NEW BLOCKBUSTER Stars MOTHER GODDESS

In the new 3D blockbuster film Avatar, the good guys worship the Great Mother Goddess Eywa!

Finally -- a film with some real religion in it.

I know it’s late, but if you still haven’t zeroed in on that perfect holiday gift for that special someone, BUY HER/HIM A TICKET to Avatar! (Mercy, buy tickets for that un-special someone. Buy tickets for everyone on your block. This is a film everyone needs to see. Take it from your Auntie Athana!)

Wishing YOU ALL A GODDESS-FILLED WINTER SOLSTICE!

A few Winter Solstice Goddesses:

• Alcyone (Greek): Alcyone is the Kingfisher goddess. She nests every winter for two weeks, and while she does, the wild seas become calm and peaceful.
• Ameratasu (Japan): In feudal Japan, worshippers celebrated the return of Ameratasu, the sun goddess, who slept in a cold, remote cave. When the other gods woke her with a loud celebration, she looked out of the cave and saw an image of herself in a mirror. The other gods convinced her to emerge from her seclusion and return sunlight to the universe.
• Bona Dea (Roman): This fertility goddess was worshipped in a secret temple on the Aventine hill in Rome, and only women were permitted to attend her rites. Her annual festival was held early in December.
• Cailleach Bheur (Celtic): In Scotland, she is also called Beira, the Queen of Winter. She is the hag aspect of the Triple Goddess, and rules the dark days between Samhain and Beltaine.
• Demeter (Greek): Through her daughter, Persephone, Demeter is linked strongly to the changing of the seasons and is often connected to the image of the Dark Mother in winter. When Persephone was abducted by Hades, Demeter's grief caused the earth to die for six months, until her daughter's return..
• Frau Holle (Norse): Frau Holle appears in many different forms in Scandinavian mythology and legend. She is associated with both the evergreen plants of the Yule season, and with snowfall, which is said to be Frau Holle shaking out her feathery mattresses.
• Frigga (Norse): Frigga honored her son, Baldur, by asking all of nature not to harm him, but in her haste overlooked the mistletoe plant. Loki fooled Baldur's blind twin, Hod, into killing him with a spear made of mistletoe but Odin later restored him to life. As thanks, Frigga declared that mistletoe must be regarded as a plant of love, rather than death.
• La Befana (Italian): This character from Italian folklore is similar to St. Nicholas, in that she flies around delivering candy to well-behaved children in early January. She is depicted as an old woman on a broomstick, wearing a black shawl.
• Spider Woman (Hopi): Soyal is the Hopi festival of the winter solstice. It honors the Spider Woman and the Hawk Maiden, and celebrates the sun's victory over winter's darkness

~from the article "Thanks to Deities of the Winter Solstice,”
by Patti Wigington
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Thanx to Oriana.Italy for the pic; go here to see more.

Keeping COMPANY WITH A GNAT’S EYEBROW

Lou Engle, a big YAJ* dude (Jehovah followers think he’s metacool), is actually telling Christians to martyr themselves in the name of anti-abortion. As in, “be willing to die” for the "cause."

He’s also shouting about a 2nd American Civil War – Abortion-Rights dudes in the left corner, and Right-to-Lifers – where else? -- in the right. (Pssst! Don’t tell anyone, but I think he means ‘war’ with real guns and live ammunition….)

And here’s a comforting bit of news: biggie Republicans in Congress are actually being seen with this gnat’s eyebrow (Sam Brownback, Jim DeMint, and Michele Bachman, for starters).

Thnx to Rachel Maddow for the tip on this situation. Check out dailykos for MORE >>>>>
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YAJ is short for Yahweh-Allah-Jehovah, who many think is three separate deities, but who is really just one god -- the god of Abraham.

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a big round of applause to astrophotography for the foto of the gnat's eyebrow.

CULTURE WARS: WHO Killed BABY JESUS?

Action star Mr. Chuck Norris says Obamacare woulda killed Baby Jesus.

Shooting back from the hip, Washington Post writer M. Kessler says Christian-dude Chuck Norris woulda killed Mary even before she’d delivered Jesus.

Afterall, Mary was an unwed mother. Before he’da let her give birth in his holy Christian manger, Chuck woulda let her freeze to death out on the plains.

Dudes, dudes, I say! Stop your sniping! Save your lovely breath! Nobody killed baby Jesus -- Jesus never existed!

Not one shred of evidence exists that a man named Jesus of Nazareth walked the planet from 1 to 32 AD. None. Nada.

