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Valiant Dancer
Forum Goalie
USA
4826 Posts |
 Posted - 03/06/2016 : 11:18:32
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OK, folks. As quite a few of you know, I am neopagan.
Here's a new twist on an old theme.
People who are pagan and atheist at the same time.
I engaged one of these guys on Facebook recently and wanted to get your take on it.
My take was that the words atheist and pagan were mutually exclusive under the current usages of both terms. That claiming to be pagan and atheist was logically inconsistent.
Their assertion was that they believe in an energy (electromagnetic, etc) that they have a spiritual connection with and they use paganism to express it. They disbelieve any idea of a deity. They claim that animism and ancestor worship shares the same ideas.
It seems like this is a fringe group that has decided to confuse itself with paganism. I believe that atheist spirituality exists. I believe that linking it with paganism muddles the intent.
I did have to point out to the person I had engaged that animism and ancestor worship did imply the existence of a deity.
The only response that I got that wasn't misstating my presumptions and not repeating their original premise was that we would just have to agree to disagree. Something that I considered as the equivalent to "I can't make a rational argument for this so I choose to disengage rather than actually supporting my argument".
They call it atheopaganism. I consider it the marrying of two mutually exclusive concepts as paganism implies the existence of deity(ies) and atheism implies no deities.
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Cthulhu/Asmodeus when you're tired of voting for the lesser of two evils
Brother Cutlass of Reasoned Discussion |
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ThorGoLucky
Snuggle Wolf
USA
1486 Posts |
Posted - 03/07/2016 : 12:09:14 [Permalink]
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Animism (souls in objects) and ancestor worship require no deity, unless the souls are considered as deities.
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Dave W.
Info Junkie
USA
26020 Posts |
Posted - 03/08/2016 : 21:10:02 [Permalink]
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The classical definition of "pagan" was "not Christian, Muslim or Jewish." At least, that's what I read in the OED circa 30 years ago.
By that definition, all atheists are necessarily pagans. |
- Dave W. (Private Msg, EMail)
Evidently, I rock!
Why not question something for a change?
Visit Dave's Psoriasis Info, too. |
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Dr. Mabuse
Septic Fiend
Sweden
9687 Posts |
 Posted - 03/13/2016 : 08:28:02 [Permalink]
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ThorGoLucky:
Animism (souls in objects) and ancestor worship require no deity, unless the souls are considered as deities. |
That's how I thought, too.
Dave W.:
By that definition, all atheists are necessarily pagans. |
That's pretty much also how I understood the (Christian) main-stream definition of pagan:
People Against Goodness And Normalcy.... P. A. G. A. N.
(Don't mind the blatant 80s movie reference   )
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Dr. Mabuse - "When the going gets tough, the tough get Duct-tape..."
Dr. Mabuse whisper.mp3
"Equivocation is not just a job, for a creationist it's a way of life..." Dr. Mabuse
Support American Troops in Iraq:
Send them unarmed civilians for target practice..
Collateralmurder. |
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Dave W.
Info Junkie
USA
26020 Posts |
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Dr. Mabuse
Septic Fiend
Sweden
9687 Posts |
Posted - 03/19/2016 : 07:03:31 [Permalink]
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Exactly.
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Dr. Mabuse - "When the going gets tough, the tough get Duct-tape..."
Dr. Mabuse whisper.mp3
"Equivocation is not just a job, for a creationist it's a way of life..." Dr. Mabuse
Support American Troops in Iraq:
Send them unarmed civilians for target practice..
Collateralmurder. |
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ThorGoLucky
Snuggle Wolf
USA
1486 Posts |
Posted - 03/20/2016 : 00:46:23 [Permalink]
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Damn, I keep misplacing my goat leggings!
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Atheopaganism
