Was the death of Hellenic and Norse paganism a bad thing? (user search)
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  Was the death of Hellenic and Norse paganism a bad thing? (search mode)
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Question: Was the death of Hellenic and Norse paganism a bad thing?
#1
Yes
 
#2
No, its replacement by Christianity was a good thing
 
#3
It was neither a good nor bad thing
 
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Total Voters: 42

Author Topic: Was the death of Hellenic and Norse paganism a bad thing?  (Read 2414 times)
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CrabCake
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« on: November 10, 2019, 09:21:45 AM »

The trouble is, a lot of the old order was essentially codified superstitions that essentially blocked scientific development. Christianity, with its monotheistic deity and its clearer delineation between the physical and metaphysical worlds, is a lot easier to persist if you have a scientific mindset. Paganism, by contrast, falls apart very quickly with scientific inquiry: one realises after observation that it makes little difference how much one sacrifices to Poseidon, the storms continue regardless. The old Gods were persistent meddlers in human society (many of the Roman compilers of their exploits actually explicitly made it subtext that the Gods were bad eggs who deserved to be overthrown) who made it difficult to build a physical model of the Universe entirely governed by standard and measurable laws. It's no coincidence that the Scientific Revolution which also overturned Aristolean dogma also saw the collapse in the dregs of superstition (amongst the educated classes at least): witches, magic, astrology and so on.

Perhaps one could argue Christianity lost something of its radical nature in how it was co-opted by the Roman Empire and turned from a rebellious and egalitarian force for the disenfranchised into an institution of imperialism. But paganism was not long for the world. Be glad we still have the good stories without the inclination to follow the whims of Zeus, Hera, Athena and the whole gang.
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CrabCake
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« Reply #1 on: November 10, 2019, 10:21:14 AM »

Now I don't cry for the loss of religions old and new but the Christianization of Europe coincided with massive acts of brutality and destruction of livelihoods more fulfilling then the clout the Abrahamics with their vastly more stratified society brought in.

There are many things to praise about the classical world, but they were in fact heavily stratified societies, with giant slave populations, a caste system complete with aristocratic orders of patricians and (in ancient Rome) led by an Emperor who anointed himself as a divine figure with his own personal cult.
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