Re: Swiftness of Indra

----- Original Message -----
From: "Rick McCallister" <gabaroo6958@...>
To: <cybalist@yahoogroups.com>
Sent: Thursday, March 06, 2008 11:28 AM
Subject: Re: [tied] Re: Swiftness of Indra


> Not so rare. Look at how the Greeks totally
> transformed the Roman and Etruscan pantheons.

***

They did nothing of the kind.

***

> Look at how Christianity incorporated foreign gods
> through demotion. Santa Claus in many of his
> attributes is a demoted Thor. St. Martin the soldier a
> demoted Mars.
> Easter is the name of a pagan goddess.
> The Book of Esther is a wholesale incorporation of the
> cult of Marduk and Ishtar.

***

You must know some people who worship Santa Claus.

I do not.

Did you miss the qualification I wrote about what we can expect with
"supreme" gods.

***


> Christianity, as practiced in much of the US South,
> with its emphasis upon hatred and exclusion of the
> Other, glee and self-satisfaction at the suffering of
> non-believers is more akin to the worship of Odin than
> any mainstream form of Christianity.

***

If you hate them so much, it would only be human for them to return the
favor.

***
> As you well know, Buddha and Jesus are the 8th and 9th
> avatars of Vishnu --at least according to many Hindus.
> Islam, as practiced by most Muslims, also incorporates
> many aspects of preexisting religions --such as
> adoration of saints, spirits, even other gods such as
> Ram among Indian Muslims I've met.
> Religion is probably the most malleable institution
> that exists among humans.


***

Rick, I am not religious myself but I am also not interested in the
slightest bit in your bitter ideas about religion except in so far as they
apply to questions of linguistic interest.


Patrick


> --- Patrick Ryan <proto-language@...> wrote:
>
> > ----- Original Message -----
> > From: "Rick McCallister" <gabaroo6958@...>
> > To: <cybalist@yahoogroups.com>
> > Sent: Wednesday, March 05, 2008 10:45 PM
> > Subject: Re: [tied] Re: Swiftness of Indra
> >
> >
> > >
> > > --- Patrick Ryan <proto-language@...> wrote:
> > > >
> > > > The only objections I would raise would be:
> > > >
> > > > 1) it is rather unusual to borrow a name for the
> > > > supreme god;
> > >
> > > Not true: See Jehovah, Yahweh, Allah et al. In
> > > Meso-America Nahuatl names were borrowed, calqued
> > or
> > > subjected to popular etymology, etc. In West
> > Africa,
> > > some names were shared: e.g. Legba was Ewe-Fon but
> > > passed into Yoruba and then into Santería as
> > Eleguá.
> > > Some Buddhist deities, avatars and boddhisattvas
> > had
> > > names that passed from Sanskrit to Chinese to
> > > Japanese.
> > > Religion and religious terminology seem very prone
> > to
> > > borrowing
> >
> > <snip>
> >
> > ***
> >
> > True, Rick.
> >
> > You must differentiate between borrowing a foreign
> > name for an existing
> > native god, who keeps his native attributes,
> >
> > and
> >
> > adopting a foreign god with his original foreign
> > attributes into the native
> > pantheon (like Isis in the classical world).
> >
> > Continuing to worship Odin but calling him Yahweh?
> > Pretty rare.
> >
> >
> > Patrick
> >
> > ***
> >
> >
>
>
>
>
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