Theos-Talk Archives (August 1996 Message tl00147)

Ann,
With regard to the star, there is an even simpler explanation.  It never
happened, any more than the idea of a virgin giving birth before artificial
insemination was invented.
Classical writers liked to invent important things that supposedly occured
when someone important was born, like an eagle defecating on the head of the
statue of Vulcan when an emperor was born.  The Star, the Wise Men, the whole
Virgin nonsense, all fall into that.
It's fun to listen to astronomers talk about planetary conjuctions around
that time, but even a supe-nova would not shine directly over a building, or
cave, like a searchlight pointing directly down on it.

Chuck the Heretic