Claim 1:
“Ishtar”, which is pronounced “Easter” was a day that commemorated the resurrection of one of their gods that they called “Tammuz”, who was believed to be the only begotten son of the moon-goddess and the sun-god.
This is false. Please see
etymonline.com/index.php?allowed_in_frame=0&search=easter&searchmode=none
The word “Easter” is of Germanic origin, and is not associated with Ishtar.
Moreover, Tammuz is the son of Ishtar, but does not have a father. See
sacred-texts.com/ane/mba/mba11.htm
Tammuz’ counterpart in the Egyptian, Greek, and other myths had a father, but he did not in the Babylonian myth.
Furthermore, Tammuz wasn’t “resurrected.” He died and went to Hades. He later returned from Hades as a child. In other words, he was reincarnated, not resurrected.
Claim 2:
Semiramis became known as “Ishtar” which is pronounced “Easter”, and her moon egg became known as “Ishtar’s” egg."
This is false. As noted in the previous link I provided, Ishtar’s popularity overshadowed other goddesses of the area, and “Ishtar” became a word that referred to goddesses in general. And in the Semitic areas, Ishtar is equivalent with “Ashtoreth” or “Astarte.” Semiramis didn’t “become known as ‘Ishtar,’” rather, all goddesses were referred to as “Ishtarate.”
Claim 3:
Tammuz was noted to be especially fond of rabbits, and they became sacred in the ancient religion, because Tammuz was believed to be the son of the sun-god, Baal. Tammuz, like his supposed father, became a hunter.
The day came when Tammuz was killed by a wild pig.
This is false. Tammuz was a god of fertility and was known as a shepherd, not a hunter. Moreover, Tammuz was not killed by a pig. It was all of Tammuz’s counterparts (Osiris, Adonis, etc) in the other myths who were killed by a boar, and were associated as hunters. But not Tammuz of the Babylonian myth.
Also, as stated before, Baal was not Tammuz’s father. Tammuz’s father is never revealed.
Claim 4:
We also know that Easter can be as much as three weeks away from the Passover, because the pagan holiday is always set as the first Sunday after the first full moon after the spring equinox.
Actually, while it’s true that Easter doesn’t always coincide with the Jewish Passover, it’s not for the reason you think. The current Jewish Calendar, which is what determines when the Passover is celebrated, as a fixed calendar wasn’t established until the fourth century by Hillel II. See
jewfaq.org/calendar.htm
The Passover is a “drifting” holiday, meaning that one year it could start on a Sunday, and the following year it could start on a Thursday, and the following year it could start on Monday, etc. We know that the Passover of Christ’s death started on a Thursday (two days before the Sabbath).
Before the fixed calendar was established, the Sanhedrin would determine on a year-to-year basis whether or not they would “insert” an extra month into the year or not based on the prevailing weather/climate conditions. This is because the first month, Nissan, was supposed to correspond with spring. And since the lunar year doesn’t correspond with the solar year, every few years an additional month had to be added to make up for the “drift.”
The Catholic Church anchored the Easter season to Spring as well by designating the first Sunday after the first full moon after the Spring Equinox as Easter Sunday. Why? It’s got nothing to do with Babylonian mystery religions.
First, it’s after Spring Equinox to anchor the holiday to Spring, since Passover is a Spring holiday, and the addition of an extra month in the Jewish tradition was to establish the holiday during spring. Thus, by tying the holiday to the Spring Equinox, the Church establishes a “theological” Nissan at approximately that time of year.
Second, since the Jewish month begins the day after a New Moon, the seven-day Passover festival always begins on a Full Moon. This is true because the Full Moon occurs 15 days after a New Moon, and the Passover is always on the 15th day of Nissan. Therefore, the “Theological Nissan” (let’s call it) that occurs near the Spring Equinox will have its Passover begin on the first full moon.
Third, since we are remembering Christ’s Passion, Death and Resurrection, which has a historical basis, we remember them following the historical progression of days that were actually followed by Him. Thus, even if the “Theological Nissan’s” Passover begins on, say, Monday (ie, the day of the full moon), we don’t observe Christ’s death on that Tuesday. Rather, we observe it on Friday, the day Christ died historically.
Claim 5:
She also proclaimed a forty day period of time of sorrow each year prior to the anniversary of the death of Tammuz.
During this time, no meat was to be eaten.
Well, I don’t know about this historicity of this, or most of the things claimed in that article, but the correlation of this with our Lenten Season is errant. We observe a 40-day Lent as a time of preparation and in memory of Christ’s 40 days of fasting in the wilderness. Is the author of that article possibly suggesting that Christ was practicing Tammuz worship by His forty day fast in the wilderness?
Furthermore, while Lent is 40 days, there are actually 46 days between Ash Wednesday and Easter Sunday. This is because 6 of those days are Sundays, and Sundays aren’t counted as part of Lent. I doubt the same is true of Ishtars supposed 40 day period of sorrow. Also, there are 40 days of Lent prior to Christ’s Resurrection, not His death, so the correlation to Tammuz doesn’t add up.
I’m sure I could go on about the errors of this article… but I won’t.
It made me scratch my head but I knew what they meant. Maybe it is an attempt to call the holiday something different as many seem to think the holiday has been hijaked by people that practice pagan religions. I think it might be throwing the baby out with the bath water though. A small amount of education clears the whole thing up and then all one has to do is politely correct someone when they hear something a bit off. You may not change someone’s mind but you have planted a seed of Truth there 
