Over on the Patheos Nonreligious (formerly Atheist) channel, Jonathan Pearce has a post titled Playing Truant: The Relevancy of God. Heres the key quote:

Part of the case against God is the sheer absence of God. Everywhere we look, these days, God not only seems to be tangibly absent, but there is no need for God.

Im a Pagan who sees no reason to proselytize Im not really interested in debating Mr. Pearce. If hes happy with his atheism and he appears to be then Im happy for him. His criticisms of Evangelicalism and Catholicism are valid.

Honestly, anybody who can write the line there is no theodicy that does a good job of explaining the existence of Trump is somebody Id like to have a beer with (someday, when we can have beers with people weve never met again).

At the same time, his post is a reminder of what happens when you let other people set the terms of the debate, and when you define yourself by what you arent rather than by what you are.

Early Christians were considered atheists by the Romans, because they denied the existence of the many Gods.

There is no true monotheism: Christianity has its Trinity and saints, Islam has angels and a devil. Apologists argue that the Trinity is really One and that other beings are not Gods. Polytheists counter that the idea of one all-powerful being is nothing any of our ancestors would have recognized as a God (no, the One of Neoplatonism is not a God in either the polytheist or monotheist sense).

Polytheism is humanitys default setting. Left free of indoctrination, we intuitively recognize the Sun God and the Moon Goddess, the God of a Mountain and the Goddess of the Rain. Even good Christians occasionally invoke the Gods of Baseball or some such thing. Monotheism is like a manicured lawn on the edge of a forest it requires constant maintenance or the forest will reclaim it.

There have always been those for whom the existence of the Gods has seemed either unlikely or simply unimportant. So be it. Only Christianity (and these days, only certain forms of Christianity) places ultimate importance on believing the right things. Live a good, honest, compassionate life and leave the world a better place than you found it and well all get along just fine.

Theodicy is only a problem for monotheists who propose one God who is both all-good and all-powerful. For those of us who follow Gods who are the mightiest of spirits but not all-powerful, this is not a problem.

But most of the monotheist complaints of how could God allow this to happen? carry the implication that the well-being of humans is the greatest good. A simple look at life shows that this is clearly not the case.

Human life has value, but so does snake life and fish life and tree life. Is the lion who eats a human any different from the human who eats a cow? And if all living things have spirits (or if they are spirits) is it any different from a cow who eats a stalk of corn? Is the world fallen because it contains wildfires and tornados and coronaviruses? Or are we nave and self-centered because we refuse to recognize that things like wildfires and tornados and coronaviruses are just as much a part of this world as we are?

I think we lost an important concept when Christianity caused us to abandon the zoomorphic Gods.

We are not the center of the universe, and though many of our Gods have human forms or are themselves deified humans, They are the Gods of all this world, not just us.

Jonathan Pearce says the Christian God is tangibly absent. I cant argue with him. As a polytheist I have no problem acknowledging the existence of Yahweh and Jesus, but I see no reason to accept the proposition that they are one all-powerful being who created the universe and thus is responsible for its operation.

But the Many Gods? Thats a different story.

As a child I was taught there was only one God, so I didnt have the language to express the experiences of comfort and power I felt deep in the woods. I just knew there was something special there. If the Forest God had stepped out of the shadows I would have assumed He was the Christian devil, because I didnt know any better.

Later on I encountered Cernunnos in a very different setting, when I was ready to see Him for who and what He is.

The first time I experienced Him in an ecstatic setting, it took near-perfect surroundings and a fair amount of ritual for me to turn off the skepticism long enough to meet Him. Afterwards I knew it was real, but doubts remained.

The second time it took a small amount of ritual. That experience was rather demonstrative. The after-doubts were far fewer.

Eventually the experiences started to add up. By the time I led the first Cernunnos Devotional Ritual, the doubts were gone. When you experience the presence of the same spiritual person many times, its easier to go with it than to keep asking the same questions over and over again because the answers dont change.

And its not just Cernunnos. Its the Morrigan, its Danu, its the Gods of Egypt. Different Gods call to different people in different ways.

We want our Gods to make Themselves known. We want Them to appear before us in bodily form, brilliant and shining, announcing Their divinity and Their power in ways that would make even Richard Dawkins kneel in awe. Oh, and if They could smite a few of our enemies at the same time, that would be great.

They have other plans.

If convincing the masses of Their reality isnt important to Them, then I suppose it shouldnt be very important to us. None of the Many Gods seem interested in amassing millions and millions of followers.

Instead, Theyre calling a few people to worship and work with Them doing things that dont always make sense to us.

Either youre interested in that or youre not. And with a very few exceptions, if youre not interested, Theyve got better things to do than try to persuade you.

And so do I. If youre curious, I love talking religion. If youre interested, Ill do my best to point you in the right direction the right direction for you.

But for those of us who follow one or more of the Many Gods, its important to remember to not let other people set the ground rules of our religions. Christians and atheists are for the most part arguing two sides of the same coin.

Meanwhile, were foraging in the forest, and were finding all kinds of good stuff to eat.

Here is the original post:

The Presence of the Gods | John Beckett - Patheos