Judging the Lack of Goodness in Gods, Even the Norse God Odin

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

Axiological formulation of the argument from evil: https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/evil/

The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy, states, as it stands, this argument Axiological Formulation of the argument from evil is deductively valid: Link (Here is the formal philosophical proof) 

Would It Be Bad or Good if God Exists? (an axiological question)

For example, it’s possible to be a theist, believing that, God’s existence would increase the net value in the world. Conversely, it’s also possible to be a theist believing that, God’s existence would decrease the net value in the world. Perhaps this is the difference between a mere axiological theist and a theist who is an axiological atheist (anti-theistic).

Moreover, it’s possible to be an atheist, but wish that God existed because one believes that, on balance, God’s existence would increase the net value in the world. Conversely, it’s also possible to be an atheist and be quite happy that God doesn’t exist because one believes that, on balance, God’s existence would decrease the net value in the world. Perhaps this is the difference between an atheist who is an axiological theist and an atheist who is an axiological atheist (anti-theistic).

I am an axiological atheist below is some info on this.

I am a “Scientific Axiology” minded “Philosophic Axiologist Theorist” and my conclusion is Axiological atheism: Link 

“I think it depends on which version of God.” – Challenger 

My response, “God” is a label of power and generally involves a proposed entity that can violate human rights with impunity or demand workshop and or following the rules it desires or bad/harmful things may happen to you. To me, gods are anti-humanistic as a general rule. Others claimed as only helpful have no evidence of helping which either debunks their existing or any chance they are helpful. 

“The God of many an Enlightenment thinker was more a prime mover at the beginning. Not someone involved in the day to day operations. Almost a scientist that set an experiment up to see what happens. Also, I think Muslims do not see Allah as having perfect knowledge, unlike some Christian sects. Al Fadur, the All-Father, one above, of Norse Mythology is not so known but often expressed as merely a wiser Odin. Anthropomorphic Gods cannot be all-knowing. Concepts of God as being everything are more Spinozian. Is this case a God is merely a placeholder for how the Universe works, a cosmic clockwork, not an actual entity.” – Challenger   

My Response, Deism is a god that created a reality without care of its inhabitants is thus not good. 

“In Islam, God (Allāh) is the absolute one, the all-powerful and all-knowing ruler of the universe, and the creator of everything in existence.” https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/God_in_Islam 

And all gods claimed to have hells with suffering like Allah in Islam are anti-humanistic. In Norse mythology, Odin is the creator god thus is responsible for the suffering in that world like any other claimed creator god and thus not good. 

“Norse Gods: How Odin Created The World: The Vikings believed that their god Odin created the world. However, the Vikings saw the world as created by Odin a little… differently. When they looked up at the sky, they made the leap that it was the skull of Ymir (a god Odin killed) and the world we live on must be his dead body — mutilated and stuffed into his skull. If that’s the case, then the oceans must be his blood, the mountains his bone, and the clouds his brains. The Vikings accepted these beliefs about the origins of the world. This means there was a moment in history when an ancient shaman also told the Norse people that Ymir was a hermaphrodite and giant babies crawled out from between his legs and (for some reason) his armpits while he slept. Oh, and by the way, you’re standing on his corpse. But instead of insisting that the shaman seek psychiatric help, they listened in rapture as he told them about how Odin and his brothers tore that hermaphroditic god from limb to limb. How they rolled his muscles and skin into a ball, marinated him in his own blood, and then shoved that glob back into his own skull. The Vikings would then praise the proverbial shaman for his beautiful tale and pass it down for generations. Hence, the Norse believed this was how Odin created the world, and that’s what they told their children — that our world was a horrifying corpse planet covered in oceans of blood.” https://allthatsinteresting.com/norse-gods-mythology

“Einstein’s Paradox: God’s Omniscience and Man’s Freewill by Sheikh Mansour Leghaei (This article is an attempt to reconcile between God’s Omniscience and Omnipotence with man’s free will. Determinism in this article is not meant for causative determinism. Although we disagree with determinism, we confirm causative determinism. This article will also analyze Quranic statements as well as Prophetic Narrations on the issue of determinism and free will.) Link“ – Challenger  

My Response, That article is faith-based nonsense it is not proving me wrong it is rather apologetics just like Christian apologetics. 

