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I'm fond of the saying that all paths lead to the truth, some just take longer than others. I like to look for similarities among religions. You know, why can't we all just get along and all that. Then there's guys like this, who suffer my wrath. Ooh, what a smug asshole.
Comparing Christianity & The New Paganism
Stuff that stuck out:
-the notion that it seems to be a competition with this guy. "Christianity is bigger than paganism." And being the biggest is a goal?
-slamming paganism because it's infused with a Western sense of arrogance. This of course right on the heels of bragging about Christianity being bigger. He says pagans are not reverent. He's full of shit. I'm plenty reverent. I think he's confusing reverence with abasing yourself.
-"Another word for the new paganism is humanism, the religion that will not lift up its head to the heavens but stuffs the heavens into its head." This guy is hostile to the notion of immanence, that God can be within. "Jesus says: I am the light which is on them all. I am the All, and the All has gone out from me and the All has come back to me. Cleave the wood: I am there; lift the stone and thou shalt find me there!" So God's in rocks and wood, but surely he's not within us. Oh, no. It's immanence versus trancendence for him. Most pagans I know, incidentally, believe the Divine is both. It's not that far-out an idea.
-He bashes on moral relativism. Because, if we can't claim God decreed it, we can have no morals at all. Slippery slope bullshit.
-"A third ingredient of the old paganism but not of the new is awe at something transcendent, the sense of worship and mystery." Bullshit. See above re. reverence. He's confusing it with abasement, and with fear- he develops this more later in the article. That's my biggest bitch about his whole outlook (and Kirk Cameron's site, as well), the idea that it's not a really good belief system unless you're scared shitless of your god. Bullshit! "The shock is gone," he mourns, as if that's what defines his relationship with his god. Sad.
-And just to make sure you remember that this is a competition, he closes with this gem: "Because God, who spoke the first word, always gets the last word." Nice. @@
Comparing Christianity & The New Paganism
Stuff that stuck out:
-the notion that it seems to be a competition with this guy. "Christianity is bigger than paganism." And being the biggest is a goal?
-slamming paganism because it's infused with a Western sense of arrogance. This of course right on the heels of bragging about Christianity being bigger. He says pagans are not reverent. He's full of shit. I'm plenty reverent. I think he's confusing reverence with abasing yourself.
-"Another word for the new paganism is humanism, the religion that will not lift up its head to the heavens but stuffs the heavens into its head." This guy is hostile to the notion of immanence, that God can be within. "Jesus says: I am the light which is on them all. I am the All, and the All has gone out from me and the All has come back to me. Cleave the wood: I am there; lift the stone and thou shalt find me there!" So God's in rocks and wood, but surely he's not within us. Oh, no. It's immanence versus trancendence for him. Most pagans I know, incidentally, believe the Divine is both. It's not that far-out an idea.
-He bashes on moral relativism. Because, if we can't claim God decreed it, we can have no morals at all. Slippery slope bullshit.
-"A third ingredient of the old paganism but not of the new is awe at something transcendent, the sense of worship and mystery." Bullshit. See above re. reverence. He's confusing it with abasement, and with fear- he develops this more later in the article. That's my biggest bitch about his whole outlook (and Kirk Cameron's site, as well), the idea that it's not a really good belief system unless you're scared shitless of your god. Bullshit! "The shock is gone," he mourns, as if that's what defines his relationship with his god. Sad.
-And just to make sure you remember that this is a competition, he closes with this gem: "Because God, who spoke the first word, always gets the last word." Nice. @@
