A Thread from the Past

This is a recent comment on an old post, “Catholic Anti-Pagan Apologetics” from December 12, 2007. Since it is an older post and nobody is likely to notice it, I will address the issues raised here.

The Paleo Conservatist: Paganism is a false view of the world with a false cosmology and neo-paganism is a sorry attempt to resurrect that.

This is an unverifiable assertion, an assertion of belief. You are entitled to hold this opinion but simply saying it does not make it so. It is just as easy to say that Christianity is a false view of the world with a false cosmology.

What is troubling is the way pagan/heathen fringe groups string together false assertions specifically attempting to link ancient pagan mystery religions (localized in the 1st century) to Christianity (a completely new revelation rooted in Judiasm) as factual with no regard for the wealth of historical evidence refuting their claims nor the multitude of scholarly debates held on this subject that led to a modern mainstream consensus that these assertions are, in fact, patently false.

Fringe groups! Christianity was itself a fringe group to begin with. So being a fringe group is not, from your perspective, proof of invalidity.

Unfortunately for you, these connections between Christianity and Paganism are well attested to not only in the context of Christian writings, but also widely accepted in academic circles.

Simply asserting that there is no connection does not make it so in the face of all evidence to the contrary. Any scholarly opinion in support of your position is from apologetic circles and so, unsurprisingly, in line with Christian doctrine (and what else would we expect in a Belief Bubble that asserts that you can investigate whatever you want as long as your analysis does not violate doctrine?).

I can and have provided ample evidence on this blog alone (and there is no lack of evidence elsewhere) as to the connections between Christianity and Paganism. Your assertion that there is a modern mainstream consensus that these assertions are false is, in fact, false.

In their reckless presentations, we see heathen and pagan fringe groups putting forth a systematic assortment of false assertions in a very unscholarly attempt to weaken the message of Christianity in an attempt to further their own agendas and preferred worldviews which are really poorly pieced together attempts to revive something that was lost.

Agendas and worldviews. You speak of agendas? The only agenda of modern day Pagans is to honor the gods according to the customs and traditions of our ancestors. If there is a lack of scholarship, it is a lack that is also apparent in Christian apologetics, which seek to twist and misrepresent facts (sometimes to invent them out of whole cloth) to support the Christian message.

With all due respect, the Christian message is weak enough that we do not really have to do anything to weaken it further. The weaknesses you speak of are a priori weaknesses, independent of experience. They’re “built into the system” we might say.

Christianity, to put it bluntly, is a syncretic and derivative religion cobbled together from Judaism and Paganism (also Germanic Heathenism) over a period of centuries, it’s “profound” mysteries voted upon, not inherent in Jesus’ message.

Your claim that Pagan belief is something “that was lost” is an unfortunate choice of language considering the uncontested fact that Christianity exterminated Paganism through a process of genocide lasting centuries.

If the American public were not so ignorant, their weak attempts would be laughed down. But as it is they think Mexicans are American native americans and Pagans invented Christianity. Tragic.

I agree that there is something tragic in all this, and that is that so many otherwise intelligent people can believe the lies and myths perpetrated by people like you, who insist upon a narrow, doctrinal understanding of the world despite all the evidence to the contrary. I’m sorry, my Christian friend, but you’ll have to do better than this.