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Author: Steve HayesSteve Hayes Date: Jun 8, 2008 21:35
On Sat, 7 Jun 2008 03:00:44 -0700 (PDT), "Peter H.M. Brooks"
gmail.com> wrote:
>Have you read Keith Thomas' 'Religion and the Decline of Magic'? If
>not, I'd recommend it. It isn't in your bibliography and it does
>provide many valuable insights into magic in christianity.
Thanks for that, though I'm not sure how well it relates to the topic.
>It's unfair to claim, not that you do, but you quote somebody who
>does, that pagans were in debt to christians for their name! They,
>like us atheists, were perfectly happy to be called nothing, they,
>like us, didn't define themselves by their lack of belief in nonsense.
>Do you like being called a kafir or infidel?
That was a point I made, that words that say what people are *not* doesn't
tell you much about what they *are*.
And also that in more recent times diffent groups have use "pagan" as a self
description.
>You can still, by the way, find admirers of Bacchus (in my case I'm
>more a fan of Silenus), and many worship at his shrine without even
>being aware that it is his. The christian use of wine in their
>ceremonies might well have some bacchanalian influence.
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Author: Day BrownDay Brown Date: Jun 11, 2008 11:41
Steve Hayes wrote:
>> Part of the problem, that you don't touch on, is that believing in the
>> supernatural, ghoulies, ghosties and goddies, which is required for
>> christianity, predisposes on to be sympathetic with other believers in
>> the supernatural. Atheism has the distinct advantage of seeing all
>> superstition alike, for what it is.
>
> I touch on that in another article, where I touched on the point that in the
> 1970s there wasn't the same hostility between Christians and neopagans that
> one found in the 1990s.
Atheism has the distinct disadvantage of failing to see its own group
think which has produced, among others, Lenin, Stalin, Mao, Kim LSung, &
Pol Pot. Sheeple will believe in something, and if you do not provide a
divine, they'll make do with a personality cult.
Gibbon noted that the pagan could enter any shine of any cult and feel
the presence of the divine without worry over whether he had the name of
god right. Before Augustus, the empire was secular; the administrators
were mostly the frat boys who'd been educated at Athens, and practiced
to be more rational rather than more faithful.
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Author: Steve HayesSteve Hayes Date: Jun 11, 2008 22:10
On Wed, 11 Jun 2008 13:41:57 -0500, Day Brown daybrown.org> wrote:
>Steve Hayes wrote:
>>> Part of the problem, that you don't touch on, is that believing in the
>>> supernatural, ghoulies, ghosties and goddies, which is required for
>>> christianity, predisposes on to be sympathetic with other believers in
>>> the supernatural. Atheism has the distinct advantage of seeing all
>>> superstition alike, for what it is.
>>
>> I touch on that in another article, where I touched on the point that in the
>> 1970s there wasn't the same hostility between Christians and neopagans that
>> one found in the 1990s.
>Atheism has the distinct disadvantage of failing to see its own group
>think which has produced, among others, Lenin, Stalin, Mao, Kim LSung, &
>Pol Pot. Sheeple will believe in something, and if you do not provide a
>divine, they'll make do with a personality cult.
At one time "set theory" was taught at schools as part of the "new maths".
Maybe it is now old and no longer taught.
Atheists do not necessarily have anything in common, apart from being
non-members of the set of those believing in a god or gods.
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Author: Peter H.M. BrooksPeter H.M. Brooks Date: Jun 11, 2008 22:35
On Jun 12, 7:10Â am, Steve Hayes hotmail.com> wrote:>
>
> At one time "set theory" was taught at schools as part of the "new maths".
> Maybe it is now old and no longer taught.
>
You don't need the inverted commas - set theory is an important part
of mathematics.
The problem isn't that it is old, mathematics doesn't age, but that it
is difficult to get anybody who actually understands mathematics to
take such a poorly paid job as that of a teacher. It's a crying...
