Hi everyone. I'm pretty much here to educate myself and see whether I fit somewhere in the community.

I'm in the rather awkward position of being surrounded mostly by pagans of various flavours (dating a heathen) who, while generally open minded, are all the sort to go awkwardly quiet or change the subject if atheism comes up. So, I don't really have anyone close to me that I can talk to about atheism.

For various reasons I'm kind of unsure where I stand, honestly, but I'm here to learn and see where it gets me. I'm big on science, study, and logic and like trying to keep up to date with current information, more than happy to be corrected when my info is outdated. Mostly I seem to be stuck with a 'god of the gaps' sort of thing and I don't know how to get past it. Questions and explanations/information are both totally cool with me.

Welcome, Myth. If you browse around the forums, I'm sure you'll find threads where people have addressed the god of the gaps arguments, and if you find no satisfying answers feel free to make your own thread highlighting the points you wish you discuss. :3

Enjoy the forums. What do you define as pagan?

Hello.

I find it odd 'heathens' would appear uncomfortable with atheists. Hell, the word heathen is often applied to atheists by religionists. Can you elaborate?

(September 16, 2013 at 6:31 am)MythRat Wrote: Hi everyone. I'm pretty much here to educate myself and see whether I fit somewhere in the community.

I'm in the rather awkward position of being surrounded mostly by pagans of various flavours (dating a heathen) who, while generally open minded, are all the sort to go awkwardly quiet or change the subject if atheism comes up. So, I don't really have anyone close to me that I can talk to about atheism.

For various reasons I'm kind of unsure where I stand, honestly, but I'm here to learn and see where it gets me. I'm big on science, study, and logic and like trying to keep up to date with current information, more than happy to be corrected when my info is outdated. Mostly I seem to be stuck with a 'god of the gaps' sort of thing and I don't know how to get past it. Questions and explanations/information are both totally cool with me.

Ok simple question you can ask yourself.

Which is more likely to be true?

1. A super natural god is real or a possibility?

OR

2. Humans invent god/s?

If you value science, you should also know that science does not start with naked assertions nor does it gap fill. The belief in the super natural has no quality control and merely reflects the wishful thinking of those who invent these superstitions.

I define pagan as non-monotheistic religion. My social circle is comprised mostly of Druids, Wiccans, and Heathens.

I say Heathens because that's the word they use but it's Asatru (I think). As an example, we recently had a ritual send-off for a friend who was going off to join the military and the guy leading the ritual started off by thanking the people whose house we were holding it at with the phrase "Thanks for letting all these rowdy vikings into your house." So, some Nordic pagan tradition which I assume is Asatru (no one's been very specific about it whenever I ask).

I was raised Wiccan, myself, but I've never really believed it as wholeheartedly as anyone else in my family. Especially since my mom was very keen on teaching religious tolerance by explain it to my three-year-old self that "Everyone's gods are real, religion is just a word for which one you listen to."
That didn't really make sense because they were all so different and didn't agree with each other and so forth. So I sort of grew up assuming "gods" were more just comfortable faces/names to put on natural forces or forces that were as-yet-undiscovered-by-science but still worked according to the laws of the universe. I didn't run into people who took gods really seriously until high school (I got beat up a lot for trying to have rational discussions about it >.> ) and that was also about when I discovered that those people are terrifying.
I still have a tendency to go "I can't find my keys... stupid faeries moving them" or "well, reincarnation makes sense and here's how it could work according to scientific principles" and that sort of thing. It's inconsistent and that bothers me, so, here I am.

Welcome, oh strange one...
wiccan and vikings, and faeries... Oh my...
I thought the inquisition had annihilated all of those.

There are the hindus still today Poca. In the so called 'problem of evil' The monotheistic god finds problems with evil and moral issues. Not with polytheists (many gods, may wills contradicting). The issue resides in monotheistic absolut moral claims. It is their downfall.

(September 16, 2013 at 9:50 am)pocaracas Wrote: Welcome, oh strange one...
wiccan and vikings, and faeries... Oh my...
I thought the inquisition had annihilated all of those.

Well, to be fair, Wicca has only been around for a few decades. It's often touted as "an ancient tradition" but that's only true insofar as its practices are based on/derived from an amalgamation of several pre-Christian nature-based polytheistic religions with a generous helping of celtic folklore on top.
And vikings are a dead people whose original beliefs and traditions have seen a recent resurgence, especially in people who are counted among the decedents of the original vikings.

But the people I hang out with use those terms, so I use them too in order to avoid confusion within the group.

(September 16, 2013 at 10:04 am)LastPoet Wrote: There are the hindus still today Poca. In the so called 'problem of evil' The monotheistic god finds problems with evil and moral issues. Not with polytheists (many gods, may wills contradicting). The issue resides in monotheistic absolut moral claims. It is their downfall.

Yes... hindus.... but the inquisition never got there... unlike the faeries and druids and other sort of celtic culture.