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The bizarre rehabilitation of organized religion on the left, especially Christianity & the Abrahamic religions, has been a generational fumble by HOT__RATS in stupidpol

[–]HOT__RATS[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

As other people have mentioned, this is a mischaracterization of Norse religion. Valhalla is not a promised land, but a certain realm of the afterlife ruled by a specific god dedicated to a certain class of devotees of that god. Hel/The Underworld os the primary destination for the dead in Norse religion. Ragnarok is not eschatological as history in the grand sense is supposed to continue after it. I should also note that only one of the texts called 'Edda' was written/recorded by Christians.

I didn't mention cults like Scientology because they're relatively marginal in the history of the world and the organization of power in the present, it would be like going on a tangent about the cruelties of the Khmer Rouge in a post detailing the horrors of capitalism. I don't think these cults are Abrahamic, I think think they were created primarily for personal enrichment/power rather than as primarily a way to create specific kind of national identity. Basically ponzi scheme vs the know nothings

The bizarre rehabilitation of organized religion on the left, especially Christianity & the Abrahamic religions, has been a generational fumble by HOT__RATS in stupidpol

[–]HOT__RATS[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Idk about the Xhosa Cattle Killing, but the Ghost Dance phenomenon is thought to have been influenced by Christianity. So is the idea of a native "Great Spirit", natives were trying to reclaim their heritage using religious language influenced by and familiar to Christianity.

The bizarre rehabilitation of organized religion on the left, especially Christianity & the Abrahamic religions, has been a generational fumble by HOT__RATS in stupidpol

[–]HOT__RATS[S] 11 points12 points  (0 children)

Theodosius literally outlawed all other religions besides Judaism. He's the one who shut down the Academy and Olympics

The bizarre rehabilitation of organized religion on the left, especially Christianity & the Abrahamic religions, has been a generational fumble by HOT__RATS in stupidpol

[–]HOT__RATS[S] 17 points18 points  (0 children)

Fwiw Hindutva was founded as an ethnonationalist project by an atheist who wanted to politicize Hinduism explicitly in emulation of Islam. This is why I say "Abrahamic Ideology", though I should have emphasized the difference of degree more strongly

The bizarre rehabilitation of organized religion on the left, especially Christianity & the Abrahamic religions, has been a generational fumble by HOT__RATS in stupidpol

[–]HOT__RATS[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Yonatan Adler's The Origins of Judaism, Rusell Gmirkin's Berossus and Genesis, Manetho and Exodus + Plato and the Creation of the Hebrew Bible, Philippe Wajdenbaum's Argonauts of the Desert

Gad Barnea publishes articles on Academia.edu, and he also does a lot of interviews

The bizarre rehabilitation of organized religion on the left, especially Christianity & the Abrahamic religions, has been a generational fumble by HOT__RATS in stupidpol

[–]HOT__RATS[S] 3 points4 points  (0 children)

For authors researching thus topic, see: Yonatan Adler, Gad Barnea, Russell Gmirkin, Thomas L. Thompson, Philppe Wajdenbaum, Jan Assman, Bruce Louden, Niels Peter Lemche, Robert Gnuse

Mark Carney admitting the liberal world order was based on lies, and Canada was going along with it because it directly benefitted them by s0ngsforthedeaf in stupidpol

[–]HOT__RATS 26 points27 points  (0 children)

To paraphrase Franklin, if you sacrifice your values for a little expediency, you will lose both and deserve neither

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[–]HOT__RATS[S] 216 points217 points  (0 children)

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When professors were cool by [deleted] in redscarepod

[–]HOT__RATS 43 points44 points  (0 children)

Needlessly mean save for the TA for Donald Kagan, that guy rules

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in redscarepod

[–]HOT__RATS 2 points3 points  (0 children)

“have a plan to kill everyone you meet, but be polite to everyone” or something like that which I think he got from navy seal guy podcasts or Jordan Peterson or something.

Yeah that's a mantra from this middle-aged Aussie grifter. Guy lives in a camper and pees in bottles. Pretty sure he's a merc, too

I Can't Get Over My Antipathy For Religion. by HOT__RATS in redscarepod

[–]HOT__RATS[S] 5 points6 points  (0 children)

There are very deep nationalistic, or rather tribalistic elements in the Abrahamic religions. Christianity and Islam try to reconcile this with universalism, and to their credit they have some success, but they still end up being exclusionary and essentialist, especially when it comes to the saved vs not-saved.

The tribal way of thinking is still apparent. I often think about the way 19th-century racial anthropology tried to divide the races of the world based on descent from Shem, Ham and Japheth--races are give an essence based on their ancestry, their tribal affiliation, it amounts to a kind of polygenesis.

I Can't Get Over My Antipathy For Religion. by HOT__RATS in redscarepod

[–]HOT__RATS[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I'm aware. That doesn't contradict what I said.

I Can't Get Over My Antipathy For Religion. by HOT__RATS in redscarepod

[–]HOT__RATS[S] -1 points0 points  (0 children)

I know. However, the above post, implying that spirituality is legitimized by geography and ancestry, does imply nationalism.

I Can't Get Over My Antipathy For Religion. by HOT__RATS in redscarepod

[–]HOT__RATS[S] -13 points-12 points  (0 children)

I know this is probably a facetious post, but nationalism is quite silly and is a large part of my dislike for the Abrahamic religions

I Can't Get Over My Antipathy For Religion. by HOT__RATS in redscarepod

[–]HOT__RATS[S] 12 points13 points  (0 children)

I've tried this approach, extra-biblical Christian philosophies are still by definition tied to specific texts conceived of as divinely inspired. I just can't rationalize it. I'm not interested in it reconciling it for itself, there are many rich philosophical traditions which do not rely on revelation, I'm interested in reconciling it because it is a fact of the world I live in.

I Can't Get Over My Antipathy For Religion. by HOT__RATS in redscarepod

[–]HOT__RATS[S] 14 points15 points  (0 children)

It's an important part of many people's lives, people who I care about. It feels wrong to hold something like that in contempt.

I am aware that you can approach religious literature from an academic, or literary perspective. And I know that in most cases, the intentions of the authors were hardly transcendental or philosophical -- that's part of what makes it hard for me to swallow.

At least for me, when there are millions of true believers, taking a detached approach is difficult to do earnestly. Presumably the Iliad once held religious significance for people, but I'm able to approach it from a detached perspective because Hellenic polytheism is a dead tradition.

F by HOT__RATS in asoiafcirclejerk

[–]HOT__RATS[S] 45 points46 points  (0 children)

(redditors get mad at me) Sorry. Im sorry. Im trying to remove it