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Author: Day BrownDay Brown Date: Jun 14, 2008 13:02
Atheists are that set of posters who defend the idea and attack
the followers of Levantine gods. They dont attack the concepts
of Taoism, Confucianism, or Buddhism, and dont attack the ideas
in the Vedas about a projected reality.
There needs to be word for those Avatars that do not believe
in a diving presence, and dont care whether anyone else does or
not.
"Pagan" is being redefined by non-Christians who are trying to
recover their Native European spiritual traditions the same as
Native Americans have done. Most of them are fluff bunnies, but
at least less harmful than Christians driven by demagoguery.
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Author: Tom McDonaldTom McDonald Date: Jun 15, 2008 19:26
Day Brown wrote:
> Atheists are that set of posters who defend the idea and attack
> the followers of Levantine gods. They dont attack the concepts
> of Taoism, Confucianism, or Buddhism, and dont attack the ideas
> in the Vedas about a projected reality.
>
> There needs to be word for those Avatars that do not believe
> in a diving presence, and dont care whether anyone else does or
> not.
The word you are grasping for is 'atheist'.
The words you are grasping for in your first paragraph are
'militant atheists'.
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Author: Peter H.M. BrooksPeter H.M. Brooks Date: Jun 15, 2008 23:24
On Jun 16, 4:26Â am, Tom McDonald charter.net> wrote:> Day Brown wrote:
>> Atheists are that set of posters who defend the idea and attack
>> the followers of Levantine gods. They dont attack the concepts
>> of Taoism, Confucianism, or Buddhism, and dont attack the ideas
>> in the Vedas about a projected reality.
>
>> There needs to be word for those Avatars that do not believe
>> in a diving presence, and dont care whether anyone else does or
>> not.
>
> The word you are grasping for is 'atheist'.
>
> The words you are grasping for in your first paragraph are
> 'militant atheists'.
>
I think that militant atheists are also against eastern religions and
other religions like marxism or, now, probably, environmentalism,
insofar as it is becoming a new religion.
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Author: Peter H.M. BrooksPeter H.M. Brooks Date: Jun 15, 2008 23:25
On Jun 16, 4:26Â am, Tom McDonald charter.net> wrote:>
>
>> There needs to be word for those Avatars that do not believe
>> in a diving presence, and dont care whether anyone else does or
>> not.
>
> The word you are grasping for is 'atheist'.
>
Most atheists are not only happy with a diving presence, but, if it
has a good figure, rather like it.
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Author: Tom McDonaldTom McDonald Date: Jun 16, 2008 08:13
Peter H.M. Brooks wrote:
> On Jun 16, 4:26 am, Tom McDonald charter.net> wrote:>> Day Brown wrote:
>>> Atheists are that set of posters who defend the idea and attack
>>> the followers of Levantine gods. They dont attack the concepts
>>> of Taoism, Confucianism, or Buddhism, and dont attack the ideas
>>> in the Vedas about a projected reality.
>>> There needs to be word for those Avatars that do not believe
>>> in a diving presence, and dont care whether anyone else does or
>>> not.
>> The word you are grasping for is 'atheist'.
>>
>> The words you are grasping for in your first paragraph are
>> 'militant atheists'.
>>
> I think that militant atheists are also against eastern religions and
> other religions like marxism or, now, probably, environmentalism,
> insofar as it is...
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Author: Tom McDonaldTom McDonald Date: Jun 16, 2008 08:16
Peter H.M. Brooks wrote:
> On Jun 16, 4:26 am, Tom McDonald charter.net> wrote:>>
>>> There needs to be word for those Avatars that do not believe
>>> in a diving presence, and dont care whether anyone else does or
>>> not.
>> The word you are grasping for is 'atheist'.
>>
> Most atheists are not only happy with a diving presence, but, if it
> has a good figure, rather like it.
Mmmm. Mark Spitz!
:-)
I'm so used to Day's posts, and his spelling peculiarities, that
I read what he intended, rather than what he actually typed. This
is just a tiny bit spooky.
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