Dead Religions

Aegon Spengler

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Hello there Mayberry! Hope all you bastards are having a good day.

I've been reading some Neil Gaiman and thinking about dead religions lately. The ones that have been stamped out by Christianity, Islam or Buddhism, (or the other major religions) - or the ones that have been absorbed into Christianity etc. Many religious practices no longer have their gods but we still celebrate "pagan" festivals in some manner or another.

As an example, I would consider the ancient Greek pantheon a "dead religion". Nobody seriously prays to Zeus anymore.

Any interest in this subject? Anyone have any insight or comments or articles they would like to link us too?

Here are some articles on the subject via a quick Google search:

http://listverse.com/2013/10/04/10-forgotten-ancient-religions/

http://www.ancient.eu/religion/

Also, i'll kindly ask we keep the discussion to dead religions as much as possible, okay, Ripskater?
 
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Pretty interesting stuff. Makes me wonder how different our view of history would be if the Library of Alexandria hadn't been burned and looted many times.
 
Hello there Mayberry! Hope all you bastards are having a good day.

I've been reading some Neil Gaiman and thinking about dead religions lately. The ones that have been stamped out by Christianity, Islam or Buddhism, (or the other major religions) - or the ones that have been absorbed into Christianity etc. Many religious practices no longer have their gods but we still celebrate "pagan" festivals in some manner or another in North America/Europe.

Any interest in this subject? Anyone have any insight or comments or articles they would like to link us too?

Here are some articles on the subject via a quick Google search:

http://listverse.com/2013/10/04/10-forgotten-ancient-religions/

http://www.ancient.eu/religion/

Also, i'll kindly ask we keep the discussion to dead religions as much as possible, okay, Ripskater?


lol
 
I liked his portrayal of different gods adapting to the environment in American Gods.

Major religions absorbed pagan rituals and made them their own, so I wouldn't consider practices like Valentine's Day as pagan.

And other festivities have become so monetized and general culture that I think have lost any semblance of ritualistic importance for the ones celebrating it, like Halloween.

I'd worship Sol Invictus.
 
The Finns once believed the world was created from a duck egg.
 
I hated Americsn God's. Had to read that back in college.
 
Would Norse fall under this category?
 
I always thought Mithras was pretty badass, but my favourites are the ancient Greek gods.
 
Zoroastrianism

Zoroastrianism is particularly interesting because of its similarities to Christianity. Considering they both originate from the same region of the world, you have to wonder how much influence there was there.
 
Do people still partake in Jediism? I've heard there is still a presence in Australia, though, they may just be bogans.
 
Do people still partake in Jediism? I've heard there is still a presence in Australia, though, they may just be bogans.

I remember that back in the late 90s there was a (serious) group that very briefly concocted a religion based on The Phantom of the Opera. That was peculiar.
 
Asatru is interesting. Neo-paganism for the Germanic deities.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ásatrú_in_the_United_States

Yeah, I would say the old norse gods are making a come back. It is very interesting comparing the nine noble virtues vs 7 virtues.

At one time I was really researching it. I was like, "this is the religion of my people before kings started doling out religion." But ultimately while some things are cool such as valhalla and ragnarok and Wyrd and the norns---it became obvious that these were man made and things like Odin and bros ripping apart a cow and shit to make a universe was just nonsense and there was no reason to believe that any of the stories were divine or inspired by divinity.
I read a book on asatru and the guy was very anti-christian in it, but when you read it a lot of how he was telling you to behave was very similar to christian thought.

9 noble virtues of asatru

Courage
Truth
Honour
Fidelity
Discipline
Hospitality
Self Reliance
Industriousness
Perseverance

7 virtues of christianity

Faith is belief in the right things (including the virtues!).
Hope is taking a positive future view, that good will prevail.
Charity is concern for, and active helping of, others.
Fortitude is never giving up.
Justice is being fair and equitable with others.
Prudence is care of and moderation with money.
Temperance is moderation of needed things and abstinence from things which are not needed.
 
It's funny to think that, for example, the Roman gods were believed in and worshipped by the world's most powerful empire, and were no doubted existed "beyond doubt" to the majority of people living in that time and place. And yet now they are nothing more than ancient history and a source of interest and amusement....to a load of people to whom the current crop of religions are real "beyond doubt".

BTW - I love Neil Gaiman's works and thought American Gods was an amazing bit of work.
 
Zoroastrianism is particularly interesting because of its similarities to Christianity. Considering they both originate from the same region of the world, you have to wonder how much influence there was there.

Not dead.

It can't be dead. That fool is speaking all the time:

200px-Also_sprach_Zarathustra.GIF
 
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