Leandra Jacobson 4/29

The adoration of the sun is the first topic in the film, “The Zeitgeist.” This film, in its first segment concerning “the Greatest Story Ever Told,” explains the relationship of the sun to nature and to religion. The zodiac is explained as being a tracker of the sun through the 12 months of the year, depicted through different symbols that guide to the sun. Seasons and constellations are defined by this symbol as well, connecting this ancient religious symbol to the reflexes of the earth. Another Egyptian god that has significance to the earth and the sun is Horus, often described as “the light” or “the sun” and often depicted with a sun over his head. There are several other gods that are described in this film with similar attributes of a virgin birth, resurrection, “the son of God” or “the sun,” and ascending to heaven; Attis of Greece, India’s Krishna, Dionysus, Persia’s Mithra, Jesus Christ, and many others. There are all connected to the astrological signs and ancient constellations, and explain a theory of why the stories are so similar. This is the earth’s ultimate influence over religion. In the explained process, the film outlines how these stories and the story of Christianity was created astrologically. Although the ideas in this film are anti-Christianity and definitely not a solid disproval of biblical tales, they are very notable relations when assessing this class. The sun god Ra is easy to understand because it is seemingly obvious, but Jesus Christ is a little more complicated because it is recent in its development in comparison to the other deities listed.
The Zeitgeist, in example, uses the Winter Solstice to explain the story of Jesus Christ’s birth of a virgin on December 25th following a star in the east. On December 24th, the brightest star in the eastern sky (Sirius) is aligned with the three stars of Orion’s belt, said to represent the 3 kings, as they are rightfully named. On December 25th, all these stars align above the sun, Sirius “following” it and the Three Kings follow those. Also in the Winter Solstice, the sun reaches its lowest point in the sky on December 22nd visibly for three days until it finally moved north on the 25th of December. The sun or “the son” dies on the cross and is raised again after three days. The son will come again, just as the sun does as it conquers the night every morning, seen also in Egyptian myths with the battle of Horus and his enemy and other religious explanations of the transition between light and dark of the earth. This is just one connection to the earth and Christianity that is made in this film.