Sanguina Cruenta
Orchidsandfractals
If you're a soft polytheist, try to remember that the Christian God is the same as the Pagan Gods and Goddesses, just in one.
No. That's not what "soft polytheism" means. That doesn't mean you can whitewash YHWH over the top of Pagan gods and pretend it's the same. Put DOWN the Ravenwolf!
Soft polytheism here would imply a great, many-faceted diamond. Each Pagan god and goddess would be a facet, but YHWH would also be a facet, not the diamond itself.
Quote:
A Catholic church may be a better fit for you to "blend in". The Virgin Mary is kinda like the Goddess, and Jesus is like the God, though the God himself presides over them.
Mary is like which goddess? Jesus is like which god? Why would you do Mary the disservice of elevating her to godhood? Why would you do YHWH the disservice of pretending his "family" is other deities within his house of worship?
You don't have to like YHWH, but if you're a guest in his temple, it's polite to conduct yourself with some honour. Honour applies regardless of whose house you are in.
Again the OP does not have the choice to not go to church. The Christian God is certainly not the same for myself as Apollon, Ares or any of the other Gods I honor, but I am not a very soft polytheist. (I do work parts of my culture into my religion, but I don't personally think all gods=the same. I am quite on the fence as to if other Gods out of the Greek Pantheon exist for myself, but I don't doubt they exist for other people, in just as real a manner as Hera does to me.) I am not suggesting she "whitewash" paganism(That would be telling her to view the pagan Gods as "The forest man" and other various beings of the night and stories who are much inferior to God himself. Or even worse, claiming that Easter is a true pagan holiday...), but simply honor her Gods in an acceptable way to her family, if she feels OK doing that until she has enough freedom not to do so, and privately honor her own personal gods. I don't read Silver Ravenwolf for the record for my religious advice, more like Homer... If you are forced to go to church, I'd say at least worshiping some aspect of the divine is better than insulting the divine by not worshiping any parts of it. Of course, it is MUCH more disrespectful to any gods for her family to force her to go to church if she's not believing, but that's a battle that may not be worth winning for the OP. I mean, Judaism doesn't allow forced conversions(Which is also an Abramic religion, and Islam discourages them as well, I believe.), and I haven't personally seen anything in the Christian Bible that says that they're OK or a good idea period. If one does believe all Gods are facets of one God, I see nothing wrong with worshiping the Christian God in all apperances if one is forced to. My family did a damn good job of pretending to be Christians for centuries when we were in fact Jews. Admittedly, that's more of a life or death situation with land invovled as opposed to a teen with unaccepting parents... However, if one's not OK with that, then one doesn't have to do that. Also, the Catholics honor the Virgin Mary to an extent that is almost a type of Goddess worship, with her being purer than all women and all that jazz and saving people from hell and whatnot. The degree to which she is held as the ideal can be extreme. Most Catholics I know pray to Mary before Jesus in stressful events, such as 911. Jesus IS god in most sects of Christianity, and is the key male human figure. I remember a few of my peers saying the Hail Mary when we were watching it on the news in class... Heck, the Saints are practically Gods at a lot of Churches(And by definition, the saints cure illnesses and talk to God, so if it helps the OP to view them in that light, it might help) that still do the Latin services, though not as much as at the more progressive Catholic ones.
Also, Unitarian Universalist churches allow pagans to worship, provided you don't worship a specific religion of paganism, and many many people think they're Christian only, so that could be a good way to "Go to Church" while still retaining beliefs.
ETA. There was actually a sect of Christians in Saudia Arabia who worshiped Mary. http://www.ewtn.com/library/HOMELIBR/COLLYRID.TXT From what I understand, they were considered heretics and no longer exist, but that is one specific example of people actually worshiping Mary and offering sacerfices to her.