As in zip, zero and zilch.

Posted by Athana
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thnx to okinawa soba for the pic; go HERE to see more

Striking A NERVE?

Why are so many suffering apoplexies over the simple notion that, in the past, the world might have revolved around goddesses?

Take, for example, Mr. Robert Sheaffer at “The Debunker’s Domain.” Mr. R.S. must have spent months -- if not years -- scouring the planet for every document he could scare up that might possibly besmirch the notion of Goddess.

For the best yucks, read all the way to the final article. In “Why Is the ‘Goddess Movement’ Being so Vehemently Promoted?” Mr. S. explains that it’s all a lesbian plot (to what? Turn him into a lesbian?).

Frankly, my dears, methinks mi’lady doth protest too much….
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Thnx to dogwelder for the foto; go HERE to see more of his work.
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P.S. For a refutation of nearly everything Mr. R.S. says, read Switching to Goddess: Humanity's Ticket to the Future, by Jeri Studebaker, 2009, O Books: Winchester, UK. You can put your hands on a copy of STG at almost any online bookstore.

INTERNATIONAL Childless PEOPLE’S DAY

Since Mother Earth is suffocating under skanky loads of human flesh, doesn’t it follow that the world’s true heroes are our radically fab and super-cool childless men and women? Those who say, “No. I refuse to add to the refuse. I WILL not use my body to pound out more earth-polluting human flesh!"

In honor of these most awesome of the Earth’s awesome, I hereby dub today, December 10, “Childless Peoples’ Day.”

Thank you, fab Childless People, for working to wipe human-flesh pollution off the face of the Earth. You blow me away!

Of course parents are important too. Parents will pump out the people who’ll celebrate Childless People’s Day – kids who -- we all pray -- will become childless themselves one day.
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Thnx to fbako for the foto; go HERE to see more of her work.

ANCIENT GODDESSES Score BIG

Yikes!

Two days ago, one of the biggest US newspapers ever – The New York Times –actually printed an article about that “little-known” Goddess culture, Old Europe!

And from what I understand, this article was plopped onto the front page of this Grandmama of all US newspapers!

According to the article, since Old European figurines, jewelry and other stuff are currently on display at New York University, Old Europe is now being “rescued from obscurity.”

‘Bout time, I say!

Of course the article is not without its flaws.

First, the author downplays the notion that women had power in Old Europe, or that the “ubiquitous” female figurines were – gasp! – goddesses (Oh no! Not scary goddesses!).

The explanation at the end of the article as to what these figurines “were” is a hoot. Don’t miss it! Apparently the author threw a bunch of words into a bag, shook hard, dumped the words, and then printed them out on paper.

The resulting paragraphs read like crow tracks rambling across a snow bank.

Second, a guy’s quoted saying the Old Europeans had a social hierarchy – you know, social classes, snooty snobs, and all that ick? Hafta give the author of the article credit, though. At least he clears his throat and voices a gigundo concern, namely this: if the Old Europeans had snooty snobs, why didn’t the snoots live in nicer houses than everyone else did?

Thing is, Old Europe *had* no “nicer” houses with “nicer” stuff in them. All the houses were equal, and plumped up with equally nice furniture, dishes, art, and so forth.

Well, enough of my rambling. Here for your reading pleasure, are a few snippets from the article, A Lost European Culture, Pulled From Obscurity, by John Noble Wilford, published November 30, 2009

Before the glory that was Greece and Rome, even before the first cities of Mesopotamia or temples along the Nile, there lived in the Lower Danube Valley and the Balkan foothills people who were ahead of their time in art, technology and long-distance trade.

SNIP

Their graves held an impressive array of exquisite headdresses and necklaces and, in one cemetery, the earliest major assemblage of gold artifacts to be found anywhere in the world.

SNIP

Until recent discoveries, the most intriguing artifacts [found from this culture] were the ubiquitous terracotta “goddess” figurines, originally interpreted [sic] as evidence of the spiritual and political power of women in society.

SNIP

At its peak, around 4500 B.C., said David W. Anthony, the exhibition’s guest curator, “Old Europe was among the most sophisticated and technologically advanced places in the world” and was developing “many of the political, technological and ideological signs of civilization.”

A few towns of the Cucuteni people, a later and apparently robust culture in the north of Old Europe, grew to more than 800 acres, which archaeologists consider larger than any other known human settlements at the time.

