"I find myself edging ever closer to atheism with every year, but not through their efforts, merely through a continuation of the thought processes that led me from Christianity to Paganism in the first place."
that's a pretty common arc, the subject of a lot of discussion recently when the well-respected Deò of Deò's Shadow podcast chose to retire the podcast due to becoming an atheist.
what is interesting to me, though, is that it is perfectly possible, even reasonable, to be an atheist pagan (or polytheist, my preferred term). this is because paganism/polytheism isn't about "belief", but about practice. that is, pagans/polytheists do what they do, but leave it up to each individual to decide on why, or what it means, or even to ignore the question entirely. this is unusual to a lot of people who are raised in the creedal environment created by the dominant religions in this society, but becomes more comprehensible as it is experienced.
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branchandroot
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Date: 2009-01-17 06:47 am (UTC)that's a pretty common arc, the subject of a lot of discussion recently when the well-respected Deò of Deò's Shadow podcast chose to retire the podcast due to becoming an atheist.
what is interesting to me, though, is that it is perfectly possible, even reasonable, to be an atheist pagan (or polytheist, my preferred term). this is because paganism/polytheism isn't about "belief", but about practice. that is, pagans/polytheists do what they do, but leave it up to each individual to decide on why, or what it means, or even to ignore the question entirely. this is unusual to a lot of people who are raised in the creedal environment created by the dominant religions in this society, but becomes more comprehensible as it is experienced.