I like religious discussion \u2013 and even religious debate \u2013 as much as the next religion nerd. But what I\u2019m seeing isn\u2019t deep theological conversation. It\u2019s mainly young men trying to bait atheists with strawman arguments, cherry-picking evidence for their beliefs and dimissing evidence against them, having very little success in the process, and then insisting they won despite all evidence to the contrary.<\/p>\n
Much of this is aggressive young men treating religion like a competitive sport. It\u2019s not enough for them to be on what they think is the winning team. They want to be a star player\u2026 and to be seen as a star player.<\/p>\n
But it\u2019s more than that.<\/p>\n
Proselytizing is the aggressive attempt to persuade other people to abandon their religion (or the lack thereof) and embrace yours. It has two primary goals. The first and obvious goal is to increase numbers in the religion. Historian Ronald Hutton says<\/a> that Christianity replaced the native Pagan religions in Britain \u201csimply because it cared more about winning, and demanded absolute victory.\u201d<\/p>\n But proselytizing also has an inward-facing component. If you can persuade someone to go out and recruit for your religion, they\u2019re far less likely to abandon it \u2013 either because they figure out it\u2019s not all it\u2019s supposed to be or because they just lose interest.<\/p>\n If you\u2019ve been told all your life that the eternal fate of your soul depends on believing the \u201cright\u201d things, the fear of being wrong is tremendous. I grew up in this environment<\/a> \u2013 I know this fear all too well. The apologists of Threads aren\u2019t trying to convert atheists so much as they\u2019re trying to convince themselves that they really do believe the \u201cright\u201d things. They\u2019re proselytizing not for converts but for certainty for themselves.<\/p>\n And that\u2019s an impossible task.<\/p>\n Paganism is not a proselytizing religion<\/a>. I have no desire to convert these apologists to Paganism. I do hope they find the religious comfort and security they\u2019re looking for, where ever they can find it. And I hope their arguments never persuade someone to leave a religion (or the lack thereof) they\u2019re happy with because of fearmongering and dishonest debate.<\/p>\n With those goals in mind, these are my suggestions for anyone who wants to find certainty in their religion.<\/p>\n I left a Threads comment<\/a> that said \u201csome of y\u2019all really need to take a course in comparative religion, or at least read a book or three from outside your own tradition.\u201d<\/p>\n If you\u2019re going to argue against a religion \u2013 or just decide that it\u2019s not the religion for you \u2013 you need to understand what it is. And you need to understand what it is from the viewpoint of those who actually follow it, not just how it compares to your religion.<\/p>\n A quote I hear occasionally says that in Western religion, God is the lightbulb, but in Eastern religion, God is the light. Now, that\u2019s an incredibly vague and high-level statement, and it normalizes monotheism \u2013 which, as a polytheist, I try not to do. But if you\u2019ve only ever thought of the Divine as \u201cGod the Father\u201d then it\u2019s an easy way to see that there are other ways of conceptualizing something that is far greater than we are.<\/p>\n Your challenge, as someone who\u2019s trying to learn about other religions, isn\u2019t to decide which way is right and which way is wrong \u2013 at least not at this point. Your challenge is to understand and accept that different people approach religion and religious questions in very different ways, for reasons that are perfectly valid even if they\u2019re very different from your own.<\/p>\n One warning: don\u2019t waste time trying to look for \u201cuniversal\u201d religion. It doesn\u2019t exist. \u201cDeep down it\u2019s all the same\u201d erases beliefs and practices that are very different for very good reasons. And also \u201cthey can\u2019t all be right\u201d misses the point. The search for truth is a question for metaphysics<\/a> and philosophy. Religion deals with the question of how we form and maintain relationships with the Divine, with our highest values, with other humans, and with the rest of the universe.<\/p>\n So read some books on Buddhism<\/a> \u2013 that are written by Buddhists. The same thing for Hinduism, Judaism, Islam, modern Paganism, the world\u2019s remaining indigenous religions, atheism, and as many other religions and traditions as you can. If nothing else, you\u2019ll learn about people\u2019s deepest beliefs and values \u2013 and that\u2019s a very good thing.