Easter Not Pagan
This website proves that Easter was not a copy of any pagan religious festivals, such as Ishtar, Eostre, or any other.
Many Christian critics, including ''The Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science'', now spread a popular myth that the Christian festival of Easter, was copied from the festival of the Babylonian pagan goddess named Ishtar, who was considered the goddess of fertility and war.
They say that when the Roman Emperor Constantine, officially Christianized the Roman Empire in 325 AD, the festival of Ishtar was changed to represent Jesus. And that the name of the festival of Ishtar, was changed to the similar sounding term, ''Easter''.
They also claim that Ishtar's symbols were eggs and the bunny rabbit, and that is where Easter got it's Easter egg and Easter Bunny symbols from.
However this is just one of many blatant lies and deliberate misinformation spread about Christianity by Christian critics.
It is very obvious that the Christian festival of Easter, could not have originally been the celebration of the Babylonian goddess named Ishtar, because when Easter started to be celebrated as a festival within the first 2 centuries AD, the English language did not even exist until many centuries later, therefore there was no such word as ''Easter'' at the time. The Greeks and Romans called the festival of Easter ''Pascha'', which is why Easter is Pasqua in Italian, Pascua in Spanish, and Paques in French.
How did the name of Ishtar skip all the way to England from Babylonia, without stopping in the Roman Empire? Obviously not possible.
Some other critics claim that the word ''Easter'' was copied from the name of the Germanic goddess named ''Eostre''. However the English word of ''Easter'', comes from the Germanic name of the month called Eostre, in which the Christian feast of Easter usually fell in. Just like the American holiday of the ''Fourth of July'' has nothing to do with Julius Caesar which is whom the month of July was named after, neither does Easter have anything to do with the pagan goddess Eostre, which is the name of the month in which Easter fell in.
In regards to the claim that Easter copied the symbols of eggs and the bunny rabbit from the Babylonian goddess Ishtar, upon doing research, there is no evidence at all to show that eggs or bunnies were Ishtar's symbols. The symbols of Ishtar was actually the lion and an 8-pointed star.
The Babylonian pagan goddess named Ishtar, with the lion and star symbol
The custom of Easter eggs, originated from the early Christians of Mesopotamia, who stained eggs red in memory of the blood of Christ, shed at his crucifixion.
Although the tradition is to use dyed or painted chicken eggs, a modern custom is to use chocolate eggs.
Therefore this proves that the festival of Easter, is not a copy of any pagan religious festivals, such as Ishtar, Eostre, or any other.
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