The Outlaws on Ganymede:
"They had their religion - which had been corrupted into sheer paganism - their taboos, a few songs and stories, their dimming traditions. Otherwise there was nothing." (p. 201)
Corrupted? Sheer? Human sacrifice is indeed bad. However, some Biblical monotheisms have burned heretics.
Paganism has popular and philosophical levels. Neopagans include scholars of pre-Christian and Hermetic traditions. A few years ago, I attended a moot in a garden behind the Morecambe Hotel (Tyson Fury's local). A drunk came out and berated "Pagans!," then asked whether Paganism meant that we all had to dance naked around Maypoles! It doesn't mean that we all have to anything. It is enemies of Paganism that have insisted that we all have to do one thing.
(My spiritual practice is Zen, not Pagan.)
7 comments:
Kaor, Paul!
To me, "paganism" merely means those systems of beliefs claiming a multiplicity of gods exist. And by that I mean "hard," not "soft" pagans. And some pagan religions or cults did practice or tolerate human sacrifices, such as the Canaanite paganism which confronted the ancient Jews in OT times. I mean the sacrifice of newborn infants to Moloch. And Scandinavian paganism also practiced human sacrifice.
The most ghastly such paganism has to be the horrible religion of the Aztecs, whose demon gods demanded the frequent offering of torn out human hearts. Followed by the worshipers eating the bodies of the victims.
Ad astra! Sean
It's debatable whether neo-pagans are pagans in the same sense as the pre-monotheistic religions they're 'mining'. As the saying goes, you cannon un-know or dis-invent.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
In addition, I find it very hard to take "neo-pagans" very seriously. It looks more like play acting to me, like teenagers trying to annoy or shock their elders.
To me, the only real pagans we still have nowadays are the Hindus of India.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean,
I know a guy who is serious about Wicca and have mentioned him on the blog. But the local pagans are a wild, weird and wonderful bunch.
Paul.
Kaor, Paul!
Iow, at most, just a few dead serious neo-pagans.
Ad astra! Sean
Sean: no, there's a fair number -- I've met 'em.
Kaor, Mr. Stirling!
Understood, more than a mere few SERIOUS neo-pagans. Albeit, both intellectually and theologically, I can't agree with them.
Ad astra! Sean
Post a Comment