Why polytheistc deities are better than monotheistic gods

Modern artwork of the Babylonian goddess of love and war, Ishtar, one of my favourite pagan goddesses for some reason.

It’s no use kidding myself, I think I might be misusing the term “pagan” every now and then. Paganism in general is an umbrella term for indigenous, polytheistic, and often animistic or shamanistic religions, often emphasizing a living mythology and very associated with nature and nature rituals. Not to mention that the word “pagan” was a originally a Roman word used against foreigners, who they believed to be uncivilized and unsocialized, and would later be a Christian term for anyone who didn’t believe their religion and worship their god, much like the common term “heathen”, both insults designed to belittle or demean the target group of people.

Maybe it’s romanticism at work, despite the fact that I swear I actually prefer gods of Asian religions more, like Hinduism and Buddhism. Maybe there’e something about the pagan world I was convinced to like (it is at least partly true). Be that as it may, that doesn’t stop the fact that pagan polytheistic gods are still much better than the Abrahamic monotheistic gods, even with my usual lack of preference towards Western polytheistic gods compared to Hindu/Buddhist/Shinto gods.

Why? Because (1) they’re not so uptight, and even if they were it’s not nearly enough compared to the Biblical god, (2) they are flawed but they don’t make any bones about their flaws, whereas the Abrahamic god believes his is omnibenevolent and utterly perfect and wants everyone to think that way, in spite of his many obvious flaws, that I’m sure he’ll deny, (3) they probably don’t send people to a realm of everlasting torture for not worshipping them (as far as I know), (4), they do a better job of being anthropic and human gods than the Abrahamic or any monotheistic god, which is basically just another of such gods pretending to be an absolute one, and (5) no matter what you believe about the existence of such gods, they surely make more sense than the Abrahamic god.

Why a truly Christian Christmas would suck

I’ve already talked about how Christmas isn’t actually Christian, but actually quite pagan, with the only Christian part being its name. But what if Christmas had its pagan roots and elements completely removed from it? What if it was actually a Christian holiday? Would it suck? The short answer is yes, but I’ll tell you why.

Remember all that awesome stuff Christmas had that I told you was pagan or folk in origin? Try to imagine Christmas with all of that gone. No Santa, no presents, no Christmas tree, no Christmas feast, no Christmas parties, no mistletoe traditions, etc. Since nothing about Christmas is in the Bible, not even December 25th being Jesus’ birthday, there would be nothing left. It wouldn’t be the festive winter celebration we know and love, probably not even the winter part. In fact, the only thing in Christmas that’s in the Bible is the Nativity, and that’s only in Christmas because we’ve co-opted it into the holiday, and the church too. Without everything folk and pagan that makes Christmas, or Yule, so great, it’d be nothing but a solemn day commemorating the birth of a man who was believed to be tortured on the cross to death for our salvation. It’d be dull.

Complain about materialism in Christmas all you like, but I can’t dare to imagine a Christmas that was actually Christian.