Religion The Return of the European Religions

[American Idiot]

And return to paganism doesnt mean primtivity, but in contrary it is prosperity, because we can compare the pagan Greece where science was developed and christian Europe where Human Sacrifice in the form of witch-hunting was very spread across the continent.

if I am not mistaken, human sacrifice was generally a huge part in the belief system of pre-christian europe also. You do know what a bog body is, don't you?

 

[Aberdeen]

if I am not mistaken, human sacrifice was generally a huge part in the belief system of pre-christian europe also. You do know what a bog body is, don't you?

We are not our ancestors, and most of us would not want to be. But some of us have an instinctive drive to experience altered states of reality, and to create a mystical connection with natural energies in the world around us, so we try to understand what might have motivated our Pagan ancestors, without necessarily doing what they did. I think that motivation is different from the motivation of people who want there to be a god that will protect them from poverty, violence and death. Such people want to hear that when they die it won't really be death because they can go live in a paradise full of perpetual flowers, sunshine and rainbows. So I think there are two main motivations for religious belief. IMO, the desire to experience the mysteries of the intangible in the world around us can be a good thing, provided one isn't too gullible. IMO, it's the desire to be "saved" from the difficult things in life that turn some religious people into the kind of sheeple who can be exploited by sociopaths in clergy collars.

 

[American Idiot]

We are not our ancestors, and most of us would not want to be. But some of us have an instinctive drive to experience altered states of reality, and to create a mystical connection with natural energies in the world around us, so we try to understand what might have motivated our Pagan ancestors, without necessarily doing what they did. I think that motivation is different from the motivation of people who want there to be a god that will protect them from poverty, violence and death. Such people want to hear that when they die it won't really be death because they can go live in a paradise full of perpetual flowers, sunshine and rainbows. So I think there are two main motivations for religious belief. IMO, the desire to experience the mysteries of the intangible in the world around us can be a good thing, provided one isn't too gullible. IMO, it's the desire to be "saved" from the difficult things in life that turn some religious people into the kind of sheeple who can be exploited by sociopaths in clergy collars.

well said. thanks