“Odin is not responsible in their mythology. Storm Giants and Dark Elves are. Odin did not ‘create’ everything. He is the child of those that came before. Alfadur is the God above all in the heaven above all that he foresaw while hanging on Ygdrasil.” – Challenger 

My Response, Allfather, or Alföðr, a name of Odin, the supreme god in Norse mythology. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allfather 

“Not all gods do have a Hell. Jehovah’s Witnesses, do not believe a Hell. {People who die pass out of existence. (Psalm 146:4; Ecclesiastes 9:
5, 10) They do not suffer in a fiery hell of torment: Link}. Sikhism doesn’t either. {Guru Nanak’s teachings are founded not on a final destination of heaven or hell but on a spiritual union with the Akal which results in salvation or Jivanmukti (liberation whilst alive), a concept also found in Hinduism. Guru Gobind Singh makes it clear that human birth is obtained with great fortune, therefore one needs to be able to make the most of this life: Link}. The real concept of Hell comes from Zoroastrianism. Read The Children of Odin. Tells you more. The Vanir are pre Patriarchal influence. The Asir are the invading Asian Gods. So too, in the ending Mythology, the Story of Odin dying on the One Tree for 9 days and Nights shows the influence of the invading Christian religions.” – Challenger

My Response, “The half-god, half-giant children of Bor and Bestla were Odin, who became the chief of the Aesir gods, and his two brothers, Vili and Ve. Odin and his brothers slew Ymir and set about constructing the world from his corpse. They fashioned the oceans from his blood, the soil from his skin and muscles, vegetation from his hair, clouds from his brains, and the sky from his skull. Four dwarves, corresponding to the four cardinal points, held Ymir’s skull aloft above the earth. The gods eventually formed the first man and woman, Ask and Embla, from two tree trunks.” https://norse-mythology.org/tales/norse-creation-myth/  

“The Idea if the serpent Jormungand is a variation of Tiamat. Thor is derivative of a Hittite Storm God with a big club or Hammer. Yes, Odin was not there at the primordial beginning.” – Challenger  

My Response, Odin, is claimed to create the world as it is so is reasonable as I have been saying. 

“Odin was half God and Half-Giant. Some versions have Loki helping to create mankind, giving man cunning and creativity. No version I know of puts Odin at the start. Only as a matter of the structure before Ragnarok. The World after, he did not form, he only saw. That is the current form.” – Challenger 

My Response, Here is the story of Askr, and Embla the first man and first woman in NORSE MYTHOLOGY “Askr and Embla, in Norse mythology, the first man and first woman, respectively, parents of the human race. They were created from tree trunks found on the seashore by three gods—Odin and his two brothers, Vili and Ve (some sources name the gods Odin, Hoenir, and Lodur). From each creator Askr and Embla received a gift: Odin gave them breath or life, Vili gave them understanding, and Ve gave them their senses and outward appearance.” https://www.britannica.com/topic/Askr-and-Embla 

“And Odin was not all-wise, all-knowing, only far-seeing. He had Ravens to give him the news. And he sacrificed his eye to gain some of the wisdom of Mimir, who was a fallen God of the Vanir in turn sacrificed into a well. Anyone taking a draught of that well-gained Wisdom. Norse mythology has no Fall in the Garden story, nothing that claims Odin created evil. In fact, Odin’s whole existence was fighting evil, directly.” – Challenger

My Response, So Odin, as explained, was not a good creator of the world or the first humans but you are giving him an exception for this lack of goodness of making a good world without suffering? 

“Odin did not create either suffering or Goodness. It is hard to put Judeo-Christian values onto a foreign mythology. When you do it skews the stories to mean something else.” – Challenger  

My Response, When  Odin supposedly breathed life into the first humans did he insure they would not endure suffering? Did he ask the others to do so? The creator of a harmful child’s toy is responsible even if they didn’t know it would be harmful for the child.  So are you now being an apologist for Norse mythology? I judge on universal ethics. 

