I’ve been trying to hold my tongue in regard to the ongoing, polarizing firefight over the worship of fictitious superheroes as objects of hero-cult, and the incorporation of pop culture elements into Modern Polytheism. My attempts are now proven to have been in vain. I will say only this and then nothing more on the subject:
If one cannot handle being told one’s practice is foolish and that one’s beliefs may, in fact, be (very) wrong, one has absolutely no business in religion, and one should not presume to theologize. We can’t all be correct, all the time, much less at the same time. Not all beliefs and practices can be valid, much less equally valid. Since none of us has Divine parallax, none of us can know beyond every conceivable shadow of doubt which beliefs and practices possess some degree of validity and which ones possess absolutely none. Until our inevitable deaths, presumably — even then, no particular outcome is guaranteed. We can only grasp at textures in the dark and hope to grip the tail of Truth. We must accept the strong possibility that many of us are at any given time engaging in some manner of batshittery — which should be a given when Polytheists center their entire worlds around things so nebulous and elusive as Numina, but apparently many of you forget this, or have never grasped this.
I don’t expect all of my readers to be familiar with the history and nature of Theology, but trust in me when I tell you that as a sub-discipline of Philosophy and Logic, it is an unforgiving science wherein personal feelings and desires are of no concern (though it needs to be underscored that there is a specific standard of decorum, both rhetorical and social, by which participants are expected to conduct themselves). It is not for the weak of heart and the insecure, it is not for those who cannot effectively reason, and it was certainly never designed with the intention of gratifying the likes of hypersensitive “social justice warriors” who are “triggered” into fits of petulant indignation by virtually everything under the sun.
It is necessary that people be treated with respect, but not all ideas and practices merit the respect afforded to human beings. Criticizing the validity of the ideas and practices an individual maintains is not an ad hominem attack on the individual who maintains them. Attempting to threaten or bully an individual over ideological differences or assassinate an individual’s personal credibility and character, however, qualifies as ad hominem. There is a massive difference between the two, and you are responsible for understanding this difference and reacting appropriately.
Now, let us kindly put this childishness to bed and get back to doing what is important for the community at large, shall we? This is not the first time, nor shall it be the last, that any of us will be met with disagreement and told we’re wrong about something. This is not the first time, nor shall it be the last, that anyone has been going about something the wrong way.
Use this energy for something more productive, for the love of the Gods.