SNIP

“The concentration of imported prestige objects in a distinct minority of graves suggest that institutionalized higher ranks did exist,” exhibition curators noted in a text panel accompanying the Varna gold.

Yet it is puzzling that the elite seemed not to indulge in private lives of excess. “The people who donned gold costumes for public events while they were alive,” Dr. Anthony wrote, “went home to fairly ordinary houses.”

SNIP

An entire gallery is devoted to the [human and primarily female] figurines, the more familiar and provocative of the culture’s treasures. They have been found in virtually every Old Europe culture and in several contexts: in graves, house shrines and other possibly “religious spaces.”

Go HERE to read the entire article.
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The pic above shows a Cucuteni goddess figurine. She dates from 4045-3800 BC.

Clawing YOUR WAY INTO HEAVEN

By being slaughtered, raped, or both, women can claw their way into Jehovah’s heaven.

Or, by pumping nails into the heads of peacefully sleeping men:

“Blessed above women shall Jael the wife of Heber the Kenite be…. She put her hand to the nail, and her right hand to the workmen’s hammer; and with the hammer she smote Sisera, she smote off his head, when she had pierced and stricken through his temples.” ~Judges 5.24-26.

Excepting the deep-down brain dead, what woman would willingly call herself a Christian?

And what cool dude would touch a Christian woman with a ten-foot pole?

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Thnx to Jo Harpley for the foto; go HERE to see more of her work.

BURKA WEARERS Bamboozled

"In the 21st century, the Islamic burka, the full-face-and-body veil, adopted by more women every day, has become the most potent human symbol on earth. But what exactly does it symbolize? Many say it stands for piety. No, that's wrong, says Marnia Lazreg, an Algerian-born professor of sociology at the City University of New York. Piety has little to do with it; the Koran doesn't even mention the veil.

In truth, the veil stands for political ideology and male power."

MORE >>>>
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Thnx to jjay69 for the foto; go HERE to see more of his work.

PLEASE Pass THE YAJ*

Ever notice how YAJ* barks and bites at himself -- 24/7? It’s not just Yahweh stomping on Allah, Allah jumping on Jehovah, and Jehovah yammering away at Yahweh. It’s Baptists beating up on Methodists, and Methodists mopping the floor with Mormons.

And each sect beats up on its own, the Reformed Baptists blistering the Free Will Baptists, and the Evangelical Methodists bellowing about how the United Methodists don’t have a *clue.*

And so on.

Even in YAJ houses of worship there’s a feast of fussing and fighting. How to spend the church coffers. Who to hire to replace the priest (rabbi, iman, etc.). How many angels can dance on the head of a pin.

Maybe the way to sweep away the entire mess is just to let YAJ fight himself harder and faster, and faster and harder -- until he becomes a puddle of butter.

And we can take that butter home to Mama, who’ll make us some pancakes.

Yum!
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*YAJ: the god Yahweh-Allah-Jehovah. Most think YAJ is three separate gods, but they're wrong. YAJ is just one mean old dude with a split personality. He's the god of the Old Testament patriarch Abraham.
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Thnx to jeromestarkey for the foto of the Afghan dog fight. Go HERE to see more of his work.

WARFARE IS not IN OUR DNA

This article in NewScientist is worth a look-at. Says what I do in Switching to Goddess: anyone who thinks warfare is in our genes is off track:

OPTIMISTS called the first world war "the war to end all wars". Philosopher George Santayana demurred. In its aftermath he declared: "Only the dead have seen the end of war". History has proved him right, of course. What's more, today virtually nobody believes that humankind will ever transcend the violence and bloodshed of warfare. I know this because for years I have conducted numerous surveys asking people if they think war is inevitable. Whether male or female, liberal or conservative, old or young, most people believe it is. For example, when I asked students at my university "Will humans ever stop fighting wars?" more than 90 per cent answered "No". Many justified their assertion by adding that war is "part of human nature" or "in our genes". But is it really?

MORE >>>>

CHICKEN WINGS & Red PEPPERS

Am microwaving chicken wings, brussels sprouts, squares of sweet red peppers and broccoli spears for dinner.

The aroma is wafting out to me on my sunporch and I’m salivating.

AND thinking about how the wonderful chemicals and substances and nutrients in these foods come directly from Mother Earth – really, they ARE Mother Earth, Her gift to us.

Amazingly, She gives of Her Body to sustain us and keep us alive and in good health.

Thank you Great Mother. I adore You more than words can tell.

