Christian Denomination Selector

[IrishJohn]

This is a very true statement. A lot of Christians I talk to do not believe that the two biggest holidays within the Christian Religion (Christmas and Easter) were pagan holidays that were adopted by the early Christian church in order to make it easier for people to convert...

"Come over to our religion.....we celebrate the same holidays!"

That stems from a poor understanding of history. The Bible itself shows examples of pagan influence that was "converted" to better uses. Just look up the first chapter of the Gospel of John on the Logos and refer to ancient Greek philosophy.

The issue I have is when people's beliefs require them to try to make me believe as they do, or kill me for not converting (which is big in Islam...and was a big thing in Catholicism in the early days).

Agreed. Although Catholics weren't alone in this among Christians. Many Protestant groups have a poor record as well, which is ironic because part of the reason for the Reformation (besides theological disputes) was due to the shenanigans of the hierarchy in the Catholic Church.