
it's closer to the mark to say they couldn't do anything about it so they let them carry on.
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Fri 2 Dec 2011, 19:41,
archived)

December the 21st is the Winter solstice and has been pre-dating Christianity if is understood that in some quarters that Christians used this date as the birth of Christ when evidence shows Jesus was probably born nearer to March/April time according to the star alignment and the change to the Gregorian calendar. But I'm not going to argue points I don't actually believe in it takes too many presumption on both sides to form an accurate conclusion.
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Fri 2 Dec 2011, 19:47,
archived)

it's an astronomical thing. As mentioned below, however, the date of Christianity is more likely from the Roman festival of the Sol Invictus.
There is, as far as I know, no evidence at all for the date of the birth of Jesus. Christmas wasn't celebrated at all until about the 3rd century because Jews didn't celebrate birthdays. Any attempt to relate the Star of Bethlehem to a real astronomical event is not only highly speculative but highly missing the point.
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Fri 2 Dec 2011, 19:52,
archived)
There is, as far as I know, no evidence at all for the date of the birth of Jesus. Christmas wasn't celebrated at all until about the 3rd century because Jews didn't celebrate birthdays. Any attempt to relate the Star of Bethlehem to a real astronomical event is not only highly speculative but highly missing the point.