Dressing THE BRIDE

This poem moved me to tears. Called "Dressng the Bride," it was written by Goddess Pages Editor Geraldine Charles.

Geraldine captures the heart & soul of what on this blog we call the 6000-year "slippery slide" of the Goddess into Her current underground hideaway. But read all the way to the end, because there you'll find a golden promise:

Sure, ‘twas as though the granite bones
And flesh of earthen Mother,
Rose up, said, “Well, I’ve a will to be wed
To my white and golden lover
My white, my gold-haired lover.

“He’s a son of the sun and a son of my own
So the sun and the sky I will wed,
For they say I’m owed a warrior bold
To protect the fields in my stead
To preserve the land in my stead.”

Will Sheelah-na-Gig then jig for joy?
Will fairies then dance in a ring?
Or will Morgan le Fay angrily say,
“We’ve started a terrible thing
Oh, begun a terrible thing.”

“Oh, Mother”, we said, “don’t marry that man,
We need no warriors bold and brave -
His kind will call you whore and hag,
Rip minerals from your caves,
Yes, rape iron and oil from your caves.

“No, Mother, don’t marry the son of the sun,
His sons will bring you sorrow -
They’ll shit in the ocean and piss in your wells,
For you there’ll be no tomorrow,
For all of us no tomorrow.”

And Sheelah-na-Gig won’t jig for joy,
The fairies won’t dance in a ring -
And Morgan le Fay will sadly say,
“We’ve started a terrible thing
Oh, begun a terrible thing.”

We’ll give you a day like you never had
A day of praises, joy and mirth -
Far better than tying yourself to that lad
A day for Mother Earth
Just to celebrate Mother Earth.

We’ll dress you in green; we’ll dress you in brown,
We’ll polish your lakes, from swords make ploughs,
And braid wildflowers into your crown -
And berries for your brow,
Gather berries for your brow.

And Sheelah-na-Gig will jig for joy,
The fairies will dance in a ring -
And Morgan le Fay will gravely say,
“We’ve avoided a terrible thing
Oh, escaped a terrible thing.”

But oh, my darlings, sad to say,
She wed the warrior bold and brave.
His sons forced all our maids away,
Ripping minerals from the caves,
Raping iron and oil from our caves.

So we went down to Troytown,
One cold and bitter winter’s day -
And danced into the Maizey Wheel,
And never came out again,
Not for five thousand years and a day.

And Sheelah-na-Gig is forced to church,
The fairies are no longer near.
And Morgan le Fay’s called bitch and whore,
There’s no place for the Lady here,
No, no place for the Lady here.

***

Now the dragon paths are trod again,
The veils are lifting from our eyes -
As earthen mother breaks her chains,
Flicks the warriors off like flies,
Flicks the warriors off like flies.

We’ll dress her in green; we’ll dress her in brown,
And polish her lakes, from swords make ploughs,
And braid wildflowers into her crown -
With berries for her brow,
Yes, to bind around her brow.

And Sheelah-na-Gig will jig for joy,
The fairies will dance in a ring -
And Morgan le Fay will gladly say,
“Our mother is everything
Mother Earth is everything.”

And Sheelah-na-Gig will jig for joy,
The fairies will dance in a ring -
And Morgan le Fay will sing all day,
“Our mother is everything
Mother Earth is everything.”

©2004, Geraldine Charles

When I read this poem, I want to sing it. Actually, I did sing it, in a Medieval kind of minor key that I just made up as I went along.

For me, singing this poem is a powerful experience. Try it, I think you'll like it!

In Switching to Goddess, I call for artists of all kinds to create works of art that bring The Goddess to the attention of the world.

This poem certainly does just that. I wonder if Geraldine would mind if a musician in our community put this poem to music?
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Thnx to Geraldine for letting me use this foto of her.
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Postscript: July 5, 2009. Geraldine said she has music to go with the poem. However, anyone who wants to put new music to it can, just give her credit for the words. Also, she's going to ask a good friend of hers -- a professional singer -- to make a podcast of the song. Alright!

MRS. B. BOWERS Explains MARRIAGE

In this not-to-be-missed video, Mrs. Betty Bowers, America's best Christian, explains marriage to everyone else:

THE WICKED CHILLY LINK BETWEEN War & RELIGION

It’s no accident that the Christian Bible is peppered over 300 times with the words “war” and “warrior.”

It’s no accident either that the History Channel offers almost nothing but shows on war and the bloody, blood-soaked Abrahamic religions*.

