History Main / HijackedByJesus

** The Roman winter solstice festival / Celtic/Norse Yule, respectively the Pagan spring celebration Ostara, were taken over by / merged with respectively Christmas and Easter[[note]]The Christmas tree, Easter bunny, and Easter eggs are all symbols stemming from the original Pagan festivals[[/note]].
*** Christmas is actually rather debatable. Jewish and Early Christian theologians believed that good men died on the day they were conceived. The earliest record was when someone said March 25 was when Jesus was crucified, and thus added nine months. March 25 itself is celebrated today as the "Feast of the Annunciation", when Jesus was [[MysticalPregnancy supernaturally conceived]] in the Virgin Mary's womb according to the Gospel of Luke. (And around three months after that falls the feast of John the Baptist's birthday or "Johnmas" in June, since his mother Elizabeth was six months pregnant when the Annunciation happened, according to Luke. And around six months further back is thus the feast of John the Baptist's conception in September.)
** There are actually theories that Christmas was celebrated well before the Roman holiday of ''Dies Natalis Sol Invictus'', and the Romans created it to counter Christmas. Other evidence however points to the cult of Sol Invictus existing prior to Christianity in Rome. Interestingly, Sol Invictus-meaning "Unconquered Sun"- was a title associated with Alexander the Great who at that time was widely worshipped as a god.

** The Emperor of Rome was often seen as a semi-divine and infallible figure in the Roman Empire, whose importance superseded that of even the distant Roman gods. In the Roman Catholic Church, the Pope is considered to be of a similar semi-divine nature, who, as the representative of God on Earth, is largely seen by Catholics as more immediately important than God Himself.

** The concept of the Holy Trinity, which is almost universally recognized by all Christian denominations, has no explicit Biblical basis; in fact, the idea of God having three natures may have descended from the tendency of the ancient Semites, Greeks and Romans to organize their gods into distinct groups of three. Perhaps the most iconic of these "Triads" is the Roman grouping of the gods Jupiter (Zeus), Juno (Hera), and Minerva (Athena), considered to be the three most important of the Imperial Roman deities. In fact, one of the reasons the early Church devised the Holy Trinity in the first place, was to make Christianity more appealing to polytheists.

** The Emperor of Rome was often seen as a semi-divine and infallible figure in the Roman Empire, whose importance superseded that of even the distant Roman gods. In the Roman Catholic Church, the Pope is considered to be of a similar semi-divine nature, who, as the representative of God on Earth, is largely seen by Catholics as more immediately important than God himself.

** The concept of the Holy Trinity, which is almost universally recognized by all Christian denominations, has no explicit Biblical basis; in fact, the idea of God having three natures descends from the tendency of the ancient Semites, Greeks and Romans to organize their gods into distinct groups of three. Perhaps the most iconic of these "Triads" is the Roman grouping of the gods Jupiter (Zeus), Juno (Hera), and Minerva (Athena), considered to be the three most important of the Imperial Roman deities. In fact, one of the reasons the early Church devised the Holy Trinity in the first place, was to make Christianity more appealing to polytheists.

* The MarvelUniverse version of [[ComicBook/TheMightyThor the Norse gods]] follow suit, with Thor = Jesus, Odin = God, Loki = Lucifer, and Surtur = Satan.

** 1 Corinthians 10:20 "But I say, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils, and not to God: and I would not that ye should have fellowship with devils." [[note]]It should be noted the actual Greek word often translated into English as "devils" is morally neutral. It is ''daemon'', which meant something akin to "faery spirit". The Arabian concept of ''djinn'' is also similar. The reason why Christians shouldn't sacrifice to these spirits is less because they are malevolent, and more because they are lesser than God. The idea of malevolent devils is primarily a medieval European one, although it does seem to have been generally understood that these ''daemons'' could possess people to cause them harm.[[/note]]
** This contradicts the stance that the Old Testament/Toraic writings take on the issue though. The stories of early Jews straying from the worship of God indicate that in the view of these earlier writers other deities did exist and have real power and they were threats to Judaism.

** Christianity in Southeast Asia uses some Islamic terms for Christian concepts. More specifically, when the locals were converted to Islam centuries ago, the predominant religious vocabulary all became Arabic, because Islam considers only a Quran written in Arabic to be a "real" Quran. Therefore, even if local languages had their own word for "god," Southeast Asian Muslims refer to God as Allah (which is simply the Arabic word for "God"). This would be rather like if Catholics the world-over referred to God as "Deus" instead of translating the word into their own languages. The point is, in Malaysia and Indonesia, some Christians, particularly Catholics, ''also'' refer to God as "Allah", even though for them this is a foreign Arabic term imported from Islam and not their native word for "god" or "a diety." This has become controversial in Malaysia at various times when the government sought to restrict use of the word "Allah" to Muslims only.

** The Emperor of Rome was often seen as a semi-divine and infallible figure in the Roman Empire, whose importance superseded that of even the distant Roman gods. In the Roman Catholic Church, the Pope is considered to be of a similar semi-divine nature, who, as the representative of God on Earth, is largely seen by Catholics as more important than God himself.

** The concept of the Holy Trinity, which is almost universally recognized by all Christian denominations, has no explicit Biblical basis; in fact, the idea of God having three natures descends from the tendency of the ancient Greeks and Romans to organize their gods into distinct groups of three. Perhaps the most iconic of these "Triads" is the Roman grouping of the gods Jupiter (Zeus), Juno (Hera), and Minerva (Athena), considered to be the three most important of the Imperial Roman deities. In fact, one of the reasons the early Church devised the Holy Trinity in the first place, was to make Christianity more appealing to polytheists.

