Polythesism

[cleanhippie]

[Brainstormy]

1. Love it!

where'd you get it?

[theHandpuppet]

3. Yeah, I want one, too

[Curmudgeoness]

2. Good point.

I am sure that it isn't a hit at the Evangelical Church. Blasphemy!!!

[Lordquinton]

4. please tell me that's not a cotton shirt.

[eppur_se_muova]

5. Great ... does this mean we have to distinguish between atheists and apolytheists ?

Actually, I guess an apolytheist would be a monotheist .... so let's try polyatheist ...

Is a polyatheist more irreligious than an atheist ?

[Lordquinton]

7. they just get to sleep with more people

[pokerfan]

12. Polyatheist

[Arugula Latte]

6. Polytheism is easier to accept than monotheism.

After all, monotheism forces one to revere a psychotic, cruel mass murderer who is also a benevolent deity who loves everyone and has a plan and his reasons for slaughtering untold millions that we're not privy to ...Talk about a tough pill to swallow.

At least with polytheism you can say, well, this god is helpful, this one is an asshole, this one really likes his liquor ...

[marginlized]

8. I've always thought of Roman Catholics as crypto-polytheists

And I'm not referring to their Trinity thing. But in fact, you pray to other entities in heaven, not just God or Jesus. And, if your prayers are answered, those other entities make stuff happen. To me, an imaginary person who makes stuff happen might was well be a god. Ok, they didn't create the universe, but if you pray to them and stuff happens, what's the difference? It's called Intercession.

But what do I know?

[Arugula Latte]

9. And then there's all the Catholic saint pseudo-worship ...

bizarre stuff.

As for Christianity in general, I don't know how missionaries went to non-Xtian lands and sold this stuff. It's sort of a hot mess of a religion.

[onager]

11. I've often wondered how they sold it too.

One of my favorite thought experiments is to imagine I've never heard of God or Jesus. And some people knock at my door one morning and try to sell the concept to me. "WTF? Burn for eternity because of a talking snake and some fruit? God knocks up a virgin so he can come to earth and have himself killed? I'm sorry, this just doesn't make any sense."

Anyway, I have several ideas (as usual) about how they sold it:

1. Priests, Guns & Money - back in the good old days, the missionaries often tagged along behind invading/exploring armies. Recently on some Internet thread, I saw someone claiming Islam was a "convert or die" religion while Xianity wasn't. Huh? Well, how abut the Albigensian Crusade, which was Xians killing other Xians and forcing them to convert. And we have first-hand accounts of how the natives in the Americas were "converted." Usually with the choice of "Jebus or death."

2. Bait and Switch I - "Hi, we're from the advanced Western world. We bring you medicine so your kids won't die, clean water and literacy. Oh yeah, and...uh...Jesus. You have to buy Jesus first before you get any of the good stuff. "

3. Bait and Switch II - in my admittedly jaundiced opinion, many modern "missionary trips" are nothing but vacations. Back where I grew up in East Jesusstan, I once heard a family friend bragging about her daughter going on a mission trip to Africa.

I imagined someone slogging thru the jungle like Albert Schweitzer, risking all sorts of exotic foreign disease and danger.

Turns out the kid's mission trip was to..Johannesburg.

Even that pales beside the e-begging of the pastor at my Mom's church. He put up a web page asking for donations to send him and some cronies on a desperately needed mission trip to convert the backwards heathens in London. Yes, the one in England.

[AtheistCrusader]

10. Don't forget your imaginary enemies too!

That way you can line them up against each other like pokemon for hours of fun.