> Christmas's traditions are themselves derived from pagan solstice celebrations Well... [0] > Wouldn't that make it a pagan institution by your reasoning? E

> Christmas's traditions are themselves derived from pagan solstice celebrations Well... [0] > Wouldn't that make it a pagan institution by your reasoning? Even when, say, a previously pagan practice is incorporated into Christianity, it is reinterpreted and given a new meaning, though probably in some way related to the original _by analogy_. This could be done to help the new converts better relate to the new faith and to preserve as much of the good in the previous culture as possible (in general, Catholicism gladly takes in whatever good and reconcilable there is in any culture[1]). In agreement with what you say, this does not make Christianity pagan. Whether this is the same as the secularizing or commercializing or "consumerizing" of Christmas, I don't know. Maybe you could argue that this lumpenreligions are doing something analogous to what I just described, but this seems like a flaky comparison. Besides, secularism is a Christian heresy, so it's more like a heretical version of Christmas that's being practiced. The very idea of "secularism" is incomprehensible outside of Christianity (e.g., in Islam there is only Islam and the world of the infidels to be conquered and brought under the rule of Allah; the mosque is not an institution like the Church, just a building for prayer and thus no distinction, much less separation, between Church and State is thinkable). [0] https://www.catholic.com/magazine/online-edition/refuting-the-pagan-roots-of-christmas-claim https://www.catholic.com/magazine/online-edition/refuting-th... [1] You can give this ultimate justification in "logos spermatikos".