Fact is, there’s a wicked chilling link between war and the Abrahamaic religions*: It’s the Abrahamic and other war religions that cause war.

So how do we rid the world of war? Well, unless you’re willing and able to scrap the war religions, might as well forget it and go home, prop your dogs up, and snooze.
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*The Abrahamaic religions are Christianity, Judaism and Islam. So few differences exist among these three that they might as well be one religion. And since they spread like cancer, they now infect over half (53%) of the people in the world.
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thnx to spatial mongrel for the foto; go HERE to see more.

HAPPY SUMMER SOLSTICE!

Seems everyone who's anyone in the northern hemisphere celebrates (or has celebrated) the Summer Solstice.

Everyone except YAJ* that is, who despises Mother Earth as much as flies despise flypaper (because She's way more powerful than he is. Temper, temper, YAJ*!)

“Most societies in the northern hemisphere, ancient and modern, have celebrated a festival on or close to” the Summer Solstice.

For example, the Ancient Celts, Ancient China, Ancient Gaul, the Ancient Germanic countries, the Slav and Celtic tribes in Europe, Ancient Rome, Ancient Sweden, the Essenes, Native Americans, and the people of Prehistoric Europe.

Even the early Christians set their feast day of St. John the Baptist on June 24. It’s “one of the oldest [of all Christian] feasts, if not the oldest, introduced into both the Greek and Latin liturgies to honour a saint.”

Go HERE to read more.
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*YAJ is the god Yahweh-Allah-Jehovah, a schizoid diety who usually tries to pass himself off as three totally distinct holy dudes.

COMPASSION -- Like a Fox

These technically fab but amazingly violent illustrations come from a rare antique children's book I found recently.

I'm blown away by how violent and chillingly callous this book is. I can't believe that only a little over 100 years ago we, in our YAJ*-based culture, were reading this stuff to our four- and five-year-olds.

The book has four stories.

The pictures you see here come from "Tittums and Fido," and "Reynard the Fox."In "Ann and Her Mamma," Mamma points to a beggar girl and tells Ann to think how much more god has given her, Ann, than he has the beggar.

This girl is in bigtime trouble: "... her hands look like skeleton's bones; She has got a few rags, just about her to tie; And her naked feet bleed on the stones...."

And yet there's no mention of helping this human being starving right in front of their eyes; she's only an object lesson for lucky little Ann.

So much for Jesus and Christian compassion.

While I think we've come a long way, baby, since 1871, I seriously doubt YAJ* or Jesus had anything to do with it.

I just think the Goddess is on the rise again.

BTW, if you're interested in owning a book like this -- if only to remind yourself how far the Goddess has gotten us -- I'm selling it on eBay. Go HERE to see it (it's the red book with the parrot and crow on the front, called The Poll Parrot Picture Book).

You won't find any other copies of this book for sale on the Net -- it's just too rare. But you will find two copies in UK’s National Art Gallery.

The first was given to the Prince of Wales as a gift . Its gift inscription reads “To Prince George of Wales. June 3rd 1871 Michys (?), humble devoted duty. Many happy returns of the day.” Also in the book is this: "This book was presented to the Library of the Victoria & Albert Museum by Her Majesty Queen Mary."
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*YAJ is Yahweh-Allah-Jehovah, the god of Abraham. Many think YAJ is three different gods, but on this blog we know he's just one mean ol' cuss who's shot the world into the mess you see it in now.

WHY DON'T CHRISTIANS Act MORE LIKE CHRISTIANS?

You’ve seen it: Christians behaving badly.

Very badly.

They murder doctors (see two posts below), they murder their own children*, and they’ve even been known to wipe out entire flocks with one fell swoop of their poison-Koolaid pitchers (enter “Jim Jones” and “Peoples Temple” into any search engine and read all about it).

Where’d this pipe spring a leak? I’ll tell you where: In the Old Testament.

The Old Testament – which Christians refuse to burn and bury – is run by Jehovah the control freak, or as the famous British writer and scientist Richard Dawkins puts it, “… a vindictive, bloodthirsty …, misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bully.”

Dawkins adds: “Those of us schooled from infancy” in Jehovah’s ways “can become desensitized to their horror.”

And there you have it. This is why Christ means nothing -- as in zero, zip and nada – to Christians. His daddy Jehovah swamps him out.

Christians have never behaved like Christ.

