At 4:40 PM -0400 7/17/00, Jim Burnes wrote:
>On Mon, 17 Jul 2000, Marcel Popescu wrote:
>
>> Matthew 22:17 Tell us then, what is your opinion? Is it right to pay taxes
>> to Caesar or not?"
>> 18 But Jesus, knowing their evil intent, said, "You hypocrites, why are you
>> trying to trap me?
>> 19 Show me the coin used for paying the tax." They brought him a denarius,
>> 20 and he asked them, "Whose portrait is this? And whose inscription?"
>> 21 "Caesar's," they replied. Then he said to them, "Give to Caesar what is
>> Caesar's, and to God what is God's."
>>
>
>Oh, no. I never thought that Cypherpunks would degenerate into
>someone using the SJM (synthetic jesus meme) as an argument for
>or against taxes.
>
>Please people. They concocted that thing near the council of
>Nicea from a hundred different ancient religions in order to
>enslave the populace of the Roman empire. It worked.
>
>Don't let it enslave you....
Yep, most of the "gospels" were stitched together in their current
form (modulo various translations into English, German, etc.) in the
first centuries after the itinerant preacher was long gone.
All religion is ultimately politics, and the followers of the Christ
Cult borrowed whatever they could from Roman religions and cut
special deals with the political leaders. One of the politicos of the
time saw the chance to use the Christ Cult to suppress his enemies
and ensure the longevity of his own rule; and the Christ Cult leaders
saw a way to scratch his back while he scratched theirs. This
politico was of course Constantine. He made the Christ Cult the State
Religion, and they, in turn, supported him. Other religions were
gradually outlawed.
From Rome we get the dates of supposed blessed events: Xmas =
Saturnalia, Easter = one of the "pagan" spring planting holidays,
etc. Later, as the rest of Europe was brought into the fold, Xtianity
recruited other holidays and saints. Christmas trees, Santa Claus
(aka "St. Klaus! von Future Prime"), Halloween, etc. Not sure which
pagan cult contributed the Easter Bunny, though.
That Marcel is so actively "spreading the good word" on the
Cypherpunks list is truly bizarre.
People will believe all sorts of things, and our Neo-Calvinism
beliefs (well, mine) say it's their right to believe in any
whacked-out thing they want to believe in.
It's still bizarre to see this proselytizing, though.
>
>Is there anti-virus software for religious memes?
>
>That crap makes spam look amusing...
>
>jb
--
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Timothy C. May | Crypto Anarchy: encryption, digital money,
ComSec 3DES: 831-728-0152 | anonymous networks, digital pseudonyms, zero
W.A.S.T.E.: Corralitos, CA | knowledge, reputations, information markets,
"Cyphernomicon" | black markets, collapse of governments.
