Most Discussions Here about Religion Assume Monotheism,

[MineralMan]

or one of its variants like trinitarianism.

I often see the capitalized word, God, used here without consideration of religions that have multiple deities. It's as though some believe that only one particular deity is worthy of mention and that polytheistic religions are somehow not real.

For me, that reinforces the idea that atheists just have one fewer deity than monotheists, who can't imagine belief in multiple deities. For those people, I remind them that they're just one deity away from atheism.

Although Judaism and Christianity are pretty much the only religions mentioned in this group, they are not the only valid and adhered-to religions out there. Not by a long shot.

[marylandblue]

1. Yes, we ignore polytheism

If anything, polytheism is the norm, not monotheism. For most of history, people have been polytheists. Only Judaism and it's descendants insist on strict monotheism. But even with those, there various subordinate god-like creatures - angels, demons, saints and mythical heroes with magic powers. One can also argue that the Christian trinity is a sort of compromise polytheism - you can have 3 gods, but all 3 must also be one and the same.

[MineralMan]

4. Yes. Christianity has a very odd three-in-one oil of a deity.

They're all the same deity. but they're all different, too. It's an interesting concept. Not all Christians are trinitarians, though. Non-trinitarian Christian denominations are interesting, too. They represent a minority of Christians, but between Mormons and Jehovah's Witnesses, they have believers almost everywhere.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nontrinitarianism

[Mariana]

16. Lucifer fits the description of a deity, I think.

Certainly some people worship Lucifer as a deity, which is probably quite enough to qualify him as one.

There used to be a poster on DU who worshiped Lucifer. He was a polytheist, in that he believed the god described in the Bible is real, but he concluded that particular god is evil and should be opposed. This poster passed away a few years ago.

[Pope George Ringo II]

19. They play the "religion as business" card a little too openly for me to get their stuff

But my understanding of the official "Church of Satan" with their "Satanic Bible" is that they don't actually believe in Satan. That would make such an individual something of a minority.

[Mariana]

22. They?

This poster was a genuine worshiper of Lucifer, and he had no affiliation with the Church of Satan.

Edited to add: I have to say I have a lot of respect for any church that voluntarily pays taxes, as the Church of Satan does.

[Pope George Ringo II]

23. My point being that an actual worshiper of Lucifer is quite a small group.

The Church of Satan seems to outnumber them by a fair bit, and I do understand them to not really worship anybody. They charge more for their products than the entertainment value offers me, though.

[Mariana]

25. The Church of Satan is a fascinating topic

but I wasn't talking about them at all, but whether Lucifer/Satan counts as a deity. Do you think Lucifer qualifies as a deity?

[Pope George Ringo II]

27. I'd have to say yes.

Genuinely polytheistic pantheons didn't just have halls full of universe- and world-creators, they had gods and goddesses of lesser abilities too. The Lucifer character is probably some sort of divinity with a portfolio approximating pride, rebellion, knowledge, and maybe couple of other things depending on the reading and which books you want to emphasize.

I'd certainly agree with the deceased poster about him being the protagonist of the story, so from a story-based interpretation he'd almost have to be a lesser divinity in order to achieve anything against the Jehovah monster while not being able to outright win.

[Act_of_Reparation]

2. Christianity is the religion most relevant to our lives.

It only makes sense that most of our discussions would revolve around Christianity.

[MineralMan]

3. Perhaps that's true for you. However,

this group is about discussing religion, not just Christianity. So, other religions are also very interesting. There are many deities worshiped around the world, now and in the past. In the United States, every religion is represented by people who adhere to those religions.

So, it seems a little odd that we almost never talk about other deities that people believe in. I think that's too bad. As an atheist, I've read about many deities. They have things in common and differences, too.

[Act_of_Reparation]

6. Be the change, I guess.

People tend to discuss those topics which weigh heaviest upon their minds. For atheists, Christianity's constant intrusion upon our lives is a big issue. What Odin's children are up to... well... is not.

But hey, I'm down to discuss anything. If you want to start a thread about the other religions we don't believe in, I'll happily chime in.

[MineralMan]

10. Actually, speaking of Odin, there's a neo-pagan movement

that focuses on the old Norse Gods. It also focuses on racism, it seems. It's having a surge of popularity in some places in Europe.

Religion affects us all, one way or another, whether we are believers or not.

[Act_of_Reparation]

12. Yep.

There is a small movement of Old Norse revivalists calling themselves Ásatrú, and they have attracted a number of right-wing racist and anti-semite idiots. But many--if not most--are non-racists.

[MineralMan]

14. It's always good to know what's going on, I think.

I'm going to have to look into that as it applies to the United States.

