What is better, monotheism or polytheism?
For all practical purposes, Polytheism is any day far more accommodating and and inclusive than Monotheism.Polytheism recognises the diversity in mankind and provides for different temperaments and liking.Monotheism is way less tolerant and requires its followers to forgo their belief in any other symbol of belief than their own.The best example would be the two major Abrahamic religions of Christianity and Islam, where you HAVE to believe in their respective prophets to be called a believer, and believing in any other form of divinity is blasphemy.On the other hand, Polytheism is based on the appreciation of natural forces, and each deity is fine tuned to the likes and dislikes of his / her followers.Also there is respect for those deities even whom you don't follow.The Greeks, Romans, Hindus and Egyptians were respectful of each other's deities when they traveled, and this can very well be seen in the Gandhara school of art, where Buddha is depicted in the style of Greek gods, as the invading Greeks maintained respect for the local deities.If you look at philosophical and logical explanations, Monotheism doesn't even make sense. Claiming there is ONLY one God who created everything seems to imply that this God is seperate from the world we live in.Now, to create something that is separate from you, the creator and the creation both have to exist as a part of a larger universe. Simply implying that this creator God is not the ultimate truth out there, and larger forms of power exist.Polytheism on the other hand talks about a natural order, which is not a material thing but a set of conditions, which have to exist for creation to happen ( or not happen). It doesn't hold the creator and the creation to be separate, as all are part of the same natural order.
Out of the two US presidential candidates which one do you think is worse, Donald Trump or Hillary Clinton?
Strange as it may sound, the question evokes in me a conflict between my gut and my heart. My gut reaction is the country is going into a period of anarchy where the better angels of our nature are betrayed and lost from sight. In that country, I suppose someone like Donald Trump is the better president, although I’m at a loss to say why.I don’t see Trump holding the country together, unifying or building. He seems intent on doing the exact opposite. I do see his movement as a reaction to the excesses of political correctness but for all the rhetoric, that seems trivial.Hillary I see as the president if I feel the country will last another hundred years. That there will be a United States to lead the world further in the directions of the Founders and the Age of Reason. That may sound opposite or obtuse to some who’ve internalized the rhetoric of Originalists, but I feel and think it’s accurate.The conflict between these two impressions sorrows me overall.
Why are so many people shunning religion today?
Evangelical christians deserve a lot of credit for the increasing rate that people are shunning religion today. Ever since Trump got elected, Evangelical’s hateful ideology has been on full display. They have shown that it is christian to hate refugees, liberals, persons of color, LBGTQ+ people, women, and many others.Evangelical christianity is also closely identified with Donald Trump. He has done an incredible job of exposing the hatred, bad character and hypocrisy of evangelicalism.Those factors: Evangelical ideology and Trump’s support of it are doing something I find incredible: They are driving what I call “cultural christians” away form the faith. A cultural christian is a person who identifies as christian, celebrates some religious holidays, but rarely if ever attends church.I am excited to see the cultural christians leave christianity! Politicians have believed for a long time that identifying as christian would boost their voter turnout. Now that’s finally changing. People are more and more often conflating “christian” with “bigot” “misogynist” and “white supremacist”. That is going to make identifying oneself as a christian an electoral disadvantage. Once that happens, we will finally be able to purge the nation of movement conservatism, relegating it to the fringes where it belongs.Thanks Trump.
What are the most progressive Southern states? Which ones are moving more conservative? Which ones have stayed the same?
It depends on what you’re measuring by “south” and “progressive”. If we open with a map of the Census-designated South:Then overlay how many of the last four elections each party won, you’d say DC, Maryland and Delaware, with Virginia and Florida being purple. But depending on which states count as South to you, you could easily say New Mexico is the winner with Colorado being close behind.Of course breaking it down by County means “states” is a very inefficient term for it:Here’s NBC News’ overall “conservative”/“liberal divide.” Again giving you DC, DE, MD.Gay marriage 2015, bringing back DC, DE, MD, hearkening back VA, FL, and adding in NC, SC, Oklahoma. So we’re getting a tone of the Atlantic south.Marijuana, following more traditional red/blue lines:Minimum wage, Arkansas, Florida. When I lived in Arkansas it had a huge hippie culture—almost like a Northern California, there were people who moved there to get off the grid and chill:Abortion—again showing Atlantic places that many don’t consider the South anyway:Guns—DC, MD, DE, and then a bit of VA and that one down there is Alabama. But again depending on your definition you may say Illinois is the winner, or Colorado:So this is my one chance to say, let’s not reinforce this whole Clinton v Trump thing by implying that red/blue necessarily means conservative/liberal let alone good/bad. The pendulum switches back and forth. You’re not rebelling against your parents/grandparents—the parties were almost exactly the opposite on most issues when they were born. Okay, just boilerplating…So who’s closest to turning blue? I think the answer to the question most people think of when they read what you wrote is: The Atlantic “Southern” states.