Absorbing old religion

[watchamadoodle]

Another thing to consider: who is aware of the deceit? Are the leaders within Christianity aware that they are absorbing the myths about pagan deities into the stories of saints so that the pagans can continue to practice their old religion while appearing to practice Christianity? This would imply that the church leaders know they are peddling nonsense (to some degree). Or is this a bottom-up process where the Church destroys all the idols of the fertility goddess, but the oppressed pagans find that icons of St. Mary can substitute for the idols? Then gradually the traditions of the fertility goddess percolate upwards into Christian tradition?

Church tradition says that St. Mary relocated to Ephesus which coincidentally was a major center of worship for the fertility goddess Artemis. I believe much of the reverencing of St. Mary originated in Ephesus.

Or take the Exodus story being discussed in Drich's thread. Isn't that story weird? Imagine you're a Jewish religious person composing or editting the Torah just before you return from Persia to Judah. How do you convince the Jewish exiles and the indigenous Jews that this Torah with its traditions is legit? Maybe you are trying to repackage Zoroastrianism that is popular in the Persian government into a form suitable for Jews.