[ExI] Omnitheism (was: Re: Atheism)

[Dan TheBookMan]

I have to nitpick. Theism means the view that there are gods or a god. That doesn’t entail religion necessarily. For instance, once can believe there are gods but one owes no alleigance to them and no rituals or practices that can alter their disposition. (Aristotle view of god seems like this.) Religion on the hand usually involves devotional practices or rituals and a view that one can affect the gods, one owes allegiance or service to them, that they take an interest in one’s affairs. (Again, Aristotle’s god seems to be utterly devoid of interest in people.)

There’s another problem with this view as anything other than a joke: various theistic views can be contradictory. At an abstract level, for instance, it seems monotheism (there is one and only one god) contradicts polytheism (there are more than one god).

Regards,

Dan
   Sample my Kindle books at:
http://author.to/DanUst

> On Apr 20, 2020, at 10:32 AM, Ben Zaiboc via extropy-chat <extropy-chat at lists.extropy.org> wrote:
> 
>  On 20/04/2020 10:57, Will Steinberg asked:
>> What are y'all?
> 
> I have an atheistic world-view, which stems from being a materialist, so I call myself an atheist. But I also call myself an 'Omnitheist', which is not about religious faith, but about membership of religions.
> 
> An Omnitheist claims membership of (although not belief in) ALL religions, past, present, future, real and imaginary. As an Omnitheist I can call myself a muslim, a zoroastrian, a sock-puppetarian, a pastafarian, a mormon, a wiccan, etc., etc. Absolutely everything.
> 
> Anyone who wants to become an Omnitheist just needs to read, print out and sign the following declaration, and voila, you are a fully-signed up member of every single religion that does, did, will, could and couldn't exist, with all the associated rights, privileges, obligations (automatically deemed to have been satisfactorily met), the holidays, and so-on. And this is perfectly compatible with atheism, you don't have to believe a thing (if any religion requires that you believe something, that requirement is simply deemed to have been met):
> 
> ===========================================================
> OMNITHEIST DECLARATION
> 
> By the reading and signing of this document, I the undersigned hereby declare, affirm and otherwise state:
> 
> That I am henceforth a full member of every religion that exists, has ever existed, will exist and could exist, as well as every religion that cannot exist for whatever reason.
> 
> In the case where membership of any religion requires the performance of a ritual, the utterance of a statement, or any other voluntary action, that action is hereby deemed to have been taken.
> 
> In the case where membership of any religion requires the explicit permission of an existing authority of that religion, a sect or splinter group of that religion is deemed to have been created which does not require such permission, and membership of such sect or splinter group is hereby asserted, claimed, granted and confirmed.
> 
> In the case where membership of any religion requires specific or general physical criteria to be met, such as bodily modifications, possession of certain bodily forms, gender, age, weight, etc., or pre-existing membership of some other group, such criteria are deemed to have been met.
> 
> In the case where membership of any religion requires any other conditions or circumstances, these are deemed to have been satisfied.
> 
> I hereby assume all the rights, responsibilities, duties and benefits that membership of the above-mentioned religions confers, and deem and certify that all such duties and obligations have been, are and will be carried out in a satisfactory manner.
> 
> This by the power, assent and indulgence of all the gods, demigods, devils, demons, elemental powers, spirits, sprites, ghosts, any other supernatural or imaginary beings and abstract concepts, past present and future, eternal and transient, real and imaginary, of my own free will, in solemnity and absurdity, in mockery and in reverence, permanently and irrevocably, unless and until I change my mind.
> 
> 
> Signed:
> ===========================================================
> -- 
> Ben Zaiboc
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