{"id":25656,"date":"2022-05-25T03:00:26","date_gmt":"2022-05-25T09:00:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/?p=25656"},"modified":"2022-05-22T16:16:36","modified_gmt":"2022-05-22T22:16:36","slug":"reason-and-religion-go-hand-in-hand-especially-paganism","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2022\/05\/reason-and-religion-go-hand-in-hand-especially-paganism.html","title":{"rendered":"Reason and Religion Go Hand in Hand \u2013 Especially Paganism"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

Over on the atheist website OnlySky, Dr. Will Gervais has a very good article titled The treasured atheist idea that reason undercuts faith just doesn\u2019t hold up<\/a>. Dr. Gervais is a Senior Lecturer of psychology at the Centre for Culture and Evolution at Brunel University London \u2013 he\u2019s a social scientist and he knows what he\u2019s talking about. The summary of this article says:<\/p>\n

In 2012, a paper co-authored by Will Gervais and Ara Norenzayan in the journal Science claimed that confronting religious beliefs with rationality tends to lead people toward atheism. But when more rigorous subsequent studies found zero effect of rationality on religious beliefs, he and Norenzayan publicly disavowed their findings.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The data shows that rationality and atheism have \u201ca weak and fickle correlation.\u201d<\/p>\n

To an individual person who left religion, rationality can seem like the most important factor. But in aggregate \u2013 looking across the entire population of everyone who was raised in a religious home and who tries to apply rationality in their life \u2013 there\u2019s no\u00a0general<\/em>\u00a0trend whereby rationality leads people to atheism. People\u2019s individual narratives aren\u2019t invalid, they just can\u2019t speak to broader trends.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

I\u2019ve always considered myself a reasonable and rational person. I was able to leave the religion of my childhood<\/a> because it wasn\u2019t reasonable \u2013 I was told I had to believe things I couldn\u2019t honestly believe. But I never seriously considered atheism.<\/p>\n

I\u2019m not going to go deeper into Dr. Gervais\u2019 article. Read it for yourself I you like. It\u2019s not a quick read, but it\u2019s written for a general audience. The comments section is amusing, in that it demonstrates how atheists like to hang onto their preconceived notions as much as everyone else.<\/p>\n

Instead, I want to explore why religion in general and Paganism in particular are very reasonable things.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Religion is more than Christianity<\/h2>\n

When most people \u2013 atheists or otherwise \u2013 complain about \u201creligion\u201d what they\u2019re really complaining about is Christianity \u2013 and conservative Christianity at that. But neither the Southern Baptist Convention nor the Roman Catholic Church are normative of all religions and all religious people.<\/p>\n

As a non-Christian, I stay out of the arguments about who is or isn\u2019t a \u201ctrue Christian.\u201d But as an amateur religious scholar, I will say with confidence that the Episcopal Church, the United Church of Christ, and UU Christians<\/a> are as much a part of the Christian tradition as the more conservative denominations.<\/p>\n

Further, if what you say about \u201creligion\u201d isn\u2019t true of Buddhism<\/a>, Hinduism, and the world\u2019s remaining indigenous religions, then you aren\u2019t talking about religion \u2013 you\u2019re talking about Christianity.<\/p>\n

Fundamentalism is a bad thing and I\u2019m happy to ally with atheists and other people of good will to oppose it. But direct your arrows toward the real enemy, not against \u201creligion.\u201d<\/p>\n

Religion is more than belief<\/h2>\n

I say this frequently, but it\u2019s worth repeating until it sinks in. The idea that religion is primarily about what you believe is a modern, Western, Protestant idea. For most people throughout most of history throughout most of the world, religion was and is about what you do, who you are, and whose you are.<\/p>\n

Religion is about what you do in your daily practice. It\u2019s about what holy days you observe, and how you observe them. It\u2019s about what you eat and drink and wear \u2013 and what you don\u2019t.<\/p>\n

Mainly, religion is about what values you live by, and what virtues you prioritize over others. My Paganism isn\u2019t about rules to follow, it\u2019s about virtues to embody. Hospitality and reciprocity are my most important virtues, but honesty, courage, and perseverance<\/a> are also of great importance.<\/p>\n

The English word \u201creligion\u201d comes to us in part from the Latin religare<\/em>, meaning \u201cto bind together.\u201d Religion is what makes us a community and a family and not just a collection of individuals.<\/p>\n