*** Odin's self-sacrifice to gain knowledge (by hanging himself on the World Tree for nine days) bears a striking resemblance to the Crucifixion. In particular, note that Odin sacrificed himself ''to himself'' -- and since conventional Christianity interprets Jesus as an incarnation of God, the Crucifixion thus entailed the Christian God likewise sacrificing himself to himself. However, there are no reported Viking activities in the area of Israel at the time, and all reported versions of that myth are from ''after'' Christianity became a thing in Europe, so it may also be a case of the Vikings trying to hijack Christian stories, instead of the other way. It may also be just a coincidence: deaths by hanging were a common punishment in real life, same as crucifixion, but the part of the god having his side torn by a pike seems too specific and suggests an influence in either way. Although, that could again just be coincidence - using a spear to prod the side of a hanged / crucified person was used as a way to check they were dead before they were cut down: if they reacted, they were still alive and would be left up there longer.[[note]] it should also be noted that there were Vikings who worked for Christian rulers all throughout the 8th, 9th & 10th Centuries when their civilization was at its most prominent. The idea that they hated Christians reflexively is a complete myth. This could go a long way to explaining some of the uncanny similarities in mythologies. Though to be completely fair, it's not like Christianity originated all of these ideas. the idea of a god dying for the benefit of the community and then being resurrected was hardly a new one by the time Christianity came around. [[/note]]

** TheFairFolk went from unfathomable beings who were all right if you didn't offend them, to evil spirits who couldn't stand church bells/crosses/a priest.

* When Africans were enslaved and taken to the Americas, many of them brought their gods with them. This was frowned upon by some of their owners, who tried to foist Christianity on everyone. In some places the slaves responded by denoting a Christian saint for each god, so they could worship without getting in trouble for it. In Brazil, for example, these gods are still around, and worshipped to various degrees across the country.

** a similar phenomenon led to the creation of Vodou and Voodoo in New Orleans and the Caribbean. Here, West African deities from several cultures are worshipped alongside Christian saints and even some folk heroes: all often described as "loa"-a Yoruban word, or simply as ''spirits''. Their names tended to get changed: for example the spider deity of the Ashanti, Anansi became ''Mr. Nancy''. Rituals like channeling and magical potion making were also imported. Santéria, and other similar practices.

** 1 Corinthians 10:20 “But I say, that the things which the Gentiles sacrifice, they sacrifice to devils, and not to God: and I would not that ye should have fellowship with devils.” [[note]] it should be noted the actual Greek word often translated into English as "devils" is morally neutral. It is "daemon", which meant something akin to "faery spirit". The Arabian concept of "djinn" is also similar. The reason why Christians shouldn't sacrifice to these spirits is less because they are malevolent, and more because they are lesser than God. The idea of malevolent devils is primarily a medieval European one, although it does seem to have been generally understood that these "daemons" could possess people to cause them harm.[[/note]]

** {{Subverted}} in ''The Lightning Thief'', the first novel of ''Literature/PercyJacksonAndTheOlympians''. When Zeus' master lightning bolt is stolen, [[EverybodyHatesHades the first suspect is Hades]]. Hades is believed to have stolen the master bolt in order to start a rebellion. As it turns out, the thief was actually [[spoiler:the lead character's camp counselor, Luke]].

** Egyptian
-->''After these appear'd\\

** Greek
-->''The rest were long to tell, though far renown'd,\\

** This was a common Christian explanation of pagan gods-that they were really demons in disguise.

* Some reviewers have stated that the 1978 movie ''{{Film/Superman}}'' is laden with Christ-like and Biblical themes from the story of Moses to a white haired God-like father. The main villain even resides beneath the city in his underground lair.

* {{Inverted}} in ''Jericho Moon'', in which the Hebrews' Yahweh is suggested to be the Canaanite pagan god El on a monomaniacal ego trip. Yahweh's angels, when their forms are revealed, [[spoiler:turn out to be indistinguishable from the amorphous demons of Egyptian paganism seen in the previous novel]].
* {{Subverted}} in ''The Lightning Thief'', the first novel of ''Literature/PercyJacksonAndTheOlympians''. When Zeus' master lightning bolt is stolen, [[EverybodyHatesHades the first suspect is Hades]]. Hades is believed to have stolen the master bolt in order to start a rebellion. As it turns out, the thief was actually [[spoiler:the lead character's camp counselor, Luke]].
** The spin-off series ''Literature/MagnusChaseAndTheGodsOfAsgard'' features a pretty damn gutsy version of this for a children's book by mentioning Thor having a vendetta against Jesus ever since he didn't show up for a fight and taking his honor from him.

* ''{{Literature/Beowulf}}'' scholars believe that the 8th century poem is an adaptation of a Pagan epic from at least the century before, and that several elements in the story were introduced to make it resonate better with contemporary Christian audiences. These include Beowulf invoking God, Grendel and his mother being descendants of Cain and unable to hurt Hrothgar in his throne (because Christians believed that kings were protected by God) and Grendel's Mother's lair being protected by snakes (associated with Pagans and the Devil in Christianity). The final act with an elderly Beowulf fighting a dragon may have been entirely lifted from a Christian story (St. George or similar) and tacked after ([[RiddleForTheAges or over]]) the original Pagan's end.