Quote:
Originally Posted by Textcritic
How very interesting, and why is that, do you think? Do you doubt that worshipers of Poseidon or Zeus were any less sincere than worshipers of Jesus or Allah? I'm curious about this.
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Yes, though not contemporaneously. I mean that if I heard it from a stranger tomorrow I would consider a prayer to Poseidon to be much less sincere (and I consider the sincerity to be undesirable).
Surely this is because there is not a devout segment of the population that currently exhorts their dogma. If their's was the dominant social religion then I expect I would be more uncomfortable with an appeal to Loki or Ra - whatever arbitrary symbol was being wielded by demagogues.
It may also be a byproduct of familiarity, but I prefer polytheism to monotheism. A worldview based on a clash of legitimate ideals would mould society better than a single/ultimate source of righteousness.
I also think the teachings of a polytheistic religion are more easily embraced because I can identify with an archetype before I understand the parable - the Qur'an has many teachings of warfare but I expect I would more readily absorb a lesson learned by Ares.
I haven't fully reflected on this. That post was the first time I had considered it.