Belief isn\u2019t unimportant<\/a>. But don\u2019t say \u201creligion\u201d when what you mean is \u201cbelief\u201d \u2013 religion is much more than belief.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cReason\u201d does not mean materialism<\/h2>\n

Reason is the proper attribution of cause and effect. It\u2019s a process that examines available evidence and comes up with a conclusion supported by that evidence. Done right, it acknowledges the confidence we can have in those conclusions. Some conclusions are 100% certain (or very close to it) while others are likely but do not have enough evidence to be absolutely sure.<\/p>\n

Many who call religion \u201cunreasonable\u201d are operating from a foundation of materialism \u2013 the philosophical assumption that all that exists is matter and the products of its interactions. It assumes that Gods and spirits not only do not exist, they cannot exist.<\/p>\n

Materialism is an assumption, not a conclusion based on evidence. Materialists simply dismiss all the evidence for the existence of Gods and spirits (which is largely experiential evidence). Meanwhile, most people around the world examine their experiences and come to the quite reasonable conclusion that they involved Gods and other spirits.<\/p>\n

Religious experiences are common \u2013 and real<\/h2>\n

If all religions were to somehow disappear overnight, we would start building new religions almost immediately. Not because people have a need for belief (and certainly not because \u201cthey just want to control everybody\u201d) but because people have religious experiences. People experience birth and death and they wonder about it. They have an encounter with something they can\u2019t explain, and \u201ca God spoke to me\u201d is the most reasonable explanation they can come up with.<\/p>\n

Too many of us minimize our religious experiences, or we rationalize them away. We don\u2019t want to appear \u201cirrational\u201d in a society that often acts more atheist than Christian, or we\u2019re afraid to talk to our Christian friends about something outside the limits of proper Calvinistic Protestantism.<\/p>\n

My Pagan polytheist religion is grounded not in myth but in experience<\/a>. Our religious experiences are always real. Our interpretations of those experiences may be more accurate or less accurate, more helpful or less helpful. But the experiences themselves are always real.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

What does it mean to be part of Nature?<\/h2>\n

Science tells us \u2013 with high confidence \u2013 that life on Earth evolved once. All living things are related \u2013 some more closely than others. Humans share 98% of our DNA with chimps and bonobos and 50% with bananas (and all other plants). We were not placed on the Earth as some religions claim. We grew out of the Earth.<\/p>\n

Given that, what does it mean to say that the Earth is our mother? What does it mean to acknowledge our relations with every other living thing?<\/p>\n

What does it mean that we must consume other living things<\/a> or we will die?<\/p>\n

Nature is not \u201cfallen\u201d and bad things don\u2019t happen because of sin. Bad things happen to us because we\u2019re one part of Nature, not the head and not the center. We are no more \u2013 and no less \u2013 important than every other part.<\/p>\n

Deep down, all religions aren\u2019t the same. They have different assumptions, different goals, and different priorities. And some acknowledge the realities of Nature better than others.<\/p>\n

What does it mean to honor those who came before us?<\/h2>\n

None of us got here on our own. We all have parents, grandparents, and many-times-great grandparents, without whom we simply would not be. We go to schools we didn\u2019t build to learn knowledge discovered by those we don\u2019t know. We have received much, and the virtue of reciprocity teaches that as we have received, so should we give.<\/p>\n

Certainly, we can \u2013 and should \u2013 pay it forward to the next generation. But what can we do for those who came before us?<\/p>\n

We can remember them. We can call their names, tell their stories, offer them food and drink. That they do not physical consume it is not important. It is the offering that counts.<\/p>\n

In remembering them, we learn a little about why we are the way we are.<\/p>\n

And we are reminded that some day we will be the ancestors, so let us live so as to be worthy of the honor of those who come after us.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

What does it mean to be in relationship with spirits?<\/h2>\n

Spirits are the essence of a person, the core of their being. I don\u2019t have<\/em> a spirit, I am<\/em> a spirit who has a body \u2013 for now. Gods are simply the mightiest of spirits.<\/p>\n

When I have an experience of what I interpret as the God Cernunnos, I am a human spirit interacting with a divine spirit. As a polytheist, I believe Cernunnos is a real, distinct, individual being with His own sovereignty and agency. But perhaps I\u2019m overstating things. Perhaps Cernunnos is merely a metaphor and personification of Nature, of the wild, of the hunter and the hunted. Either way I can form a relationship with that spirit.<\/p>\n

