OT: A POLL How many pagans do we have on this Board?

[Lorenzo]

The Inquisition (what a show)
The Inquistion (here we go)
We know you're wishin' that we'd go away.
But the Inquisition's here and it's here to staaaay!

Could you post the rest of that song? I particularly like the next verse.

[amar]

here you go, the whole thing:


The Inquisition (Let's begin)
The Inquisition (Look out sin)
We have a mission to convert the Jews (Jew, Jew, Jew, Jew, Jew, Jew, Jew)
We're gonna teach them wrong from right.
We're gonna help them see the light
and make an offer that they can't refuse. (That those Jews just can't refuse)
Confess, don't be boring.
Say yes, don't be dull.
A fact you're ignoring:
It's better to lose your skull cap than your skull (or your govalt!)
The Inquisition (what a show)
The Inquistion (here we go)
We know you're wishin' that we'd go away.
But the Inquisition's here and it's here to stay!

"I was sitting in a temple. I was minding my own business.
I was listening to a lovely Hebrew mass.
Then these Papus persons plungered and they throw me in a dungeon and they shove a red hot poker up my ass.
Is that considerate? Is that polite?
And not a tube of Preperation H in sight!"

"I'm sittin' flickin' chickens and I'm lookin' throught the pickins' and suddenly thes goyim pull down valls.
I didn't even know them and they grabbed my by the stoghum and started playing ping pong with my balls!
Ooh, the agony! Ooh, the shame!
To make my privates public for a game?"

The Inquisition (what a show)
The Inquisition (here we go)
We know you're wishin' that we'd go away.
But the Inquisition's here and it's here to-
"Hey Toquemada, walk this way."
"I just got back from the Auto-de-fe."
"Auto-de-fe? What's an Auto-de-fe?"
"It's what you oughtn't to do but you do anyway."
Will you convert? "No, no, no, no."
Will you confess? "No, no, no, no."
Will you revert? "No, no, no, no."
Will you say yes? "No, no, no, no!"
Now I asked in a nice way, I said, "Pretty please."
I bent their ears, now I'll work on their knees!
"Hey Toquemada, walk this way. We got a little game that you might wanna play, so pull that handle, try you're luck."
"Who knows, Toq, you might win a buck!"

"How we doin', any converts today?"
"Not a one, nay, nay, nay."
"We flattened their fingers, we branded their buns!
Nothing is working! Send in the nuns!"

The Inquisition, what a show.
The Inquisition, here we go.
We know you're wishin' that we'd go away!
So all you Muslims and you Jews
We got big news for all of yous:
You'd better change your point of views TODAY!
'Cause the Inquisition's here and it's here to stay!

[Colin]

Wombat - From what I understand, the Picts were completely unrelated to the Celts anyhow (at least in terms of language and culture) and were indeed conquored by the Celts when they came to the British Isles. I've also heard they didn't even look like Celts, being a relatively dark-skinned population, but I don't know how much truth there is to that (FWIW, there are some darker-skinned individuals within the Welsh population. I once mistook a classmate of Welsh descent for a Hispanic, much to my embarassment).
...

I'm not sure from what sources you come to this opinion, but the
dominant opinion amongst Academic Historians is that the Picts were a
collection of Celtic tribes that spoke a P-Celtic (Brythonic) language, as
opposed to the Q-Celtic (Goedilic) of the Gaels. Pictish may have been an
archaic version of the Celtic Language spoken by the the Britons, who
occupied the rest of the island of Britain South of the Picts.
As for not looking like Celts, the various Celtic tribes/nations were not
necessarily of the same ethnic stock. They were grouped together more
by common languages, and spiritual and cultural beliefs.

Colin

[kevin m.]

For the Brits on the board-There's a four part documentary series called 'Pagans' starting on Channel 4 T.V. tonight at 9.pm.
A guy at work read the review of tonights programme in a sensationalist tabloid,and said that it features the story of an Irishman that had sex with his Horse(!!),then ate it!!!
Which naturally prompted the joke "How did he get home after Lunch?"
"He walked!"

[dubhlinn]

For the Brits on the board-There's a four part documentary series called 'Pagans' starting on Channel 4 T.V. tonight at 9.pm.
A guy at work read the review of tonights programme in a sensationalist tabloid,and said that it features the story of an Irishman that had sex with his Horse(!!),then ate it!!!
Which naturally prompted the joke "How did he get home after Lunch?"
"He walked!"

:roll:

sh*t.

Slan,
D.

[fancypiper]

Bob Dylan is God.

What???? Seamus Ennis!

Oops! This is the whistle board. Who is Mary Bergin then?

[dubhlinn]

Bob Dylan is God.

What???? Seamus Ennis!

Oops! This is the whistle board. Who is Mary Bergin then?

St.Cecilia,the patron saint of musicians.

"Cecilia,you're breaking my heart,
you're shaking my confidence daily.."

[kevin m.]

For the Brits on the board-There's a four part documentary series called 'Pagans' starting on Channel 4 T.V. tonight at 9.pm.
A guy at work read the review of tonights programme in a sensationalist tabloid,and said that it features the story of an Irishman that had sex with his Horse(!!),then ate it!!!
Which naturally prompted the joke "How did he get home after Lunch?"
"He walked!"

:roll:

sh*t.

Slan,
D.