“For Norse the gods were in control of things  The most widely-used Old Norse word for “god” was áss (pronounced “OWS”), or æsir (pronounced “EYE-seer”) in the plural (“gods”). Its corresponding feminine form for “goddess” was ásynja (pronounced “ow-SIN-ya”), or ásynjur (pronounced “ow-SIN-yur”) in the plural (“goddesses”). When referred to as a collective that included both gods and goddesses, the masculine plural æsir was used. These words are all derived from one of two Proto-Germanic roots: *ansaz, “pole, beam, rafter,” or *ansuz, “life, vitality.” This powerfully suggests that the Vikings thought of their gods as the “poles” or “vital forces” that held together and sustained the cosmos and its order. And, indeed, this is exactly what we find in their myths. The gods were very much a part of the cosmos rather than beings who merely manipulated it from the outside. When the cosmos arose, they arose with it as part of the same process. And when the cosmos will fall, as the Norse believed it would at Ragnarok, the gods will fall with it. But even though the gods were part of the cosmos, they weren’t just ordinary members of it. The structure of the cosmos was seen as analogous to the Norse social hierarchy, with the gods and goddesses as the rulers (Old Norse regin, pronounced roughly “RAY-gen,” another common word for the gods) who established and enforced the order of the cosmic system as a whole, to which any and all other inhabitants of the cosmos were subject.” https://norse-mythology.org/concepts/polytheistic-theology-and-ethics/  

“Yes, they were Archetypes for aspects of Nature, but not the creators of it. It is mythology, heuristics and a few other things.” – Challenger  

My Response, I have provided support for everything I claimed and have proven my point as a stated it. You are seemingly in some agreement unless you want to prove otherwise.

“Damien, your statement that Odin created hel as a punishment for bad people? No, I do not agree. There is no original sin. Odin at best rewarded virtuous people in life and in death and punished the living who were bad, such as the story of the two lost brothers that Odin and Frigga shelter until spring. Odin went to see them when they were grown. He ended up punishing the one he trained and installing the one Frigga trained as the new king because his protege was so evil. Vallhalla is the hall for the bravest and most honorable warriors when they die they are chosen to help fight the last battle. But still no creation of evil and punishing with an afterlife. And again you did not prove Odin created Heaven and Hell as punishment and reward. Even Vallhalla is in not a Heaven, they fight a doomed last battle. At best Loki Created Hel as his Daughter is Hela.” – Challenger   

My Response, I never said there was original sin in Norse mythology either. You are staying things I did not say then attacking them which is not addressing what I did say. Odin was not good and was not trying to be good. 

“Odin has little regard for communal values such as justice, fairness, or respect for law and convention. He’s the divine patron of rulers, and also of outlaws. He’s a war-god, but also a poetry-god, and he has prominent “effeminate” qualities that would have brought unspeakable shame to any historical Viking warrior. He’s worshiped by those in search of prestige, honor, and nobility, yet he’s often cursed for being a fickle trickster.” https://norse-mythology.org/gods-and-creatures/the-aesir-gods-and-goddesses/odin/ 

“It depends on the people. Again Odin was a patron of poets he gave the magic mead and runes to mankind, of warriors, and he punished as the myths show also, unjust kings. So who is right? Which myths are we to believe. But still, he did not create good and evil. Historically he may have just been a mythologized historical king, witness the Asir Vanir War. Really a retelling of the encounter of nomadic Asiatic tribes moving north into Europe. Norse Mythology like all mythologies have truth to them but it is not meant as literal. Even Origen of the early Christian Church did nit ascribe to a literal garden of Eden.” – Challenger  

My Response, Now as to where the Idea of Odin came from I to have heard he actually may have started out as a shaman and or a king/clan leader. Even if that is where the myth started that is not where it ended and as he was responsible for the creation of the world humans live in and the one who is said to have given life to humans he is responsible for what he created and as he doesn’t care about ethics it is no wonder it is not said he cared to remove the suffering of the creation of humans he was responsible for thus he is responsible for the suffering in the world humans experience this and others make him not good. 

