SR XXIX: Goodbye 10% of the 21st century

James wrote: Rob, an interesting question (and probably a stupid one in hindsight) but do you think the ancient Egyptians actually believed their deities were real?  That may sound odd, I know.

Of course they believed their gods were real.  Other cultures believed the Egyptian gods were real as well.  To most ancient societies, all gods were real.  The ten plagues of Egypt just prior to the Exodus, by the way, were each targeted to a specific Egyptian god.  One theological purpose, then, of the God of Israel striking Egypt with these ten specific plagues was to effectively show that He has more power of their domains than they do.

James, you may be interested to know that early Christians in Rome were called atheists because they refused to acknowledge the Roman deities.

harmonium.ro wrote: A Person wrote: Matt is wondering what to listen to next. Mugur de Fluier should sound just perfectl after Steeleye Span.

Are you trying to get me to listen to Phoenix yet again? Sounds good though.

Epignosis wrote: James wrote: Rob, an interesting question (and probably a stupid one in hindsight) but do you think the ancient Egyptians actually believed their deities were real?  That may sound odd, I know. Of course they believed their gods were real.  Other cultures believed the Egyptian gods were real as well.  To most ancient societies, all gods were real.  The ten plagues of Egypt just prior to the Exodus, by the way, were each targeted to a specific Egyptian god.  One theological purpose, then, of the God of Israel striking Egypt with these ten specific plagues was to effectively show that He has more power of their domains than they do. James, you may be interested to know that early Christians in Rome were called atheists because they refused to acknowledge the Roman deities.

The more you know. . . .

harmonium.ro wrote: A Person wrote: harmonium.ro wrote: A Person wrote: Matt is wondering what to listen to next. Mugur de Fluier should sound just perfectl after Steeleye Span. Are you trying to get me to listen to Phoenix yet again? Sounds good though. Well Bucium wouldn't go that well after classic folk-rock, and for other albums that I could suggest, I sense an incoming "I don't have it" answer.

Oh. I listened to Bucium yesterday anyway, I even listened to the tracks they have released that are from the new album supposedly.

Kevin, you buffoon!  Gayla's cat does not look good in what it's wearing.  Cat's should not be allowed to wear any form of clothing.

James wrote: So if they thought they were real, why do people not worship the any more and why are they now thought of as mythical (that includes the Roman/Greek/Norse deities as well)? I'm genuinely curious.  I'm not having an epiphany (neither shall I be on January 6th).  I oddly find Theology interesting, even though I'm not remotely religious.

Mainly because of two things James: 1 -  there was a drastic cultural change in the late antiquity when Christian religions were allowed into the empire by Constantin I and an even further when they were unified by the late 4th century, with the standardization of the Catholic Rite by the Council of Nicea,  and with the outlawing of every other religion but the Catholic Church. That was fundamental for the decline of the polytheist religions because most, if not all of them, believed that their gods had mortal embodyments ( the statues and whatnots), what made them vulnerable to physical aggression: if you attacked the statue you were actually attacking the god itself. The Christian God, being immaterial, was invulnerable to that kind of attack and virtually anywhere could serve as a Catholic church, such as the woods for example, what was not the same for the Roman polytheistic religion.

2 - the barbaric invasionsobliterated many aspects of the remaining shreds of the Western Roman Empire and since many of the invading barbarians were to some extent romanized and Christianized/converted, when they destroyed the roman temples and the priests, there were simply nobody left who actually knew how to practice that religion. Many of the temples became houses or shops (like one Roman temple in portugal who became a punishment/hanging ground and after that a buchery after the fall of the Empire).

there are other details to it, but I think the core stuff is here.

CCVP wrote: rushfan4 wrote: James wrote: So if they thought they were real, why do people not worship the any more and why are they now thought of as mythical (that includes the Roman/Greek/Norse deities as well)? I'm genuinely curious.  I'm not having an epiphany (neither shall I be on January 6th).  I oddly find Theology interesting, even though I'm not remotely religious. When Augustus Caesar came to power (or one of Julius' descendants), he practiced Christianity, and he outlawed all other religions; that is why Christianity has survived all of these years, and the Greek/Roman religions became part of history. How can that be if Augustus reign ended in 40 something before Christ?

Yes, I understand that, Scott.  However, Roman and Greek mythology and even ancient Egyptian mythology are taught in school as mythologies.  So they were never actually forgotten.  People still discussed them.  Homer still had his Odyssey and Iliad.

Pagans still exist too.  In fact, there were more Pagans on the 2001 United Kingdom Census than Atheists.  As for Jedi's:

The inclusion of the question enabled the Jedi census phenomenon to take place in the United Kingdom. In England and Wales 390,127 people stated their religion as Jedi, as did 14,052 people in Scotland.

Wow.

I put myself down as an Atheist.

Lastfm sig, please work.

Over 53,000 people listed themselves as Jedi in New Zealand's 2001 census. New Zealand had the highest per capita population of reported Jedi in the world that year, with 1.5% marking "Jedi" as their religion. The city of Dunedin had the highest population of reported Jedi per capita.^[1] Statistics New Zealand treated Jedi responses as "Answer understood, but will not be counted". If Jedi were counted it would have been the second largest religion in New Zealand.