Brent Rasmussen

Observations and inanities by a second-shift assistant supervisor in the Puppy-Grinding division of the Evil Atheist Conspiracy® (our motto: "Sure it's cruel, but think of the jobs!"), your host, Brent Rasmussen.

Jim Downey

UTI Associate blogger Jim Downey is a former newspaper columnist and also writes at the Daily Kos under the handle Shadan7. "I'm the fat old man of the crowd (well, make that middle-aged and overweight). My life's arc has been colorful in some odd and delightful ways, and though by most conventional standards I'm not 'successful', I've mostly enjoyed the ride. I now keep busy writing, playing with my dog, and as a book & document conservator in private practice."

Paul Fidalgo

UTI associate blogger Paul Fidalgo is an actor, musician, and writer with a background in political media, communications, and research. He holds a master's degree in political management from George Washington University, and blogs on atheism in American culture. He blogs at Examiner.com as the DC Secularism Examiner, and maintains two blogs, Near Earth Object, a blog of several overlapping magisteria including political satire and his own musical work; and Bloc Raisonneur, specifically concerning atheists' precarious place in American politics and culture. Paul's music can be purchased for mere pennies at Amie St.

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Rick Ulrey

UTI Associate blogger Rick Ulrey comes to UTI by way of the Marine Corps: "I'm 31 and I earn my living fixing computers. I served 6 years in the Marine Corps and consider myself a liberal libertarian with conservative leanings. I am a firm believer that the world would be a better place if people took responsibility for themselves and their actions. As you can see from the picture I love food. That's me eating a banana fritter in Australia with a nice cup of coffee. I love to cook and my other hobbies include hiking, camping, reading and on and offline gaming."

Steven Darksyde

UTI co-blogger and friend DarkSyde has this to say about himself: "I'm in my 40s, I work out a lot, I'm a personal trainer as a hobby, I've worked mainly as an investment advisor, stocks and bonds. I've done quite a bit of sky diving. I live a few miles from the Space Center in Florida. I have a strong background in math and physics and I'm an active advocate for Evolution in the Evolution vs. Creationism issue."

It's Beginning To Look A Lot Like [insert your god here]mas!

Submitted by Brent Rasmussen on December 6, 2006 - 7:39am.

Ah! I love the season! Every year on December 25th the church is lit with candles, priests in white garments celebrate the birth of the Son of God! The Savior was born on December 25th, of a virgin mother. He came from heaven to be born as a man, to redeem men from their sin. He was truly the "reason for the season".

Praise Mithras.

Unfortunately, the early Christians, acting in an eerily predictive manner, established the dominance of their religion by slaughtering Mithras' faithful, razing His temples, and burning His sacred texts.

And Christians still try and claim that they are "unique".

Bah, humbug.

Happy Holidays, Folks! Heheheh...

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What holidays?

Submitted by Alon Levy on December 9, 2006 - 6:44am.

I have a take-home final due on the 14th and another due on the 18th, and a normal final on the 21st. If that's a holiday, I don't want to know what a working day looks like.

io Saturnalia

Submitted by Raymond (not verified) on December 6, 2006 - 3:52pm.

Keep Saturn in Saturnalia -- He's the "reason for the season".

Back at ya

Submitted by MandyU on December 8, 2006 - 7:27am.

I've been a fan of the Saturnalia celebration since high school Latin class (public school obviously). I think its interesting that the part of the article about Christianity borrowing aspects of Christmas from Saturnalia is disputed.

Io, Saturnalia! Take off your togas, go drink with your slaves and gamble.

Mandy U

New Kids On The Block

Submitted by J (not verified) on December 6, 2006 - 10:06am.

Is there a christian holiday that wasn't originally celebrated by older religions and subverted to fit christian ideology? Jews and Christians believe that Genesis outlines the history of the world, yet there are far older religions than Judeism that do not mention the monotheistic deity of the Hebrews. In fact, polytheism was once considered the only rational view of the existance of deities. A single, unique and universal deity was a preposterous idea.
It is telling that Jews, Christians and Muslims worship the "only God" and that this god is evidently engendered as male. If there was only one example of a species, and that being is solely unique and did not propogate, then why would it be sexed? At least older religions had female as well as male deities and they constituted a species. What about all the demigods and spirits that inhabited pagan ideologies? Equinox and Solstice festivities were dedicated to them long before Yahweh was ever concieved conceptually.
The revisionism of the followers of the Johnny-come-lately god of Abraham negates any claim of authenticity. Based on the concepts of ultimate truth, If any religion were true and rationally factual, it would have to be that very first religion historically evident, this barring the fact that all religions and ideologies are human constructs.
No matter what the date of any religious holiday is, you can almost always be sure it was shanghaied from older religions by the Christians and refitted for their own propaganda. Merry Xmas