Another Modest Proposal

After reading Timshel's post, then the link to Somerby, as well as the general wingnut bloviating about how put upon they are because they can't cram a creche down the throat of every American at this time of year, I thought to myself: hey, wait a second. If the Christian right is so goddamned adament about pushing Jesus, then maybe they should be a little less, um, how say?--"paganistic?"--yes, that's the term, for when they celebrate the birth of their godhead:

The exact date is even more problematic. Some say that the birth could not have happened in deep winter, because the Bible says that shepherds spent the night outdoors with their flocks on the night that Jesus was born (Luke 2:8). But others say that this is speculation. Nonetheless, it is most likely that Jesus was born between October and March.

Originally, Christmas' date was set to correspond with the Roman festival of the birth of the Sun God Mithras, which coincided with the "return of the sun" after the shortest day of the year. As early as A.D. 354, Jesus' birth was celebrated on December 25 in Rome. Other cities had other traditional dates. The history of Christmas is closely associated with that of the Epiphany. If the currently prevailing opinion about the compilation of the gospels is accepted, the earliest body of gospel tradition, represented by Mark no less than by the primitive non-Marcan document (Q document) embodied in the first and third gospels, begins, not with the birth and childhood of Jesus, but with His baptism; and this order of accretion of gospel matter is faithfully reflected in the time order of the invention-of feasts. The church in general adopted Christmas much later than Epiphany, and before the 5th century there was no consensus as to when it should come in the calendar, whether on January 6, or March 25, or December 25.

So, my proposal is simple: reconcile the contradictions, wingers, between your theological texts, the pagan traditions that were usurped, and/or the evidence you've got, and deal with the fact that your "holiday" is celebrated on December 25th as a matter of convenience. In fact, some genuinely religious people recognize this, and don't get worked all into a huff, which is very Christian of them.

And that's the extent to which I'll post about this non-issue.