Well what do you expect from 'The Daily Star'???- note that I called it a 'sensationalist Tabloid',nowhere did I use the term 'Newspaper
I on the otherhand,being a damn Liberal Pinko,I read 'The Guardian'-but none of us are perfect!

Oh by the way,I missed the programme in an abortive attempt to capture my sister's Cat,missing for the last ten days,but spotted this evening in some nearby woods.

[Walden]

And apparently Merriam-Webster is designed for use by old Christians... certainly the language reflects a strong religious-cultural bias. 1998 seems a bit recent to be retaining the term "Mohammedan", which in common usage has been largely discarded as it is offensive to Muslims.

anyway, it struck me as anachronistic, bordering on ridiculously so.

Essentially the point was, that pagan is not a term that, historically, has often been one that persons have generally applied to themselves, regardless of their religious persuasion, but was used by so-called Abrahamic monotheists to distinguish those religions which were not. In recent times it has been widely embraced by various forms of Wicca, New Age, etc.

If a non-Mormon referred to himself as a gentile, simply because Mormonism has historically referred to non-Mormons as such, it would unlikely come to be used as the new definition of gentile by the Jewish Orthodox.

Those copyright dates are as given by dictionary.com, but reading their links shows that it is transcribed from a 1913 dictionary. The 2000 edition of the American Heritage Dictionary says:

1. One who is not a Christian, Muslim, or Jew, especially a worshiper of a polytheistic religion. 2. One who has no religion. 3. A non-Christian. 4. A hedonist. 5. A Neo-Pagan.

[rh]

Essentially, the point was that pagan is not a term that, historically, has often been one that persons have generally applied to themselves, regardless of their religious persuasion, but was used by so-called Abrahamic monotheists to distinguish those religions which were not. In recent times it has been widely embraced by various forms of Wicca, New Age, etc.

point taken. a question was posed regarding the definition of "pagan" and the answer given included an admittedly anachronistic outsider-framed definition, to be construed by some due to its literary weight the "correct" definition, which has little to do with how those either describing themselves as pagan or rejecting said description TODAY would answer the question.

consider how the usage of "gay" or even "queer" would differ depending on historic vs contemporary usage. i hope one might be open to considering that the historic definition is not terribly useful in understanding the term in common parlance today.

most people who could read a dictionary in 1913 are quite dead by now. the world is quite different. methinks MW should do a bit of updating if it wishes to continue marketing product in the 21st century. my point.

[Cyfiawnder]

A born again Christian refers to the idea that by baptism, your sins are washed away and you "die" and are re-born sin free.

I am 2 weeks old today. I was born again (baptised) on the 4th of July.

Welcome to Paganism!
(oops, sorry! That's right...there's nothing pagan about Christianity! Miracles, Baptism, the Eucharist, Heaven, Hell, Prophecy, Eternal Life, and a hundred other Christian beliefs were not derived from Paganism!)

It's never been controversial! Melanchthon never wrote a book called Aplologia Confessionis Augustanae in 1530 AD, detailing Catholic rituals copied from Paganism.

H. Bullinger never wrote De Originie Erroris Libris Duo in 1539, detailing Catholic "cultic errors" copied from the Heathens.

Isaac Casaubon never wrote De rebus Sacris et Ecclesiasticus Exercitationes in 1614, about how the apostle Paul's use of terminology and ideas came from the pagan mystery religions.

...and thousands of modern scholarly works, such as Drudgery Divine, or The Survival of the Pagan Gods, have never linked the two!

You forgot "And the Irish Goodess Brid (pron: vree) was never cannonized into the Saint Bridgit that is recognized today. (because Brid was so popular that even the threat of being cast out of the church (oo stop scaring me) wouldn't make the pagans stop believing her. SO the christians gave in and decided to make her a saint instead... or did they...???
WSSL
Cyfiawnder

[Redwolf]

One quick correction: "Bríd" is pronounced "Breej," not "vree." The "B" doesn't become a "v" sound (spelled "bh") unless the name is used in the vocative or genitive.

Redwolf

[talasiga]

What do pagans believe? Do you have rites, ceremonies, prayers?
btw, I am an agnostic at heart (or should I say: at brain), although officially catholic.

The agnostic does not deny the existence of the Divine
but rejects the relevance of divinity to our lives.

So, if you be an agnostic,
what might be the relevance of your questions?

[talasiga]

........
A lot of people carry on as though they know with great accuracy and in considerable detail what druidic ceremonies were like. On what evidence are their beliefs based?

Perhaps you have sent the Pope a papaya from your "sub-tropical" Wollongong Garden
with a little note asking him to substantiate the rites around the Last Supper with evidence?

In case you hadn't noticed,
beliefs, themselves,
are evidence of faith.

[Redwolf]

........
A lot of people carry on as though they know with great accuracy and in considerable detail what druidic ceremonies were like. On what evidence are their beliefs based?

Perhaps you have sent the Pope a papaya from your "sub-tropical" Wollongong Garden
with a little note asking him to substantiate the rites around the Last Supper with evidence?

In case you hadn't noticed,
beliefs, themselves,
are evidence of faith.

ER...FWIW, not only do we have written descriptions of the events surrounding Christ's last supper with his disciples, we have significant knowledge of how Passover seders are and were celebrated, so that's really not an issue. Unlike the Jews and early Christians, however, most of the pagan sects didn't keep records of how they observed their rites.

Redwolf