# Why don't fundamentalist Christians get worked up over the days of the week? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 11, 2011, 9:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-fundamentalist-christians-get-worked-up-over-the-days-of-the-week/581574 "2011-05-11T21:58:14Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 4
**Author:** ![Damfino](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/f9ae1b/32.png) [@Damfino](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Damfino)\ **Post date:** [May 13, 2011, 10:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-fundamentalist-christians-get-worked-up-over-the-days-of-the-week/581574/61 "2011-05-13T22:21:02Z")
It works in non-Christian countries too. In my part of India, I am certain of the following: Tuesday = Mars , Thursday = Jupiter, Saturday = Saturn, Sunday = the Sun. The other days I’m not sure of. In Hindi the derivation is probably the same so perhaps some more knowledgeable person can fill in the blanks. Perhaps the proto-Indo-European language is the source. ---
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2011, 6:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-fundamentalist-christians-get-worked-up-over-the-days-of-the-week/581574/62 "2011-05-14T06:11:22Z")
> [@Andy\_L](#): > > The months have the right number if you start the year where the ancient Romans did, in March ([March - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/March)) And, of course, not just the ancient Romans; we [used](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Style_and_New_Style_dates) to start the year on Lady Day (25th March), so you occasionally see old tombstones for a baby that was born in, say, August and died February the same year. ---
**Author:** ![thelabdude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dc4da7/32.png) [@thelabdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelabdude)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2011, 1:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-fundamentalist-christians-get-worked-up-over-the-days-of-the-week/581574/63 "2011-05-15T01:39:09Z")
Wasn’t January the first month of the year named for Janus a 2 faced god looking both backwards and forwards? Were July and August added in out of order to push September back to ninth? ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2011, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-fundamentalist-christians-get-worked-up-over-the-days-of-the-week/581574/64 "2011-05-15T01:43:07Z")
> [@Damfino](#): > > Perhaps the proto-Indo-European language is the source. No, because in that case English _Tuesday_ would be the same as the cognate _jeudi_ / _giovedi_ / _jueves_. I read once that the astronomical reference to the planets was primary, and the fact that the planets were named for various gods was secondary. In other words, Tuesday is Tuesday because \*Tiwaz was the name of the red planet, not because it was the name of the war god. (Of course, the planets were probably named by _interpretatio_, so it’s a bit chicken-and-egg.) ---
**Author:** ![Naxos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/50afbb/32.png) [@Naxos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Naxos)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2011, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-fundamentalist-christians-get-worked-up-over-the-days-of-the-week/581574/65 "2011-05-15T03:45:53Z")
> [@Disposable Hero](#): > > I don’t really have a dog in this fight either way but I was just struck by this today. As most of us know the names of the days of the week have pagan origins, Woden’s Day for Wednesday, Thors Day for Thursday, Saturns day for Saturday and so on. > > I was just wondering why fundementalist Christians don’t have a problem with this, some of them get upset over Halloween because of its pagan origins for example. They don’t because religion is a social bonding ritual, and for them, the names of the days is so entrenched in culture that they don’t even think about making an issue out of it, to then use and declare their superiority over everyone else. Many other Christian celebrations and deeply entrenched customs have pagan origins. So what? If they can bless slavery for 1,500 years and live with it, they can do away with trivial pagan associations with their religion. ---
**Author:** ![Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/46a35a/32.png) [@Tim\_T-Bonham.net](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tim_T-Bonham.net)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2011, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-fundamentalist-christians-get-worked-up-over-the-days-of-the-week/581574/66 "2011-05-15T03:49:45Z")
> [@thelabdude](#): > > Wasn’t January the first month of the year named for Janus a 2 faced god looking both backwards and forwards? > > Were July and August added in out of order to push September back to ninth? No. The Roman year stated with March, so the numbered ones (September - December) matched. The last 2 months (January & February) were in the middle of winter and originally probably had no names because that time wasn’t important to a mainly agricultural civilization. They were given names later on. And since Latin didn’t really have words for eleventh and twelfth, they were named after Roman gods. And February was the end of the year, so the extra leap year day was added there. (Sometimes several days, because the Roman calendar of that time wasn’t very exact.) And July & August were originally “Quintilis” (5th month) and “Sextilis” (6th month), but were renamed to honor Julius & Augustus Caesar. ---
