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ArchivesRe: One thing more... :)
in reply to a message by Phyllis
We have lots of fun, Phyllis . You can't successfully have a Christian married to a Satanist without both having a sense of fun. ;)
Sounds like you had an interesting class last Wednesday. You know, I wonder if one reason why a number of gays, rebels, freethinkers, and other societal outcasts have turned to neopaganism because that's one belief system that they find willing to accept them?
Daividh made the point that the purpose of religion is "not simply to validate our own little prejudices." Quite honestly, I have encountered more people from the mainstream religions using the Bible (or the Tanakh, or the Koran) to validate their own little prejudices, than ever I have encountered from among the neopagans.
-- Nanaea
Sounds like you had an interesting class last Wednesday. You know, I wonder if one reason why a number of gays, rebels, freethinkers, and other societal outcasts have turned to neopaganism because that's one belief system that they find willing to accept them?
Daividh made the point that the purpose of religion is "not simply to validate our own little prejudices." Quite honestly, I have encountered more people from the mainstream religions using the Bible (or the Tanakh, or the Koran) to validate their own little prejudices, than ever I have encountered from among the neopagans.
-- Nanaea
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Few words about Greek pagans.
There are generally 3 broad pagan-types in contemporary Greece.
1. One group includes those who dont rally want to break off from Christian Orthodoxy. Instead they try to convince themselves and everyone else that the Orthodox Christianity has basically adopted most of its rituals and liturgy from pre-christianity. They argue, for example, that Easteris, for most Greeks, far more important a religious ceremony than, say, Christmas. As a matter of fact, Easter Mass owes a lot of its "direction" to ancient theater. Moreover they argue that various saints have assumed in folklore the role of ancinet Gods. For example, St Nicholas is protector of the sea, a la Poseidon.
2. A second group which is gaining in popularity has severed all links with Judeo-Christianity, and is trying to reenact ancient religious ceremonies in places like Mt Olympus. These folks take the Gods of Olympus literally. Tryphon Olympios, a Greek-Swedish university professor, has been quite active in this attempt. As is to be expected, there are already splinter religious groups. Wanna-be religious leaders are bickering about how religious mysteries and ceremonies should be properly executed, etc etc.
3. The third group also rejects monotheistic religions, as monotheism breeds totalitarianism. This view holds that in classical Greece religion was not "organized", there was nothing equivalent to the "Bible" or the "Koran" and Gods were mostly allegorical. Polytheism to them is essentially a matter of keeping an open mind in questions of ethics and philosophy. To this extent Athens was full of statues "to the unknown God". They hold that any attempt to today codify a "Greek pagan ritual" and to claim that it is "orthodox" would actually end up mimicking "non-pagan" religions.
There are generally 3 broad pagan-types in contemporary Greece.
1. One group includes those who dont rally want to break off from Christian Orthodoxy. Instead they try to convince themselves and everyone else that the Orthodox Christianity has basically adopted most of its rituals and liturgy from pre-christianity. They argue, for example, that Easteris, for most Greeks, far more important a religious ceremony than, say, Christmas. As a matter of fact, Easter Mass owes a lot of its "direction" to ancient theater. Moreover they argue that various saints have assumed in folklore the role of ancinet Gods. For example, St Nicholas is protector of the sea, a la Poseidon.
2. A second group which is gaining in popularity has severed all links with Judeo-Christianity, and is trying to reenact ancient religious ceremonies in places like Mt Olympus. These folks take the Gods of Olympus literally. Tryphon Olympios, a Greek-Swedish university professor, has been quite active in this attempt. As is to be expected, there are already splinter religious groups. Wanna-be religious leaders are bickering about how religious mysteries and ceremonies should be properly executed, etc etc.
3. The third group also rejects monotheistic religions, as monotheism breeds totalitarianism. This view holds that in classical Greece religion was not "organized", there was nothing equivalent to the "Bible" or the "Koran" and Gods were mostly allegorical. Polytheism to them is essentially a matter of keeping an open mind in questions of ethics and philosophy. To this extent Athens was full of statues "to the unknown God". They hold that any attempt to today codify a "Greek pagan ritual" and to claim that it is "orthodox" would actually end up mimicking "non-pagan" religions.
1
Congratulations for your presentation. However, I would say that I not a pagan, meaning vulgar peasant. I would like to know who you are and where you are.
with regards
Tryphon Olympios
with regards
Tryphon Olympios
1