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I know that. I wrote a 30 page essay on a practical course of action to reconstruct European polytheism(s), that ultimately was rejected from a Journal of Heathen Theology (it was rejected because my essay mostly dealt with Hellenistic i.e. Greek, Roman, and Egyptian religion whereas the Journal was focused on Germanic religion), but my practical solutions may be adopted for any European polytheistic system. Basically, it advocated identifying the pre-Christian substratum of European folklore, festivals, and customs, washing off the superficial Christian veneer and invoking the gods. It also advocated incorporating "pagan" reconstructionist groups as corporate entities and opening gift shops and bookstores. The Catholic Church itself is incorporated as a corporate entity and it brings in millions of dollars from gift-shops and bookstores. One problem is that "neo-paganism" is currently too bound up with the values of the 1960s Hippie movement i.e. disorganization and the exaltation of poverty. All a modern reconstructionist movement would require is dedicated, well-read individuals, people with business acumen and some structure.
It is possible to identify the pre-Christian elements in Snorri Sturluson's Eddas as well as the pre-Christian elements of das Nibelungenlied, among other works of literature.
I am loosely involved with a Roman Reconstructionist organization which was originally called Gentilitas: Spiritualita Italica (unfortunately, they keep changing their name), and keep abreast of developments in YSEE: 'Ypato Symboulion Ellenon Ethnikon (The High Council of Gentile Hellenes), and TEMPLVM.org. I donated $ to the construction of TEMPLVM's temple of Jupiter Perunus in the Ukraine, and my name is chiseled into its walls. An esteemed member of the Gentilitas group has collected a good amount of Roman themed jewelry, altars (lararia) and statuary. The Movimento Tradizionale Romano (MTR) has legally incorporated as a corporation and has its own radio station and journal.
Only butthurted clowns minuses my posts. -- Лиссиы
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Very interesting work!.
The main doubt that I hold about paganism is the lack of a royal, or at least noble lineages to perform the rituals.
In europe, rather than a priestly cast, the most common thing to do was that the tribal chief perform the principal rituals.
How can you recreate an ancient european religion with out, gens, fratrias and curias?
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Because the church abandoned proselytism and people want to rediscover spirituality through an inracinated traditions in opposition to what consumerist society proposes them.
Two problems emerge though.
Primo: using the paganism to describe these cults or movements is etymologically false, heathen or neo-pagan are more appropriat.
Secundo: the adhesion to these movements is based on a traditionalist and preservation advocacy, which is quite contradictory because christianity is the closest bound to European traditional belief system, why trying to build a bridge to ancient dead religions while a millennia and a half of christianity is behind your back? but if the church continue its dissolution the heathen movement will clearly have his boom, for now it's just stammering.
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Because becoming Christian means more than subscribing to Platonism. It means also accepting, even if merely nominally, a lot of Judaic trappings i.e. the God of the Old Testament, Hell, restrictive "morality", etc. I conceive of Catholicism as Mediterranean customs with their roots in pre-Christian antiquity, but the problem for me and many others is the Judaic veneer superimposed on these Greco-Roman and Levantine traditions. I once described it as Greco-Roman, Hellenistic cake with Judaic shit-frosting placed on top. It is this top layer which spoils the entire cake. Note that my repulsion toward the Judaic elements are not rooted in ethnic prejudice i.e. 'anti-Semitism' rather it is an objection to the exclusivist, monotheistic, Judaic worldview.
Only butthurted clowns minuses my posts. -- Лиссиы
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We have the same opinion then, but irreligiosity is a far too big of a jump for most people, they can not conceive life without a form of dictating unattainable force, without an omniscient eye guiding their journey, most people are weak, they need a religion, my congeniality to Christianism, at least the Gallicanism Christianity, is due to its acceptation of human nature for independence, preservation of roots, and opposition to Judaic elements.
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Now, I am absolutely not a postmodernist, nor do I have even a rudimentary understanding of Michel Foucault, but my feelings on traditional Christianity (i.e. Catholicism and Orthodoxy) are, I suspect, in line with his idea of "hegemony." Think about how the Catholic Church is propped up by the tacit support of lukewarm Catholics. These lukewarm Catholics, in the interest of upholding tradition and being a part of a community, implicitly acquiesce to the dogmas of the Church whether or not they actually believe them. There are 1.5 billion Catholics worldwide. Can we really say that each and every one of them, Hell, even most of them, truly believe in the dogmas of the Church e.g. that the Pope is infallible when he speaks Ex Cathedra, that the Blessed Virgin maintained sinlessness and perpetual virginity (or even that she was a virgin), that the host is in fact really the body and blood of Christ, that homosexuals are in error and in danger of damnation, etc. to say nothing of pro-choice Catholics. These moderate and liberal Catholics could use their influence to reform the Church or to create something different entirely, but instead, it is their tacit acceptance of the Church's dogmas which allows the Church to perpetuate its backward aspects, perpetuating superstition and ignorance, limiting access to birth control and family planning in poverty-ridden countries like the Philippines and in Latin America, even relatively wealthy countries like Ireland!
Platonism and its belief in the One, a transcendental principle with its emanations theology (one might say 'gods', a theology in line with the Hellenistic monism of late antiquity), the Beautiful and the Good (kalos kai agathos) and the Realm of Forms, is enlightening at best and harmless albeit irrational at worst. It is the other trappings which a subscription to traditional Christianity requires, that are the problem.
But as you say, people are reluctant to give up tradition and community. It is this fear and complacence which props up traditional Christianity and its trappings as a whole. Catholicism is a ready-made package, warts and all, whether we speak of the Hellenistic cake or the Judaic shit-frosting. People do not want to do the work of coming up with an alternative.
Only butthurted clowns minuses my posts. -- Лиссиы
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A good thing you pointed on the "liberal christians" contradiction, but this problematic has more to do with class conflict and allegiance of this population to the predatory bourgeoisie that overthrown the "truly religious" aristocracy, would a high class risks to loose its religious prestige for a quest of integrity? that's too dreamy.
As for the lack of unreformability of the dogma and the detachment of popular masses from the christian institution, we must contextualize this case, it could also be imputed to the modern social organisation constructed over the ruins of ancient tripartite authority, the churches are empty because supermarket are full, I won't continue the example because it's a bit edgy, something is sure, eviscerating Christianity was of a good help to many even more dictatory and authoritarian parties which are more preoccupying, I won't defend the God's lamb either, by meritocracy, Vatican earned what it deserves, a slow and painful auto-destruction.
If the base of christian community doesn't retake their destiny in hand from the church of coalescence, a coalescence with the same powers trying to sink it and its passengers (the devoted and even the cultural Christians), a religious shift then must be operated to either heathenry or irreligiosity.
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Maybe in the mainstream view, but not really. Christians are still divided into a million sects.
However, honestly, considering the heresy of modern Christianity, I'd accept Paganism rather than Catholicism or mainstream Protestantism.
Problem is - you people LARP a lot. Just come out and say you're edgy atheists.
undecisive man
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