Mankind's Worst Invention

[Goat Boy]

Monotheism
Rugby
Prog

[mentalist (slight return)]

Language. It stinks!

[kath]

Language. It stinks!

i hope yer not including semaphore in this.

[mentalist (slight return)]

Language. It stinks!

i hope yer not including semaphore in this.

Don't get me started on semaphore!

[Penk!]

These are all symptoms of the biggest issue that faces us - the notion that one human is inherently superior or more important than another.

Still bitter about losing in the 70s Cup I see.

[fange]

Rugby

[The Red Heifer]

Rugby

Aren't you in Brisbane now? It must be awfully hard to converse with the locals considering you come from the dimmer Australian stock that can't tell Union and League apart!

[Deebank]

Was/is polytheism any better than monotheism?

[The Prof]

god knows.

[Deebank]

Arf!

[The Prof]

or even

gods know

[Robert]

Language. It stinks!

We have a winner!

[fange]

Rugby

Aren't you in Brisbane now? It must be awfully hard to converse with the locals considering you come from the dimmer Australian stock that can't tell Union and League apart!

No, not yet - will be moving from HK to Brisvegas in July next year. And i'll have you know, you whippersnapper, that my knowledge of Union, League and 7s Rugby are probably a LOT better than your knowledge of AFL - as well as having lived in Sydney for about 18 months, i've visited NSW and Queensland many, many times over the last 20 years as my wife is a NSW country girl originally (from Macksville), plus all the times i've had to watch the version either in pubs, bars, or live here in HK for the last 11 years. (The HK Rugby Sevens is BIG weekend in the local calendar)

So to reply to your smartarse comment, i can indeed tell the difference between Union and League; this is how i generally like to differentiate them - Union is like the sit-down toilet of sports, while League is like a squatty-crapper.

[Jimbo]

squatty-crapper.

A contender.

[Rayge]

Was/is polytheism any better than monotheism?

Yes, because it does not legitimate the authoritarian model.

I'd really like to write more about this, as the reification of concepts into thing-like facticities (my favourite phrase from my years of reading sociological theory) from which people are alienated, and by which they are controlled or defined, is very much where I live, and after all I started this thread, but I really need to set aside a couple of hours and am hellishly busy at the moment, soz to all.

[KeithPratt]

Was/is polytheism any better than monotheism?

Difficult to say really. The issue with trying to decide whether one form of religion was better than another is that we have defined the term "religion" as a separate thing, whereas during polytheistic times, there simply wasn't such a concept.

In the western world Polytheism was generally inclusive, at least during the Roman Empire. Syncretism was common - in that various gods from various lands were syncretized into new ones and that people could worship their gods as long as they also recognised the corporate Roman ones, which also included family members, emperors etc. These would be inserted with increasing frequency into the calendar so that, in many cases, you were recognising some official person on a weekly basis. It was a significant part of how people "became" Roman as it were.

A central concept of polytheism, as I understand it, were that anthropomorphic gods walked amongst you, whereas Monotheism has a different concept of divinity - an all encompassing "power" as it were.

Why people converted to Christianity from Polytheism is another difficult question. It's obvious that they did so in increasing numbers during the 2nd century CE, but lots of different sects were also popular at the time.

[Deebank]

Was/is polytheism any better than monotheism?

Yes, because it does not legitimate the authoritarian model.

I'd really like to write more about this, as the reification of concepts into thing-like facticities (my favourite phrase from my years of reading sociological theory) from which people are alienated, and by which they are controlled or defined, is very much where I live, and after all I started this thread, but I really need to set aside a couple of hours and am hellishly busy at the moment, soz to all.

Fair dos.

I would question to what extent there is any such thing as true monotheism - in that all religions have demigods and other supernatural entities and miraculous humans etc don't they? Or perhaps I should have listenned more in RE

[naughty boy]

Or perhaps I should have listenned more in RE

and in English

[$P.Muff$]

The horse population never has fully recovered from the layoffs caused by the horseless carriage.

[The Red Heifer]

Rugby

Aren't you in Brisbane now? It must be awfully hard to converse with the locals considering you come from the dimmer Australian stock that can't tell Union and League apart!

No, not yet - will be moving from HK to Brisvegas in July next year. And i'll have you know, you whippersnapper, that my knowledge of Union, League and 7s Rugby are probably a LOT better than your knowledge of AFL - as well as having lived in Sydney for about 18 months, i've visited NSW and Queensland many, many times over the last 20 years as my wife is a NSW country girl originally (from Macksville), plus all the times i've had to watch the version either in pubs, bars, or live here in HK for the last 11 years. (The HK Rugby Sevens is BIG weekend in the local calendar)

So to reply to your smartarse comment, i can indeed tell the difference between Union and League; this is how i generally like to differentiate them - Union is like the sit-down toilet of sports, while League is like a squatty-crapper.

Smartarse comments are what I do best!

And for the record, I lived in Perth for a year and went out with an Adelaide girl (the former Heiferette) for nearly 4 years so I know my AFL well enough