I can speak to Cernunnos and listen for His reply. I can practice good hospitality and make offerings. I can meditate on His values and virtues, embody them in my life, and in doing so become more like Him.<\/p>\n

These are good things, regardless of whether my beliefs about Cernunnos are more accurate or less accurate.<\/p>\n

And just as I can form and maintain relationships with my Gods, so can I form and maintain relationships with the spirits of land where I live, the spirits of the elements and directions, the spirits of virtues and values, and all the spirits present in our world and in our lives.<\/p>\n

If it works it\u2019s good<\/h2>\n

Fundamentalist Christians make the error of assuming that religion \u2013 their religion, anyway \u2013 has all the answers to all the questions. Fundamentalist atheists make the error of assuming religion has no answers to any questions.<\/p>\n

I say we should use the right tool for the right job.1<\/sup> What science does, it does very well. We are dishonest if we dismiss the findings of science and believe things that are clearly not true, such as Young Earth Creationism.<\/p>\n

But science doesn\u2019t do a very good job of telling us what \u2013 if anything \u2013 comes after death. It\u2019s completely inadequate to tell us how we should live our lives and what it all means. It can tell us what will likely happen if we promote certain values over others, but it cannot tell us whether or not that\u2019s a good thing.<\/p>\n

I cannot tell you that my Pagan and polytheist religion is \u201ctrue\u201d in some objective way \u2013 and neither can anyone from any other religion, if they\u2019re being honest. What I can tell you is that my life has been significantly better since I started this path. It has more meaning and less stress. I no longer fear what may come after death. Perhaps most importantly, I\u2019m part of something bigger than myself.<\/p>\n

And that makes my religion a very reasonable thing.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a><\/p>\n

1<\/sup> Biologist Stephen Jay Gould argued for \u201cnon-overlapping magisteria<\/a>\u201d \u2013 the idea that \u201cscience and religion each represent different areas of inquiry, fact vs. values\u201d and \u201cthe two domains do not overlap.\u201d This is not that. As this post explains, my religion is grounded in science and is informed by science, but it goes beyond the bounds of science. Some of the boundaries of science are artificial, because too many scientists are wedded to materialism. Other boundaries represent things science does not yet know, but someday will discover. And some boundaries represent things we will never know (at least not with certainty) because they\u2019re beyond the capacity of our powerful but finite human brains to comprehend.<\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

