From: "Jonathan Peterson" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
>
> >I find it strange that the only surviving English/British religion,
> >Paganism, is the target for being abolished.
>
> Is paganism a religion?
Yes. Just because it isn't an organised religion with official buildings and
the like or a registered charity it is relagated to the "none of the above"
category. However, within the civil service it is the only such religion
that has recognised religious holidays.
> Or does it refer to "What Northern and central Europe did before
> the Romans"?
It was the religion in these here parts several hundreds of years before the
Romans ever discovered this little island.
> >Mayday was traditionally the
> >fertility festival. It would make more sense to embrace the Pagan
holidays
> >seeing as they are celebrated more evenly throughout the year. Plus they
> >don't glorify death and have a healthy celebration for life.
>
> This is all true. But Christian festivals are for the most part
> intellectualised versions of the non-christian ones they replaced. Easter
> is a fertility festival.
Eh? Nope it was an attempt by the Christian faith to remove every possible
existance of any other religion in the provinces they conquered. It has
still been happening in this century within Africa and South America. The
holidays might happen at similar times, but their meanings are far from the
same.
> All souls day is the same as Halloween
All Souls Day is a celebration of all things good. Halloween is the
romantised version of witchcraft being bad and tantamount to devil
worshipping. Again an effort by the church to ridicule other religions.
> The actions and spirit of paganism (say, wearing leaves and dancing round
a
> tree in May) are good healthy things to do. The cerebral aspects of
> paganism are daft ("If I wear leaves and dance round a tree the tree
spirit
> will make me more fertile").
If you read up on it a bit more, you'll see that there's much more to it
than that. And anyway why is that any more daft than someone going to a
church and praying for God to make them fertile. They're just a person's
belief, the fact they you choose to ridicule another's way acting on that
belief only allows the church to perpetuate the ridicule that is placed on
other religions. Faith is a very personal thing, whereas a religion
dictating that other kinds of faith are bad or inferior only serves to
belittle themselves IMO. Perhaps one of the reasons why the Pope is making
such an effort to apologise for past persecutions.
> To the extent Christianity leaves one alone
> and replaces the other, I like it. I agree that at times it hasn't done a
> very good job of leaving alone. But nothing's perfect...
What like the Crusades?
> Jon, thinking Paganism and Christianity should co-exist happily as do Art
> and Science.
One celebrates life, the other glorifies death. Art and Science are not so
extreme.
BTW I'm not a Pagan, just in case you're wondering.
Barbie.
