All of these gods had gods for fathers and their mothers were
virgins. The births of nearly all were announced by stars,
celebrated by celestial music, and voices declared that a blessing
had come to the poor world. All of these gods were born in humble
places — in caves, under trees, in common inns, and tyrants sought
to kill them all when they were babes. All of these sun-gods were
born at the winter solstice — on Christmas. Nearly all were
worshiped by “wise men.” All of them fasted for forty days — all
of them taught in parables — all of them wrought miracles — all
met with a violent death, and all rose from the dead.
The history of these gods is the exact history of our Christ.
This is not a coincidence — an accident. Christ was a sun-
god. Christ was a new name for an old biography — a survival —
the last of the sun-gods. Christ was not a man, but a myth — not
a life, but a legend.
I found that we had not only borrowed our Christ — but that
all our sacraments, symbols and ceremonies were legacies that we
received from the buried past. There is nothing original in
Christianity.
The cross was a symbol thousands of years before our era. It
was a symbol of life, of immortality — of the god Agni, and it was
chiseled upon tombs many ages before a line of our Bible was
written.
Baptism is far older than Christianity — than Judaism. The
Hindus, Egyptians, Greeks and Romans had Holy Water long before a
Catholic lived. The eucharist was borrowed from the Pagans. Ceres
was the goddess of the fields — Bacchus of the vine. At the
harvest festival they made cakes of wheat and said: “This is the
flesh of the goddess.” They drank wine and cried: “This is the
blood of our god.”
The Egyptians had a Trinity. They worshiped Osiris, Isis and
Horus, thousands of years before the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost
were known.
The Tree of Life grew in India, in China, and among the
Aztecs, long before the Garden of Eden was planted.
Long before our Bible was known, other nations had their
sacred books.
The dogmas of the Fall of Man, the Atonement and Salvation by
Faith, are far older than our religion.
In our blessed gospel, — in our “divine scheme,” — there is
nothing new — nothing original. All old — all borrowed, pieced
and patched.
Then I concluded that all religions had been naturally
produced, and that all were variation, modifications of one, —
then I felt that I knew that all were the work of man.
Robert Green Ingersoll – “Why I Am An Agnostic”
