As usual I entirely agree with you on almost everything. In this case I only partially agree on the origins of Western civilisation in your earlier linked post. Western civilisation from the Enlightenment onwards drew many aspects from Greco-Roman civilisation that preceded Christianity, and without this it wouldn’t be anything like what it is. But it drew from Christianity too. It was an amalgam of the two, different from both the Christianity of the Middle Ages, and the Greco-Roman civilisation that preceded it. At most I think we can say it sourced its best aspects from the Greco-Roman rather than Christian tradition.
One cannot help but think you have found what you are looking for, making it into one of the top five stories of god, I mean of the year of our Lord 2024, the rise of Christian neo- national socialism, I mean your preferred, I mean welcomed, rise in global climate change of irreligious…a party of your fellow nuns that not only no longer believe in Santa is coming to town this Christmas to celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior, but see no irony in the the special holy day rate written just above the fold on the paradox of heterodox orthodoxy. Like what came first, the chicken or the egg, I love your infinite regression to the meme of Greco-Roman, leapfrogging over Matt Johnson’s crediting the reformation, believing more credit for your inner light is do to those that walked the Earth long before the Big Bang, I mean Before Christ. Come on man. I confess I don’t have the independence of mind to come up with an alternative worldview to your observations. I still swear by, or should I say, at least still dig when Santa comes to town every year to celebrate a culturally appropriated pagan holiday, I mean birth of Christ. Is there something in the nothing that I believe will be a futuristic Western cultures expanse to a galactic universe and humans will be soon star trekking thanks to evil genius’s like Elon Musk…who’s lack of independent thought, not to mention obviously has no fear or love of Jesus, leading him to pal around with the political worlds worst human beings, to achieve his ow grand ambitions. Again, I am still wondering your thoughts on what the f the likes of Musk, Andreessen, Thiel ,Bezos are up to paling around with the Hugh Hefner/Ill Duce wannabe down at the playboy mansion, I mean Mar a Lago. Kinda makes me think of all those pretty colorized moving pictures of the Obersalzberg. But, then again, forgive me Jesus, Trump is not Hitler, as much as I do hate him. And I do mean HATE a man that would dare hawk a Bible with his own name on the front cover, on Easter no less. WTF!?
I love your jumping on, I mean jumping off point to your big story on nines, I mean nones, with your easy take down of Ayaan Hirsi Ali’s supposed conversion to Christianity. The irony of Ali’s not lauding Jesus or His ministry for her newfound belief system me thinks is more because she just loves going to church on Sunday’s with the love of her life Niall, with all the beauty and pageantry kindly rubbing off in her in a way not even she could put into words. No wonder she is an apostate, I mean fled a counter sub culture that treated her quite the opposite, where man is the literally the center of the known marvel universe that is east of Israel (and made its evil ways to Africa via the sword). She is just a cultural Christian, much in the same vein as Douglas Murray, Jordan Peterson, and admittedly, even Richard Dawkins and R.T. Is there something in the nothing that is the post Enlightenment profession of no faith being a faith. Yes. To each his own. And where the spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty, so say with not me, but the…gotta run on. Thanks for taking my rant R.T. Peace through superior mental firepower
There is a writer named Alain de Botton. I have some serious problems with him, but he's an atheist who raises the notion of bringing religious-style ritual and spaces into the lives of atheists. I have been curious about this. It's perhaps a bit like the place of reverence Roark designed in The Fountainhead? (The place that was ultimately aborted into a center for the sub-normal.)
Anyway, I occasionally think of what that would be like. Who would fund it? And what would it be like to have a place devoted to "spiritual values" that were not mystical. A place where we could gather with others and feel a holiness about life and being human--with other like-minded people. I imagine that would be comforting on a very deep level.
I agree that fictional universes and conventions help with this, but it would be lovely to have a place that was purely devoted to spiritual devotion per se. A place you go to on a regular basis, like Mass, to reconnect with deeper feelings about life. And a place where other people reinforce that feeling. Yes, we should be independent, but it's also nice to know you're not alone. (I discovered this during the Dark Days of Trump more than at any other time.)
So, then, why not just go to “Mass” on Sunday’s…like, say a place where everyone is literally “Well comed”, that already has what your spiritual world is looking for…Whether you want to believe it or not, one that has been around, for better or for worse, the last two thousand year’s. You do not even have to consider it commandment if you do not want to…I know Robert would not dare suggest such an action, or place, being a devout anti theist (not that there is anything wrong with that, this here anti anti theist believes in spiritual autonomy is a God given human right, not to mention a big fan of An Atheist take down of The Bible as just being the by product of a five thousand year old patriarchy, with myths and legends that became truth in less educated times) And with your spirit, kind of. Not to troll you, as I sincerely mean it when I say “Peace be with you” and of course wishing you a Merry Christ Mass (imagine a world without Jesus there is no Santa Claus, let alone those presents I will never forget opening on a formerly special pagan day…before Constantine absolutely took over the so called Holy Roman Empire by the sword). Gotta run on.