**Author:** ![Ruken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/f475e1/32.png) [@Ruken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ruken)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2011, 4:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-fundamentalist-christians-get-worked-up-over-the-days-of-the-week/581574/67 "2011-05-15T04:26:01Z")
> [@TriPolar](#): > > All this is off target though. It is very difficult to find a Quaker who could be described as a fundamentalist. The types who go to “Quake Churches” (this is actually the majority, but most of them are in Africa) rather than “Quaker Meetings” are often indistinguishable from other evangelical christian churches, although I’m not so up and up on what counts as “fundamentalist”. As for first/third month/day etc., we use it on official documents and meeting minutes and such, but that’s about it. Kind of silly IMO, but by this point is comfortably familiar for me. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2011, 7:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-fundamentalist-christians-get-worked-up-over-the-days-of-the-week/581574/68 "2011-05-15T07:35:40Z")
> [@Naxos](#): > > If they can bless slavery for 1,500 years and live with it, they can do away with trivial pagan associations with their religion. This isn’t the best example: the Bible does not condemn slavery. ---
**Author:** ![Naxos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/50afbb/32.png) [@Naxos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Naxos)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2011, 7:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-fundamentalist-christians-get-worked-up-over-the-days-of-the-week/581574/69 "2011-05-15T07:44:32Z")
> [@Dr.Drake](#): > > This isn’t the best example: the Bible does not condemn slavery. It certainly does. Read the Christian book, you’ll see. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2011, 7:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-fundamentalist-christians-get-worked-up-over-the-days-of-the-week/581574/70 "2011-05-15T07:50:46Z")
> [@Naxos](#): > > It certainly does. Read the Christian book, you’ll see. Could you please give a more specific cite? I typed “Christian” into [Amazon.com](http://Amazon.com) and this is what I got as the first hit: [_People Every Christian Should Know_](http://www.amazon.com/People-Every-Christian-Should-Know/dp/0801071941/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1305445548&sr=1-1). I’m afraid I don’t have time to page through all 500,000 results, so I’ll just point you to [Wikipedia’s “The Bible and slavery”](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Bible_and_slavery). Honestly, you can certainly say that the fundamental precepts of Christianity are not compatible with slavery, or the words of Jesus, but if you just say “the Bible,” you’re flat-out wrong. ---
**Author:** ![Aji\_de\_Gallina](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aji_de_gallina/32/260_2.png) [@Aji\_de\_Gallina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aji_de_Gallina)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2011, 8:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-fundamentalist-christians-get-worked-up-over-the-days-of-the-week/581574/71 "2011-05-15T08:00:43Z")
Maybe they don’t for the same reason those people who get their knickers in a bunch over BC/AD (versus BCE/CE) don’t either. ---
**Author:** ![Naxos](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/50afbb/32.png) [@Naxos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Naxos)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2011, 8:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-fundamentalist-christians-get-worked-up-over-the-days-of-the-week/581574/72 "2011-05-15T08:04:45Z")
> [@Dr.Drake](#): > > Could you please give a more specific cite? Ask the Catholic divine leaders why they blessed slavery for 1,500 years, until some Pope publicly denounced it, in our modern times. If any person can claim religious justification for their behavior, then they are wrong, by definition, because no gods exist. ---
**Author:** ![Aji\_de\_Gallina](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aji_de_gallina/32/260_2.png) [@Aji\_de\_Gallina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aji_de_Gallina)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2011, 8:07am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-fundamentalist-christians-get-worked-up-over-the-days-of-the-week/581574/73 "2011-05-15T08:07:25Z")
> [@Dr.Drake](#): > > Could you please give a more specific cite? > [@Naxos](#): > > Ask the Catholic divine leaders why they blessed slavery for 1,500 years, until some Pope publicly denounced it, in our modern times. > > If any person can claim religious justification for their behavior, then they are wrong, by definition, because no gods exist. Cite for “blessed salvery”? Cite for “no gods exist”? Cite for your actually caring about the answer? ---
**Author:** ![Johanna](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johanna/32/8318_2.png) [@Johanna](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johanna)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2011, 3:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-fundamentalist-christians-get-worked-up-over-the-days-of-the-week/581574/74 "2011-05-15T15:41:34Z")
> [@Aji\_de\_Gallina](#): > > Maybe they don’t for the same reason those people who get their knickers in a bunch over BC/AD (versus BCE/CE) don’t either. I’m very non-Christian, but I use BC and AD. Because it’s conventional, it doesn’t hurt anything, and clearly intelligible meaning for the reader matters more than quibbling over pointless arcana. It’s as conventional as saying “dear” in a letter’s salutation, when the addressee actually means nothing to you. As Miss Manners points out, it isn’t supposed to mean anything. It’s just conventional. Conventional means a) it serves the purpose it’s intended for with a minimum of bother; b) the original derivation of the term is beside the point. ---
