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stare I just celebrate with them, and don't say any thing. I mean some of the stuff is really simulare.

It's easy enough really... most everything the christians do to celebrate Christmas, they did not make up on their own. ALL of their holidays were taken from pagan religions before them and turned to fit the Christ's story. So we celebrate different things in the same ways. I tell people this all the time when they come to my house and I've got a Yule log and tree. rolleyes Silly christians. And that's said in the nicest way possible! heart heart mrgreen

I've never heard that Christians did that because they feared persecution. Where'd you hear that from, if you don't mind me asking?

What I learned in one of my college classes (as well as what I've read in many books) was that it was done to get the Pagans to convert to Christianity.

It's true that they did fear persecution from the Romans. Basically, the Romans didn't care what religion you were. But as long as you lived in their cities you had to attend Pagan rituals and whatnot. The Jews lived in Rome during this time just fine, because they still followed all the laws that the Romans had.

But I've still never heard that fear of persecution was their reason for adopting Pagan beliefs/traditions and changing them to be slightly different. The reason behind it has always been said to be because they wanted it to be easier and more comfortable for Pagans to convert to Christianity because they were similar in their holidays and stories.