Pagans are reviving the polytheistic religions of the ancient Greeks,and other civilizations.

Beliefnet ^ | August 15th, 2003 | Kimberly Winston

[missyme]

This year, Andrea Berman will watch the Olympics for the first time in her life. But she doesn't care who will jump the highest, run the farthest or swim the fastest. She'll be watching the games—being held this year in Greece, their ancestral home—for any mention of Zeus, Athena or Apollo.

"I will watch it to see if anything even remotely resembles anything I would know as an ancient ritual and tradition," Berman said. "But I kind of have mixed feelings. On one hand it will be great to see ancient traditions represented. But on the other hand, I know what the country of Greece thinks of our religion and people there who want to do this do not have the religious freedom to do it."

"This" is worship the Greek gods. Berman is a Hellenic reconstructionist–a practitioner of the religion of ancient Greece. A spare bedroom in her Boston area apartment is decorated as a temple room with statues of Apollo, Pan, Artemis, Dionysus and Eros. And like all Hellenic reconstructionists, she knows the original Olympics were not just a massive sportsfest, but a religious rite central to the worship of Zeus, chief among the Greek gods.

Reconstructionists are a group of neo-pagans–people who look to pre-Christian cultures for their faith–different branches of which worship the gods of ancient Norse, Roman, Egyptian, and Druid peoples. And while scholars say their numbers are only a fraction of the neo-pagan community, they also say they are a vibrant illustration of the rejection of traditional religion in the United States. And, in a curious boomerang effect, they are part of a movement away from the more eclectic forms of neo-paganism, like Wicca, taken up by pagan pioneers in the 1960s and 1970s.

"Reconstructionist groups seem to be kind of in the middle," said Sean McCloud a professor of religion and modern culture at the University of North Carolina in Charlotte. "On the one hand they want to embrace a coherent religion where they are not making things up. On the other hand, it is not the religion of their parents."

That is certainly true of Berman, a 26-year-old web developer who was raised in a non-religious home by a Jewish father and a Catholic mother. As a young teenager, she practiced Wicca. By college, she was into Celtic spirituality, but moved to the Greek gods literally overnight when, she recalled, a god appeared to her in a dream and said, "I am Apollo. You belong to me."

On a Saturday afternoon in July, Berman, known in her faith as Kyrene Ariadne, dressed in a long silky skirt of blue roses to join three likeminded worshippers and a guest to mark the Bouphonia, or Greek new year. The two men and three women assembled in the hall outside the temple room and chanted together from a prepared script:

"Hestia, tender of the hearth, first among gods, you sit at the center; steadily burns your flame."

[asmith92008]

1. Rights must be grounded in something. There is a reason that the French Revolution, which based its principles on "reason," devolved into a bloody tyranny, while the American Revolution based on God-given rights produced George Washington.

2. My point was not divine intervention. Rather, the pagan pantheons do not recognize the sanctity of human life. Therefore, they do not endow us with inalienable rights. The true God of the Bible does recognize such sanctity and thus can be referred to as the font of our rights, as in the Declaration of Independence.

[AdamSelene235]

1. Rights must be grounded in something.

Namely parity between the people and the State.

There is a reason that the French Revolution, which based its principles on "reason," devolved into a bloody tyranny, while the American Revolution based on God-given rights produced George Washington.

No, that failed because they didn't have a game plan and decided to radically transform their society based on their imperfect ideals.

Therefore, they do not endow us with inalienable rights. The true God of the Bible does recognize such sanctity and thus can be referred to as the font of our rights, as in the Declaration of Independence.

The primary feature of "inalienable rights" is their conspicious absence throughout most of human history.

Can you find me the part in the Bible where God says: "In Suits at common law, where the value in controversy shall exceed twenty dollars, the right of trial by jury shall be preserved, and no fact tried by a jury, shall be otherwise re-examined in any Court of the United States, than according to the rules of the common law. "

[kyrene]

Um... why would I avoid Christianity when I was raised in a Jewish home?

My mom WAS Catholic...they got that wrong in the article. She converted to Judaism before she married my father.

So... if you want to accuse me of "avoiding" a mainstream religion, at least get it right. My family is Jewish, not Christian. ;)


Xairete,
Kyrene

[Modernman]

Personally, when faced with a moral crisis, I always ask WWOD -- What Would Odin Do? A messy resolution usually follows.

A mead-induced bloodbath is usually the right solution to any problem.

[asmith92008]

A right to trial and a right to face accusers can be found in OT commands regarding the trial of murderers.

[SunkenCiv]

Note: this topic is from 8/15/2004. Thanks missyme.