As a positive counterpart to the anthropomorphic gods, Xenophanes set up a philosophical conception of God: God must be One, Eternal, Unchangeable and identical with himself in every way (all sight, all hearing and all mind).
When a thinker arrives at pantheism, starting from a criticism of polytheism which is expressly based on the antithesis between the unity and plurality of the deity—then very valid proofs, indeed, are needed in order to justify the assumption that he after all believed in a plurality of gods; and such proofs are wanting in the case of Xenophanes.
A.B.Drachmann
Xenophanes lived in the latter part of the sixth and the beginning of the fifth centuries B.C.
In his own poems he severely attacked the manner in which Homer and Hesiod, the most famous poets of Greece, had represented the gods.
Their accounts of the fights of the gods against Titans and Giants he denounced as “inventions of the ancients.” But he did not stop at that: “Men believe that the gods are born, are clothed and shaped and speak like themselves”; “if oxen and horses and lions could draw and paint, they would delineate their gods in their own image”; “the Negroes believe that their gods are flat-nosed and black, the Thracians that theirs have blue eyes and red hair.” Thus he attacked directly the popular belief that the gods are anthropomorphic…
A.B.Drachmann
The persons of whom it is related that they denied the existence of the ancient gods are in themselves few, and they all belong to the highest level of culture; by far the greater part of them are simply professional philosophers. Hence the inquiry will almost exclusively have to deal with philosophers and philosophical schools and their doctrines.
From about the beginning of the Peloponnesian War to the close of the fourth century B.C., there are on record a number of prosecutions of philosophers who were tried and condemned for denial of the gods.
A.B.Drachmann
Putting some finishing touches on the posts about atheism in Ancient Greece and the significant difference between the definition of an atheist today and then. Will obviously mention first sophists and philosophers.
Читать полностью…Maxim Tesak Martsinkevich rests with the Gods
On this day, 4 years ago, a great man was tortured to death by putin's communist regime in a gulag which was officially declared to be a suicide
This crime will not be forgotten
Needless to say being a typical political prostitute Poklonskaya presents herself as whatever the public wants. Been an ideal christian regularly posting about her great faith for years.
Читать полностью…Chugaisters killing mavkas and being harmless to humans is what makes them the most beloved spirits of Hutsul forests.
Читать полностью…Chugaister’s most peculiar trait is his appetite for evil spirits called mavkas. The latter are seemingly beautiful, yet monstrous beings who lure young men into the woods and kill them.
Читать полностью…Judging from the material in hand one can hardly arrive at any other conclusion than that the standpoint of Xenophanes comes under our definition of atheism.
A.B.Drachmann
On another main point, too, he was in direct opposition to the religious ideas of his time: he rejected Divination, the belief that the gods imparted the secrets of the future to men—which was deemed a mainstay of the belief in the existence of the gods.
A.B.Drachmann
In the literature of antiquity we meet with sporadic statements to the effect that certain philosophers bore the epithet atheos as a sort of surname; and in a few of the later authors of antiquity we even find lists of men—almost all of them philosophers—who denied the existence of the gods. Furthermore, we possess information about certain persons—these also, if Jews and Christians are excluded, are nearly all of them philosophers—having been accused of, and eventually convicted of, denial of the gods.
A.B.Drachmann
It would have to keep in view, not the philosophical notion of God, but the conceptions of the gods as they appear in the religion of antiquity. Hence I came to define atheism in Pagan antiquity as the point of view which denies the existence of the ancient gods.
Our “atheism” in regard to ancient paganism is of recent date, and in antiquity itself downright denial of the existence of the gods was a comparatively rare phenomenon.
"Atheism in Pagan Antiquity" A.B. Drachmann
A new case of christian anti-pagan vandalism from russia. This time the temple was situated in Podolsk.
Читать полностью…This is a Brocken Specture, which is what happens when you cast a shadow onto the clouds below you
To see magic in the world, you have to go outside
Will soon write on the topic of religious laws and atheism in Ancient Greece. I think it's a very important, but often neglected topic, especially for modern Pagans (even non-Greeks).
Читать полностью…In 2018 Poklonskaya wrote a book titled "Loyalty to Faith and Fatherland". A very pro-putin and pro-orthodox work which she personally gifted to Serbian Patriarch Pavle.
Читать полностью…Poklonskaya is not a Pagan. What she’s dabbling in is Wicca and generic esoteric for bored housewives.
On the KGB part: actually it’s almost accurate as many russian rodnovers are indeed commies and do worship many fake deities (belobog, chislobog, rod, viy etc). But the latter are a product of academia, not KGB.
Also, Poklonskaya herself is basically a KGB agent (who got where she is through the bed).
Not a W for Paganism. Just some ortho sperging.
Chugaister
The most well-know being from Hutsul folklore, chugaister is a jolly, benevolent being who lives in deep forests, likes dancing and playing a flute.