An atheist social scientist found that reason doesn\u2019t lead people to atheism, and he\u2019s honest enough to admit it. In this post I want to explore why religion in general and Paganism in particular are very reasonable things.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1129,"featured_media":25659,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1101],"tags":[424,980,4014,4,5,1445,4127],"class_list":["post-25656","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-foundations-and-context","tag-atheism","tag-materialism","tag-onlysky","tag-pagan","tag-paganism","tag-reason","tag-will-gervais"],"yoast_head":"\nReason and Religion Go Hand in Hand \u2013 Especially Paganism<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"An atheist social scientist found that reason doesn\u2019t lead people to atheism, and he\u2019s honest enough to admit it. In this post I want to explore why religion in general and Paganism in particular are very reasonable things.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2022\/05\/reason-and-religion-go-hand-in-hand-especially-paganism.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Reason and Religion Go Hand in Hand \u2013 Especially Paganism\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"An atheist social scientist found that reason doesn\u2019t lead people to atheism, and he\u2019s honest enough to admit it. In this post I want to explore why religion in general and Paganism in particular are very reasonable things.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2022\/05\/reason-and-religion-go-hand-in-hand-especially-paganism.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"John Beckett\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2022-05-25T09:00:26+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2022-05-22T22:16:36+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/243\/2022\/05\/flowers-05.07.22-01.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"764\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"400\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"John Beckett\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"John Beckett\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"10 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2022\/05\/reason-and-religion-go-hand-in-hand-especially-paganism.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2022\/05\/reason-and-religion-go-hand-in-hand-especially-paganism.html\",\"name\":\"Reason and Religion Go Hand in Hand \u2013 Especially Paganism\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2022-05-25T09:00:26+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2022-05-22T22:16:36+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/#\/schema\/person\/b4c8980dc36f971434424c304ca429ad\"},\"description\":\"An atheist social scientist found that reason doesn\u2019t lead people to atheism, and he\u2019s honest enough to admit it. In this post I want to explore why religion in general and Paganism in particular are very reasonable things.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2022\/05\/reason-and-religion-go-hand-in-hand-especially-paganism.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2022\/05\/reason-and-religion-go-hand-in-hand-especially-paganism.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2022\/05\/reason-and-religion-go-hand-in-hand-especially-paganism.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Reason and Religion Go Hand in Hand \u2013 Especially Paganism\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/\",\"name\":\"John Beckett\",\"description\":\"Musings of a Druid, Pagan, and Unitarian Universalist.\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/#\/schema\/person\/b4c8980dc36f971434424c304ca429ad\",\"name\":\"John Beckett\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0f50bfa2a79f70103847fe75540bb29c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0f50bfa2a79f70103847fe75540bb29c?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"John Beckett\"},\"description\":\"I grew up in Tennessee with the woods right outside my back door. Wandering through them gave me a sense of connection to Nature and to a certain Forest God. I\u2019m a Druid graduate of the Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids, the Coordinating Officer of the Denton Covenant of Unitarian Universalist Pagans and a former Vice President of CUUPS Continental. I\u2019ve been writing, speaking, teaching, and leading public rituals for the past eleven years. I live in the Dallas \u2013 Fort Worth area and I earn my keep as an engineer.\",\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/author\/johnbeckett\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Reason and Religion Go Hand in Hand \u2013 Especially Paganism","description":"An atheist social scientist found that reason doesn\u2019t lead people to atheism, and he\u2019s honest enough to admit it. In this post I want to explore why religion in general and Paganism in particular are very reasonable things.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2022\/05\/reason-and-religion-go-hand-in-hand-especially-paganism.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Reason and Religion Go Hand in Hand \u2013 Especially Paganism","og_description":"An atheist social scientist found that reason doesn\u2019t lead people to atheism, and he\u2019s honest enough to admit it. In this post I want to explore why religion in general and Paganism in particular are very reasonable things.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2022\/05\/reason-and-religion-go-hand-in-hand-especially-paganism.html","og_site_name":"John Beckett","article_published_time":"2022-05-25T09:00:26+00:00","article_modified_time":"2022-05-22T22:16:36+00:00","og_image":[{"width":764,"height":400,"url":"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/243\/2022\/05\/flowers-05.07.22-01.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"John Beckett","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"John Beckett","Est. reading time":"10 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2022\/05\/reason-and-religion-go-hand-in-hand-especially-paganism.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2022\/05\/reason-and-religion-go-hand-in-hand-especially-paganism.html","name":"Reason and Religion Go Hand in Hand \u2013 Especially Paganism","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/#website"},"datePublished":"2022-05-25T09:00:26+00:00","dateModified":"2022-05-22T22:16:36+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/#\/schema\/person\/b4c8980dc36f971434424c304ca429ad"},"description":"An atheist social scientist found that reason doesn\u2019t lead people to atheism, and he\u2019s honest enough to admit it. In this post I want to explore why religion in general and Paganism in particular are very reasonable things.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2022\/05\/reason-and-religion-go-hand-in-hand-especially-paganism.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2022\/05\/reason-and-religion-go-hand-in-hand-especially-paganism.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/2022\/05\/reason-and-religion-go-hand-in-hand-especially-paganism.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Reason and Religion Go Hand in Hand \u2013 Especially Paganism"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/","name":"John Beckett","description":"Musings of a Druid, Pagan, and Unitarian Universalist.","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/#\/schema\/person\/b4c8980dc36f971434424c304ca429ad","name":"John Beckett","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0f50bfa2a79f70103847fe75540bb29c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/0f50bfa2a79f70103847fe75540bb29c?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"John Beckett"},"description":"I grew up in Tennessee with the woods right outside my back door. Wandering through them gave me a sense of connection to Nature and to a certain Forest God. I\u2019m a Druid graduate of the Order of Bards, Ovates and Druids, the Coordinating Officer of the Denton Covenant of Unitarian Universalist Pagans and a former Vice President of CUUPS Continental. I\u2019ve been writing, speaking, teaching, and leading public rituals for the past eleven years. I live in the Dallas \u2013 Fort Worth area and I earn my keep as an engineer.","sameAs":["http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/author\/johnbeckett"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25656","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1129"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=25656"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/25656\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/25659"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=25656"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=25656"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/johnbeckett\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=25656"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}