Reflecting on Atheism.

[pocaracas]

You have to understand something about terms like theism, monotheism, polytheism, worship, faith, piety etc. Each of these concepts has been coined by Christian priests (or appropriated from elsewhere) to talk about Christianity. These are theological concepts and parts of the Christian religious life.

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Through many centuries of Christian domination in Europe, these terms have become part of the daily natural language use (in European languages).

When Europeans (travelers, traders, missionaries) first traveled to Asia and Africa and America, they didn't even consider the possibility that they would not find religions there. Whatever practices they saw there, they presupposed that it MUST be religion. e.g An African bowing before a statue: oh this must be their god, and the African bowing before the statue is the way he worships his god. As I said, concepts like worship were first coined by Christian priests.

It is inconceivable to westerners both then and now to see these practices as anything other than religion.

Why this pervasive belief in the universality of religion? This is because the universality of religion itself was originally a Christian theological belief. God at one time inscribed the true religion in the hearts of man, but gradually it became corrupted by the Devil and his minions and degenerated into many false "polytheistic relgions" which worshipped false 'gods'.

This religious belief (and other associated beliefs) became secularized over many centuries, so even atheists/freethinkers are operating within this framework.

So when Europeans went to Asia, they assumed what they saw was religion and started creating and constructing all sorts of religions (in their head, not in actual reality) that didn't exist and don't exist now either. Religions like 'Hinduism', 'Buddhism', 'Taoism' etc. These are constructs that only exist in western universities and books written by those operating within the western framework. 'Hinduism' doesn't exist in India; it is a western experiential construct that only exists in the minds and books of westerners and the western educated.

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Please read through and really think about what I said before you respond.

thank you.

This one is even more deluded than most!

About hinduism.... and how it predates your puny religion:

Hinduism consists of many diverse traditions and has no single founder.[4] Among its direct roots is the historical Vedic religion of Iron Age India.[5] As such, Hinduism is often called the "oldest religion"[6][7][8] or "oldest living religion" in the world.[1][9][10][11] Since Vedic times, a process of Sanskritization has been taking place, in which "people from many strata of society throughout the subcontinent tended to adapt their religious and social life to Brahmanic norms".[12]

Oh... when did that Vedic religion come by?

(1500 BC to 500 BC[1])

Oh, but there were other religions... which predate even the Vedic...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mesopotamian_mythology

Mesopotamian religion refers to the religious beliefs and practices followed by the Sumerian and East Semitic Akkadian, Assyrian, Babylonian and Chaldean peoples living in Mesopotamia (approximately the area of modern Iraq and north east Syria) that dominated the region for a period of 4,200 years from the fourth millennium BCE throughout Mesopotamia to approximately the 10th century CE in Assyria.[1]

Do tell me how these existed before christianity... or even judaism... and are somehow dependent on christianity... I can't wait!