As usual I entirely agree with you on almost everything. In this case I only partially agree on the origins of Western civilisation in your earlier linked post. Western civilisation from the Enlightenment onwards drew many aspects from Greco-Roman civilisation that preceded Christianity, and without this it wouldn’t be anything like what it is. But it drew from Christianity too. It was an amalgam of the two, different from both the Christianity of the Middle Ages, and the Greco-Roman civilisation that preceded it. At most I think we can say it sourced its best aspects from the Greco-Roman rather than Christian tradition.
Respectfully Rob,
One cannot help but think you have found what you are looking for, making it into one of the top five stories of god, I mean of the year of our Lord 2024, the rise of Christian neo- national socialism, I mean your preferred, I mean welcomed, rise in global climate change of irreligious…a party of your fellow nuns that not only no longer believe in Santa is coming to town this Christmas to celebrate the birth of our Lord and Savior, but see no irony in the the special holy day rate written just above the fold on the paradox of heterodox orthodoxy. Like what came first, the chicken or the egg, I love your infinite regression to the meme of Greco-Roman, leapfrogging over Matt Johnson’s crediting the reformation, believing more credit for your inner light is do to those that walked the Earth long before the Big Bang, I mean Before Christ. Come on man. I confess I don’t have the independence of mind to come up with an alternative worldview to your observations. I still swear by, or should I say, at least still dig when Santa comes to town every year to celebrate a culturally appropriated pagan holiday, I mean birth of Christ. Is there something in the nothing that I believe will be a futuristic Western cultures expanse to a galactic universe and humans will be soon star trekking thanks to evil genius’s like Elon Musk…who’s lack of independent thought, not to mention obviously has no fear or love of Jesus, leading him to pal around with the political worlds worst human beings, to achieve his ow grand ambitions. Again, I am still wondering your thoughts on what the f the likes of Musk, Andreessen, Thiel ,Bezos are up to paling around with the Hugh Hefner/Ill Duce wannabe down at the playboy mansion, I mean Mar a Lago. Kinda makes me think of all those pretty colorized moving pictures of the Obersalzberg. But, then again, forgive me Jesus, Trump is not Hitler, as much as I do hate him. And I do mean HATE a man that would dare hawk a Bible with his own name on the front cover, on Easter no less. WTF!?
I love your jumping on, I mean jumping off point to your big story on nines, I mean nones, with your easy take down of Ayaan Hirsi Ali’s supposed conversion to Christianity. The irony of Ali’s not lauding Jesus or His ministry for her newfound belief system me thinks is more because she just loves going to church on Sunday’s with the love of her life Niall, with all the beauty and pageantry kindly rubbing off in her in a way not even she could put into words. No wonder she is an apostate, I mean fled a counter sub culture that treated her quite the opposite, where man is the literally the center of the known marvel universe that is east of Israel (and made its evil ways to Africa via the sword). She is just a cultural Christian, much in the same vein as Douglas Murray, Jordan Peterson, and admittedly, even Richard Dawkins and R.T. Is there something in the nothing that is the post Enlightenment profession of no faith being a faith. Yes. To each his own. And where the spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty, so say with not me, but the…gotta run on. Thanks for taking my rant R.T. Peace through superior mental firepower
There is a writer named Alain de Botton. I have some serious problems with him, but he's an atheist who raises the notion of bringing religious-style ritual and spaces into the lives of atheists. I have been curious about this. It's perhaps a bit like the place of reverence Roark designed in The Fountainhead? (The place that was ultimately aborted into a center for the sub-normal.)
Anyway, I occasionally think of what that would be like. Who would fund it? And what would it be like to have a place devoted to "spiritual values" that were not mystical. A place where we could gather with others and feel a holiness about life and being human--with other like-minded people. I imagine that would be comforting on a very deep level.
I agree that fictional universes and conventions help with this, but it would be lovely to have a place that was purely devoted to spiritual devotion per se. A place you go to on a regular basis, like Mass, to reconnect with deeper feelings about life. And a place where other people reinforce that feeling. Yes, we should be independent, but it's also nice to know you're not alone. (I discovered this during the Dark Days of Trump more than at any other time.)
Sorry, just fantasizing a bit. :-)
So, then, why not just go to “Mass” on Sunday’s…like, say a place where everyone is literally “Well comed”, that already has what your spiritual world is looking for…Whether you want to believe it or not, one that has been around, for better or for worse, the last two thousand year’s. You do not even have to consider it commandment if you do not want to…I know Robert would not dare suggest such an action, or place, being a devout anti theist (not that there is anything wrong with that, this here anti anti theist believes in spiritual autonomy is a God given human right, not to mention a big fan of An Atheist take down of The Bible as just being the by product of a five thousand year old patriarchy, with myths and legends that became truth in less educated times) And with your spirit, kind of. Not to troll you, as I sincerely mean it when I say “Peace be with you” and of course wishing you a Merry Christ Mass (imagine a world without Jesus there is no Santa Claus, let alone those presents I will never forget opening on a formerly special pagan day…before Constantine absolutely took over the so called Holy Roman Empire by the sword). Gotta run on.
Rob,
This is one of the best pieces you have written.
I often think I was born an atheist. I can remember after going to Sunday school, telling my mother it was stupid and that I would never go again.
It was not until I read the works of Ayn starting in my early twenties that I had the philosophical understanding of why I was an atheist.
Bob-