**Author:** ![Find\_Friends](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/c37758/32.png) [@Find\_Friends](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Find_Friends)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2011, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-fundamentalist-christians-get-worked-up-over-the-days-of-the-week/581574/75 "2011-05-15T17:31:56Z")
> [@Aji\_de\_Gallina](#): > > Cite for “blessed salvery”? This is the information age. Read something. Even Drake’s Wikipedia cite is a place to start. > [@Aji\_de\_Gallina](#): > > Cite for “no gods exist”? Sigh. The burden of proof is that your version of deity exists. Put up or… well, you know the rest. \* > [@Aji\_de\_Gallina](#): > > Cite for your actually caring about the answer? You may be posting in the wrong forum. 🙂 _ **- Jack** _ - Good thing I’m in a reasonably good mood. ETA: Drake’s cite was the BIBLE and Slavery. Try this: [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catholic\_Church\_and\_slavery](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catholic_Church_and_slavery) ---
**Author:** ![thelabdude](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/dc4da7/32.png) [@thelabdude](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thelabdude)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2011, 5:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-fundamentalist-christians-get-worked-up-over-the-days-of-the-week/581574/76 "2011-05-15T17:45:59Z")
> [@Johanna](#): > > I’m very non-Christian, but I use BC and AD. Because it’s conventional, it doesn’t hurt anything, and clearly intelligible meaning for the reader matters more than quibbling over pointless arcana. > > It’s as conventional as saying “dear” in a letter’s salutation, when the addressee actually means nothing to you. As Miss Manners points out, it isn’t supposed to mean anything. It’s just conventional. Conventional means a) it serves the purpose it’s intended for with a minimum of bother; b) the original derivation of the term is beside the point. Maybe we need more such reason. Christians need to continue to accept all the pagan names of months and days, while non Christians accept BC and AD. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2011, 5:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-fundamentalist-christians-get-worked-up-over-the-days-of-the-week/581574/77 "2011-05-15T17:54:21Z")
> [@thelabdude](#): > > Maybe we need more such reason. Christians need to continue to accept all the pagan names of months and days, while non Christians accept BC and AD. We could compromise. Jesuary, February, March, April, Mary, June… And just to note the quoting tags upthread are seriously messed up. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2011, 6:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-fundamentalist-christians-get-worked-up-over-the-days-of-the-week/581574/78 "2011-05-15T18:12:48Z")
> [@Naxos](#): > > If any person can claim religious justification for their behavior, then they are wrong, by definition, because no gods exist. > [@Aji\_de\_Gallina](#): > > Cite for “no gods exist”? > Cite for your actually caring about the answer? > [@Trans Fat Og](#): > > Sigh. The burden of proof is that your version of deity exists. Put up or… well, you know the rest. \* > > You may be posting in the wrong forum. 🙂 [Moderator Note] Let’s not sidetrack this into a discussion of whether or not gods exist, but try to stick to the question in the OP. The slavery question is pretty much irrelevant too. Colibri General Questions Moderator ---
**Author:** ![Aji\_de\_Gallina](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aji_de_gallina/32/260_2.png) [@Aji\_de\_Gallina](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aji_de_Gallina)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2011, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-fundamentalist-christians-get-worked-up-over-the-days-of-the-week/581574/79 "2011-05-15T18:20:41Z")
> [@Trans Fat Og](#): > > This is the information age. Read something. Even Drake’s Wikipedia cite is a place to start. > > Sigh. The burden of proof is that your version of deity exists. Put up or… well, you know the rest. \* > > You may be posting in the wrong forum. 🙂 > > _ **- Jack** _ > > - Good thing I’m in a reasonably good mood. > ETA: Drake’s cite was the BIBLE and Slavery. Try this: [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catholic\_Church\_and\_slavery](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catholic_Church_and_slavery) So that’s a no. Wow, you’re sooooo clever with the whole “information age” stuff, super cool. No, sorry, this is the information age and you should know that the [burden of proof](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophic_burden_of_proof) lies with the person making the assessment. I’m posting in the right forum, I’m simply no in the mood of trying to explain something to a person no even remotely willing to hear. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [May 15, 2011, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-fundamentalist-christians-get-worked-up-over-the-days-of-the-week/581574/80 "2011-05-15T18:24:27Z")
> [@Aji\_de\_Gallina](#): > > So that’s a no. > Wow, you’re sooooo clever with the whole “information age” stuff, super cool. > No, sorry, this is the information age and you should know that the [burden of proof](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Philosophic_burden_of_proof) lies with the person making the assessment. > > I’m posting in the right forum, I’m simply no in the mood of trying to explain something to a person no even remotely willing to hear. [Moderator Instruction] I’m assuming you didn’t see my note above. If you want to continue this discussion, please open an new thread in GD. Let’s drop this discussion here. Colibri General Questions Moderator [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-fundamentalist-christians-get-worked-up-over-the-days-of-the-week/581574.md?page=3) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/why-dont-fundamentalist-christians-get-worked-up-over-the-days-of-the-week/581574.md?page=5)