Maggie

Can we bring the Greek Gods back, please?

You know, from a certain point of view this actually makes sense. I think it could be a religious movement that I could get behind. We might have a hard time rounding up some temple virgins though.

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Kamilah Hauptmann

Try a Star Trek convention.

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Juliet Starling

Juliet Starling

Richie Waves

We already horde mountains of gold away in buildings like they did for the gods in rome!

Johnnie Carling

Hail Priapus!

I decided not to embed the picture

Priapus

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Surreal

Not to be picky, but the Greek Gods are still worshiped by a fair number of folks. And, if you go by the classic myths, Robert Graves is a good source, the Greek Gods' scorecard isn't any better on abhorant acts than those detailed in the Bible.

If you go back to pre-Attican God stories, it gets better, but then most folks wouldn't recognize the pantheon since the hierarchy and character of gods/goddesses shifted as one group conquered and assimilated another.

But anyway... Hail Eris!

Maggie

Whatever....

Jahar Aabye

Hint: just take a look at some of the older Catholic saints....

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Kara Spengler

When I feel like doing Wicca stuff this is my (somewhat eclectic) pantheon:

Ilmarinen
Brigit
Odin
Cybele

For a guardian deity:
Pallas Athene

So yeah, some Greek stuff. Some well-known and lesser-known deities from other cultures too. As I said, eclectic

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Jahar Aabye

Actually, this thread reminds me of a series of novels I'd read a few months ago by P.C. Hodgell, starting with The God Stalker Chronicles that could basically be described as "a monotheist wanders through a pagan world". It's a really fascinating exploration of the differences and conflicts between and within a small group of ethnic monotheists and the animist pagans in the world where they have come to reside.

The God Stalker Chronicles by P. C. Hodgell - WebScription Ebook

Artemis Fate

Wow, I Guess that explains the root word for priapism.

Rock Chick

I take great exception to the insinuation that Trekkies are virgins, GREAT OFFENSE!
I am not a virgin people, I'm a Trekkie, a geek, somewhat nuts, somewhat kinky, but I am not a virgin.

*slams door*

Roxie Marten

Is it just me or does the idea of 72 virgins sound like hell?

72 people who don't know where it goes or what they want bleah

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Brenda Archer

If anyone is serious:

Hellenic Polytheistic Reconstructionism - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Hellenismos.us - Traditional Hellenic Religion - Hellenic Polytheist Forum

I try to keep up with the not unrelated The Julian Society although the focus of that list is mostly Roman, the Emperor Julian was a Neoplatonist and culturally Greek.

Free Xue

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KT Kingsley

"72 virgins? Two slags from Glasgow!" (Frankie Boyle)

Brenda Archer

And while I'm posting Serious Links I also wanted to add:

Yahoo! Groups. You will need to log into the group to see it and it links to Could Julian the Apostate have defeated Christianity? - History Books ReviewHistory Books Review which is not behind a login.

Ariane

It is not well publicized, but a lot of Christianity comes from Paganism.

Saturn (Apollo) worshippers were doing Christmas before Christ. Baccus (Dionysis) worshippers were doing holy communion before Christ. An early crucifix symbol represented Jupiter (Zeus), and Easter is a hodge podge of pagan myth and ceremony.

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Chalice Yao

Hahah, yeah, I've brought that up so often in RL conversation.
72 virgins? -Why-?
Give me two guys and two gals that have done it all. Lots of times. Then let them out of their cages with me as their meal.

...

...brb, bathroom.

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Chandra Masala

Although it's usually mentioned in jest, I've never gotten this fixation people seem to have over "72 virgins." It's something that I've never heard discussed as a matter of religious authenticity except by non Muslims or 1 or 2 insane cultists. And even those I've known who hold the most offensive, twisted ideas about what the religion entails have scoffed at it as something said to try to malign the religion and it's followers.

In any case, if Islam stressed anything at all, it would be chastity, not virginity. And chastity is highly valued.

Kara Spengler

Yes, which explains how we get some puzzles. Like who watches flocks of sheep in December?

Early Christians had a habit of partially taking over the religious practices of whatever area they went into. In that way something people were already doing was suddenly praising their deity too and they could muddle things.

To be fair, that was similar to how things worked when most religious systems got started. You can trace a lot of deities through different countries. It does seem like the early Christians were more egregious about it though.

Chandra Masala

Example: ^^



Painted eggs for Norooz.

Eris

Dumping everything Jewish about it when the Jews would have nothing to do with Christianity. What is there about Christianity that is not pagan?

Beebo Brink

From the comments:

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