<\/p>\n I grew up going to Sunday School every Sunday until I left home for college. I thought I knew a lot about Christianity. Turns out I didn\u2019t.<\/p>\n I knew nothing about Eastern Orthodoxy. Most of what I knew about Catholicism came from TV, and it included nothing about the Church Fathers. My knowledge of Luther, Calvin, and Wesley was superficial at best. I was in my late 20s before I learned that \u201cthe Rapture\u201d was not something \u201creal Christians had always believed\u201d but rather a 19th<\/sup> century American invention.<\/p>\n Oh, I knew the Bible\u2026 or at least, I thought I did. But I knew the Bible as it was interpreted by 20th<\/sup> century fundamentalist Evangelical Protestants. If you take the Bible seriously, learn how it was and is interpreted by other Christians\u2026 and how it\u2019s interpreted by Jews. What Christians call the Old Testament was Jewish long before it was Christian. Jewish tradition has context and linguistics (which is not the same as taking a Hebrew class in an Evangelical seminary) that can keep Christians from making many errors of ignorance.<\/p>\n This advice goes for everyone, not just for proselytizing Christians. If you\u2019re a modern Pagan, learn where our religions came from \u2013 and more importantly, where they didn\u2019t.<\/p>\n Fair warning, though: when you study the history of your religion \u2013 real history, not mythologized history and hagiography \u2013 you\u2019ll learn that while good religion can and should be built on divine principles and on peoples\u2019 experience of the divine, it\u2019s ultimately a man-made institution. Which means it\u2019s impossible to believe it\u2019s \u201cright\u201d with any degree of certainty.<\/p>\n And you\u2019ll also learn that the line I heard growing up \u201creligion is what other people do \u2013 we have the truth\u201d is simply not true. We\u2019re all doing religion as best we can.<\/p>\n But if you\u2019re looking for the truth, honest doubt is far better than false certainty.<\/p>\n So what do you do if you can\u2019t be sure your religion is \u201ctrue\u201d?<\/p>\n You practice it anyway.<\/p>\n Worship your God or Gods. Or if you come to the conclusion that there are no Gods, worship the highest virtues and values you can find. Worship is not bowing down in subservience. Rather, worship is declaring what is most worthy. As a polytheist I believe the Gods are most worthy, but you prefer to say that honesty, courage, and respect are most worthy, that\u2019s a good thing too.<\/p>\n Study your tradition. The fact that it\u2019s not absolutely true doesn\u2019t mean it doesn\u2019t have value. Almost certainly it does, or it would have died out long before now. Good religion helps us connect to the divine, relate to each other, and \u2013 perhaps most importantly \u2013 deal with the Big Questions of Life.<\/p>\n Where do we come from? Why are we here? How should we live? What happens after death? Yes, it would be great to have precise answers we could accept with absolute confidence. But tentative answers are all our ancestors had for thousands and thousands of years. They worked for them, and they\u2019ll work for us.<\/p>\n I\u2019m trying to be as non-judgmental as I can in this post, but I\u2019m going to be very judgmental about this: if your religion teaches that the main purpose of this life \u2013 this one life that may very well be the only one we get, even though I think it\u2019s not \u2013 is to qualify for the \u201cgood place\u201d in an afterlife, you\u2019re following a decidedly unhelpful religion.<\/p>\n Instead, spend your time learning and growing, and helping others learn and grow.<\/p>\n Work to allieviate suffering, and to reduce or eliminate the causes of suffering.<\/p>\n Work to tear town systems that oppress others and replace them with systems that support and lift up others.<\/p>\n Do something, no matter how small, to make the world a better place here and now.<\/p>\n Religious certainty is not possible, and claiming that is possible is a great and harmful sin<\/a>. You can\u2019t have it. The good news is that you don\u2019t need it.<\/p>\n![\"photo](\"https:\/\/wp-media.patheos.com\/blogs\/sites\/243\/2024\/09\/Oak-Point-09.28.24-02-scaled.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nLearn about other religions<\/h2>\n
Study the history of your own religion<\/h2>\n
Practice your own religion as deeply as you can<\/h2>\n
Make the world a better place<\/h2>\n