Here's an interesting article:

https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/qbxpp5/how-a-thor-worshipping-religion-turned-racist-456

[Act_of_Reparation]

17. It's strongly connected to the Norwegian Black Metal scene of the early 1990's.

Varg Vikernes of Burzum (who is famous for, among other things, burning medieval stave churches and murdering another black metal musician in 1993) is a vocal proponent of Odinism, racialism, and a veritable cornucopia of myriad blood and soil bullshit. Black Metal proved attractive to disaffected teenage nihilists in need of something to rally behind. Virkernes' competition was slim, decidedly apathetic towards politics, and fairly ridiculous in their Satanic imagery.

On a side note, today's black metal acts are fairly mainstream and accepted by an audience that, for a subgenre of extreme heavy metal music, is fairly diverse. Not everyone who listens to Black Metal is a racist.

I occasionally listen to Black Metal.

Yes, I know it sounds terrible. It's an acquired taste.

[MineralMan]

18. I've never been a fan of any kind of metal music.

Besides, I can never figure out which sub-genre a band is in. There was a touring metal band in my former town in California. Death Metal, I think they were. Very odd folks. I used to run into the lead vocalist at the post office. I was mailing rocks to my customers. He was mailing CDs to his.

I had to look them up again. Deeds of Flesh

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Deeds_of_Flesh

[Act_of_Reparation]

24. I don't fault you for that. Many of the sub-genres are inaccessible by design.

Norwegian Black Metal, for example, was in part a reaction to Death Metal's high production value. Burzum, Mayhem, and Darkthrone recorded with the shittiest equipment they could find to deliberately lower the fidelity of their recordings.

[MineralMan]

28. Interesting. The Sound of Nihilism?

I find it all very interesting, but I can't listen to any of the extreme Metal bands for long at all.

[Act_of_Reparation]

29. More like... chaos.

Many of these guys wanted to tear down what they saw as a Judeo-Christian culture that is weakening them as people. Very few of them had thought about what they'd replace it with. Mostly, they derived meaning and satisfaction from terrifying people, burning down churches in the dead of night but never properly organizing towards a specific political goal.

[MineralMan]

30. Lots of that going around, it seems.

Violence without a real goal. It seems to be a trademark of some types of groups.

[marylandblue]

5. I think though it's the hidden assumptions of the Christian worldview

that can affect even atheist. The assumption that we have a choice of one god or none, that monotheism is "better" than polytheism, that eastern religions can be accurately described by a language designed for western religion and that religion = theism.

[Cuthbert Allgood]

7. Many argue that Catholicism is an attempt at polytheism.

That's always fun to bring up if one is in the button-pushing mood.

[MineralMan]

8. Yes, Saints and all that.

In many ways, though, all Christian denominations talk about Angels, Demons, etc. Lesser deities, I suppose.

Mormons also have some interesting ideas about people and gods.

It's always interesting to look more deeply into religious beliefs.

There's no end to the discussion, it seems.

[Cuthbert Allgood]

9. And the holy trinity. Though that isn't just Catholics.

Unitarians were the main ones to fight the trinity, I guess.

[MineralMan]

11. There are other nontrinitarian denominations of Christianity, as well:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nontrinitarianism

[trotsky]

13. It helped with the marketing in many areas, to be sure. n/t

[Pope George Ringo II]

15. Polytheism is much less "in your face" and more "live and let live"

Monotheism, pretty much by definition, is more arrogant and also tends to be more intrusive. It's going to generate more enthusiasm and more resistance both.

[MineralMan]

20. Not always, though.

Some neo-pagans can be very "in your face."

[Pope George Ringo II]

21. True.

The arrogance is pretty much baked into "We have the one true god!" but the intrusiveness isn't so exclusive.

[atreides1]

26. Some can be!

And some of them can be annoying, but the vast majority I've met and interacted with, have a live and let live attitude!

[MineralMan]

31. I'm quite fond of Wiccans, actually.

Merry meet, merry part, and merry meet again.

[Lordquinton]

32. Capitalization of God can also be from autocorrect

As it was above (which moved on from correcting it to good) it's an interesting topic, but I don't really feel comfortable talking about it without a member present. From my perspective they aren't causing trouble here in the US like monotheists do, so it's not as prominent in my mind.

Some non-theistic religions do get lumped in as atheists when they do something bad. I'm sure in time the buddists performing ethnic cleansing will be labeled as atheists in the future.

[Voltaire2]

33. I try to avoid the assumption of monotheism.

It isn’t easy given the cultural speech patterns. Plus some people get a little weirded out when one uses the plural gods in any discussion.

We also have a problem with the habit from some to assume all religions are theistic, but that is a somewhat separate issue.

[MineralMan]

34. I use deities most of the time.

Deity as a singular. I try to avoid the word god, to avoid confusion.

[Iggo]

36. I try to use "a god or gods" as much as I can...

...but it can be unwieldy at times.

I do try to uncapitalize "God" to make it clear I'm not talking specifically about Art Christ.

[Iggo]

35. Yep. Those are the real religions. The other ones are obviously fake. (n/t)