From their beginnings in Rome when they ran around burning and looting the city, through their bloody Inquisition and “witch”** purges in the Middle Ages, to their modern Jonestowns and systematic killings of physicians, gays and their own sweet offspring,* Christians have been “misogynistic, homophobic, racist, infanticidal, genocidal, filicidal, pestilential, megalomaniacal, sadomasochistic, capriciously malevolent bullies.”

The nut never falls far from the tree, does it?

But please, mamas, don't let your kids grow up to be Christian!


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*Go HERE to read about Andrea Yates, Susan Smith, Deanna Laney and Christina Rigg.
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**I put "witches" in quotes here because while many of the women burned and tortured by Christians during the Middle Ages might have been real witches -- in the real sense of the word, i.e., women with the power to do magic -- it's a well-known fact that most of them were not.

The Christians went hog-wild killing and maiming during the Inquisition, and after a while didn't care who they ground into the dirt with the heels of their boots. Why? Partly because The "Church" was making it profitable for them to do so.
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Thanx to alfire for the foto; go HERE to see more.

WAS JESUS REALLY A Goddess?

Compared to his dad Jumping Jehovah at least, Jesus plays ball more like a goddess than a god. For example, he says, “Suffer the little children to come unto me” (although you’d be hard pressed to find him doing anything awesome for, to or with any of the kiddies in the Holy Bible).

He says, “Hey! Listen up dudes! I’m really serious about this: Do. Not. Hit. People. Or do anything else mean and janky to them.”

I do, however, think Jesus goes a tad further than any healthy, respectable goddess would go when he says, “Be a doormat. Someone bites you, sit on your big, throbbing need to bite back and offer the back of your other hand to let them sink their teeth into.”

In bigtime contrast, I think the Big-Cheese Guiding Mother Goddesses tell us not to hold out our hands for mutilation, but to teach, educate and reform biters.

The Mothers aren’t keen on having any of their babies bitten once, let alone twice.

And maybe *that’s* why Jesus’ disciples were mostly men! About 90% of all goddesses are heterosexual, and what good het goddess doesn’t adore the company of men?!?

And there, too, is why Jesus never married. His dad would sooner salt and oil gays and fry them up for breakfast as look at ‘em. So of course Jesus the goddess could hardly go around dating men. How would that make Her daddy look to all his carefully trained homophobic Christian buds?
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Many thnx to ElenaRay for the picture above. Go HERE for more of her fab work.

A CLUE: RELIGION ISN’T Going ANYWHERE

I don’t know about you, but I’m getting fed up with the “Religion is so bad to us -- why won’t it go away” camp. (See this article and the snippets from it below).

First, dust off your anthropology books, sweeties. Religion won’t go away ‘cause we humans exit mommy’s womb blank slates – stupidos, really – and we need something to clue us in on how to behave.

Animals have all the luck – they’re born with instincts. We aren’t. To survive, we hafta hang on for dear life to a “culture” – a connected spider web of rules for how to do everything from raising baby Bing to tying your shoe laces.

And religion is the center around which all cultures spin. Every single society anthropologists have studied has had religion. Why? ‘Cause without religion, humans can’t cope. (Well, dudes like Chris Hitchens can cope, but that’s only because they suck off a society already organized around a religion).

Second, the only reason some think religion is bad is this: The only religions they “see” are the ones with daddy-war gods ruling the roost: Yahweh’s religion, and Allah’s, and Jehovah’s, Ares’, Mars’, Zeus’, Indra’s, and the daddy-war god religions of the ancient Aztecs, Incas, Mayans, and Egyptians.

Jeesh, dudes, get a grip! Reams of other religions in the world haven’t lead to “political excesses … intolerance, persecutions, expulsions, forced conversions, [and] autos-da-fé…”. And guess what? They weren’t run by daddy-war gods. Look for example at the religions of the Pueblos, the Tahitians, or the Inuit.

And for big, beautiful complex civilizations run without daddy-war gods, feast your eyes on the Minoan and the Indus Valley Civilizations. All signs point to these two swirling around not daddy-war gods, but gorgeous guiding oddesses.
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“Prominent secularization theorists like Peter L. Berger who, as recently as the 1960s, openly conceded religion's demise, are having to radically alter their forecasts. They have had to invent new concepts and categories to describe the phenomenon of religion's unexpected global resurgence.”

SNIP

But Jeesh, look at “… the historical and political excesses of dogmatic belief: the intolerance, the persecutions, the expulsions, the forced conversions, the autos-da-fé….”

From Reason vs. Faith: the Battle Continues
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thnx to SLS Photography for the fine foto; go HERE to see more of her work.