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I mourn the loss of thinkers and scientists.

The murder of Hypatia, a woman who was the greatest mathematician, astronomer and mathematician of her time by a Christian mob in 415 AD, the burning at the stake of Servetus, a polymath who discovered pulmonary circulation and doubted the Trinity in 1553 AD, the burning at the stake of Giordano Bruno, a polymath who speculated that there are other solar systems and other worlds besides ours in 1600 and the murder of Vanini in 1619 are examples of the fate of such thinkers.
Vanini had a great mind. He saw the universe as governed by natural laws and humans and apes as having a common ancestry. His end was especially brutal.

In November 1618, he was arrested and, after a prolonged trial, was condemned to have his tongue cut out, to be strangled at the stake and to have his body burned to ashes. The sentence was executed on 9 February 1619.

I mourn the suffering and anguish of Jews.The Nazis didn’t invent Jew hatred. Centuries of Christian persecution preceded Nazism. Nazism exploited a feeling already endemic in the German psyche. The Holocaust was a culmination of Christian ideology.

I mourn the destruction of indigenous people and cultures by Christian imperialists and missionaries.

I mourn the loss of the ancient philosophies of stoicism, epicureanism and skepticism to be replaced by the superstition of Christianity.
I mourn the suffering and horrible deaths caused by the Inquisition.
A number of years ago I was in Lubeck, Germany during the Christmas season. In Lubeck are twin towers with a passageway from one to the other near the top. At the bottom of one of the towers is a torture museum exhibiting thumbscrews, rack, iron maiden and other instruments. As I gazed in horror and fascination the strains of the carol, “Stille Nacht, heilige Nacht” drifted in the window. Thinking of the Inquisition it seemed a very Christian moment to me.

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I regard Christmas as a day of mourning. I am fascinated by Christianity and have read a bit of its history. One of the books I have read is a A History of Christianity by MacCulloch.

Diarmaid Ninian John MacCulloch ( born 31 October 1951) is an English historian and academic, specialising in ecclesiastical history and the history of Christianity. Since 1995, he has been a fellow of St Cross College, Oxford; he was formerly the senior tutor. Since 1997, he has been Professor of the History of the Church at the University of Oxford.

Though ordained a deacon in the Church of England, he declined ordination to the priesthood because of the church's attitude to homosexuality. In 2009 he encapsulated the evolution of his religious beliefs: "I was brought up in the presence of the Bible, and I remember with affection what it was like to hold a dogmatic position on the statements of Christian belief. I would now describe myself as a candid friend of Christianity." MacCulloch sits on the editorial board of the Journal of Ecclesiastical History.

2 quotes from his book:

I seek to give weight in these narratives to the tangled and often tragic story of the relations between Christianity and its mother-monotheism, Judaism, as well as with its mother-monotheistic younger cousin, Islam. For most of its existence, Christianity has been the most intolerant of world faiths, doing its best to eliminate all competitors, with Judaism a qualified exception, for which (thanks to some thoughts from Augustine of Hippo) it found space to serve its own theological and social purposes. P. 4

I still appreciate the seriousness which a religious mentality brings to the mystery and misery of human existence, and I appreciate the solemnity of religious liturgy as a way of confronting these problems. I live with the puzzle of wondering how something so apparently crazy can be so captivating to millions of other members of my species. P. 11

Merry Christmas is an oxymoron. May my fellow humans wake to the sheer evil of Christianity.

individual,

Don't worry about something beyond your comprehension.

Just sit back, relax, and be happy.

Foxy: hollow logs,seed rattles,decorated drums (made from hollow logs and covered with reptile skin).

Only on & around TI, Horn Island etc, not on the Mainland. Oh, we mustn't forget that TI's were not Aboriginals until "after" Marbo. They were shunned up until then. The Mainland Aboriginal Groups even partitioned the Government to consider them as part of the Culture of New Guinea.

Foxy: People have always made music no matter who they are.

Of course, but we are considering whether or not it would contribute to the Modern Westernised World. I think not.

Nice for displays etc, but that's all. One must also remember the "Smoking Ceremony" Which was invented by Erne Dingo in retaliation for the Kiwi Haka at a Rugby Game in Perth.

I have an open mind I also think, not just go along with the latest Red Fad, as you did defending Pascoe. Ay.

Foxy,
You're the one who hasn't a clue about anything outside the suburbs. As I said earlier, you're so sucked-in by the stories of people who have only one goal & that is to fill up the bandwagon at other's expense !
You're giving them the encouragement to do wrong !

Gentlemen,

I can't argue with your logic.
Bigotry is about being certain of
something you know nothing about.

Enjoy your evening.