festivals the pagan Romans celebrated. They began calling the day "Christmas" and attempting to convert the Roman pagans, while allowing them to continue to celebrate their Winter festivals. Although they changed the name, the Christians adopted much of the pagan mythology. The Christmas tree and holly wreath are pagan symbols, and the tradition of giving gifts comes from Pagan yule festivals. "When in Rome" the Christians thought. But they refused to say to passersby, "Happy Solstice" and instead opted for the PC "Merry Christmas." A few centuries later, Christmas had become the most popular title for these Winter festivals.

Today, Christians have largely forgotten that they stole their Holiday from a different religion. They scoff when non-Christians celebrate in the Winter. The hypocrisy is actually pretty amusing. I personally don't need any of the mythology to enjoy the winter holiday season. To me, it's about real things, like family and commercialism.