My Response, They saw Odin as real enough to do human sacrifice. “This scene above is carved onto a picture stone can be interpreted as a blót (sacrifice) to Odin. In the middle, a person is apparently being sacrificed on an altar. A large bird of prey, possibly one of Odin’s ravens, hovers above. To the left, another person has a noose around their neck and is hanging from a tree. Gotlandic picture stone from Stora Hammars I, in Lärbro parish, Sweden. A human life was the most valuable sacrifice that the Vikings could make to the gods. We know from written sources that Odin – the king of the gods – demanded human sacrifices.” https://en.natmus.dk/historical-knowledge/denmark/prehistoric-period-until-1050-ad/the-viking-age/religion-magic-death-and-rituals/human-sacrifices/?fbclid=IwAR1F9rUBkehotu0ZxEa98o7LspWXGMx8uc7-6Zph5AiPBeHD8ivMpQJGl74 

“But he did not have a heaven and hell created to reward or punish, and he was not all-knowing. At best he was wiser than most and only after great personal sacrifice.” – Challenger   

My Response, Odin desiring human sacrifice makes him a not good god. “Human sacrifices at Trelleborg. A human life was the most valuable sacrifice that the Vikings could make to the gods. We know from written sources that Odin – the king of the gods – demanded human sacrifices. At Trelleborg, a sacrificial site was found from the time before the Viking fortress was erected in 980-81. In five c. 3 meter-deep wells human and animal skeletons were found, together with jewelry and tools. Of the total of five human sacrifices, four were young children aged between 4 and 7. It is very significant that the skeletons were found in wells. The Vikings attributed great symbolic importance to wells. Odin gained his wisdom from drinking at Mímir’s well. In exchange, he had to sacrifice one of his eyes to Mímir. But what could the sacrifice of a whole human being be rewarded with by Odin? At Trelleborg, a small enclosure was also identified near to three of the sacrificial wells. Here a sacrificial ritual may have taken place before the victims were deposited in the deep wells.” https://en.natmus.dk/historical-knowledge/denmark/prehistoric-period-until-1050-ad/the-viking-age/religion-magic-death-and-rituals/human-sacrifices/?fbclid=IwAR1F9rUBkehotu0ZxEa98o7LspWXGMx8uc7-6Zph5AiPBeHD8ivMpQJGl74  

My Response, There can be many ways to value judge that a god lacks goodness as I have explained with Odin, not just one or two that are the most common with gods, in general, such as creating suffering hell(s). 

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

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Animism: Respecting the Living World by Graham Harvey 

“How have human cultures engaged with and thought about animals, plants, rocks, clouds, and other elements in their natural surroundings? Do animals and other natural objects have a spirit or soul? What is their relationship to humans? In this new study, Graham Harvey explores current and past animistic beliefs and practices of Native Americans, Maori, Aboriginal Australians, and eco-pagans. He considers the varieties of animism found in these cultures as well as their shared desire to live respectfully within larger natural communities. Drawing on his extensive casework, Harvey also considers the linguistic, performative, ecological, and activist implications of these different animisms.” ref

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

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Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

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Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

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Low Gods “Earth” or Tutelary deity and High Gods “Sky” or Supreme deity

“An Earth goddess is a deification of the Earth. Earth goddesses are often associated with the “chthonic” deities of the underworld. Ki and Ninhursag are Mesopotamian earth goddesses. In Greek mythology, the Earth is personified as Gaia, corresponding to Roman Terra, Indic Prithvi/Bhūmi, etc. traced to an “Earth Mother” complementary to the “Sky Father” in Proto-Indo-European religion. Egyptian mythology exceptionally has a sky goddess and an Earth god.” ref

