(February 21, 2015 at 3:32 pm)AFTT47 Wrote:(February 21, 2015 at 1:45 pm)Brian37 Wrote: Using fiction to reflect our desires or social norms is fine, but those things cannot be used like a telescope. It also would not shock me if Star Wars or Harry Potter got turned into a religion. Atheists don't need to go that route.
There was already a fad in Australia to declare Jedi Knight as one's religion. I don't know if they were serious or not. The government didn't seem to think so as they made threats to prosecute people who used it when answering the national census.
It has been argued that some of the revisions of the bible were not meant to be literal but coded attacks on the politics of the time. What seems harmless now can be twisted later to be taken literally. It would sadden me if Jedi was turned into a religion, but it also would not surprise me either. If a si fi writer can start a religion never underestimate the gullibility of others to buy that bullshit.
"Satan" really is our species reflection of desire to defeat an enemy. It is a name unique to the Abraham traditions. But the motif of good vs evil, and even in polytheistic antiquity you had hero gods and villain gods or spirits the good gods fought.
It really is a comic book anthropomorphic reflection of our survival instincts. We like to succeed and we like to defeat threats to us.
All gods are are in reality is a reflection of our own desires.