“A mother goddess is a goddess who represents or is a personification of nature, motherhood, fertility, creation, destruction or who embodies the bounty of the Earth. When equated with the Earth or the natural world, such goddesses are sometimes referred to as Mother Earth or as the Earth Mother. In some religious traditions or movements, Heavenly Mother (also referred to as Mother in Heaven or Sky Mother) is the wife or feminine counterpart of the Sky father or God the Father.” ref

“Any masculine sky god is often also king of the gods, taking the position of patriarch within a pantheon. Such king gods are collectively categorized as “sky father” deities, with a polarity between sky and earth often being expressed by pairing a “sky father” god with an “earth mother” goddess (pairings of a sky mother with an earth father are less frequent). A main sky goddess is often the queen of the gods and may be an air/sky goddess in her own right, though she usually has other functions as well with “sky” not being her main. In antiquity, several sky goddesses in ancient Egypt, Mesopotamia, and the Near East were called Queen of Heaven. Neopagans often apply it with impunity to sky goddesses from other regions who were never associated with the term historically. The sky often has important religious significance. Many religions, both polytheistic and monotheistic, have deities associated with the sky.” ref

“In comparative mythology, sky father is a term for a recurring concept in polytheistic religions of a sky god who is addressed as a “father”, often the father of a pantheon and is often either a reigning or former King of the Gods. The concept of “sky father” may also be taken to include Sun gods with similar characteristics, such as Ra. The concept is complementary to an “earth mother“. “Sky Father” is a direct translation of the Vedic Dyaus Pita, etymologically descended from the same Proto-Indo-European deity name as the Greek Zeûs Pater and Roman Jupiter and Germanic Týr, Tir or Tiwaz, all of which are reflexes of the same Proto-Indo-European deity’s name, *Dyēus Ph₂tḗr. While there are numerous parallels adduced from outside of Indo-European mythology, there are exceptions (e.g. In Egyptian mythology, Nut is the sky mother and Geb is the earth father).” ref

Tutelary deity

“A tutelary (also tutelar) is a deity or spirit who is a guardian, patron, or protector of a particular place, geographic feature, person, lineage, nation, culture, or occupation. The etymology of “tutelary” expresses the concept of safety and thus of guardianship. In late Greek and Roman religion, one type of tutelary deity, the genius, functions as the personal deity or daimon of an individual from birth to death. Another form of personal tutelary spirit is the familiar spirit of European folklore.” ref

“A tutelary (also tutelar) in Korean shamanism, jangseung and sotdae were placed at the edge of villages to frighten off demons. They were also worshiped as deities. Seonangshin is the patron deity of the village in Korean tradition and was believed to embody the Seonangdang. In Philippine animism, Diwata or Lambana are deities or spirits that inhabit sacred places like mountains and mounds and serve as guardians. Such as: Maria Makiling is the deity who guards Mt. Makiling and Maria Cacao and Maria Sinukuan. In Shinto, the spirits, or kami, which give life to human bodies come from nature and return to it after death. Ancestors are therefore themselves tutelaries to be worshiped. And similarly, Native American beliefs such as Tonás, tutelary animal spirit among the Zapotec and Totems, familial or clan spirits among the Ojibwe, can be animals.” ref

“A tutelary (also tutelar) in Austronesian beliefs such as: Atua (gods and spirits of the Polynesian peoples such as the Māori or the Hawaiians), Hanitu (Bunun of Taiwan‘s term for spirit), Hyang (Kawi, Sundanese, Javanese, and Balinese Supreme Being, in ancient Java and Bali mythology and this spiritual entity, can be either divine or ancestral), Kaitiaki (New Zealand Māori term used for the concept of guardianship, for the sky, the sea, and the land), Kawas (mythology) (divided into 6 groups: gods, ancestors, souls of the living, spirits of living things, spirits of lifeless objects, and ghosts), Tiki (Māori mythology, Tiki is the first man created by either Tūmatauenga or Tāne and represents deified ancestors found in most Polynesian cultures). ” ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref, ref

Mesopotamian Tutelary Deities can be seen as ones related to City-States 

“Historical city-states included Sumerian cities such as Uruk and Ur; Ancient Egyptian city-states, such as Thebes and Memphis; the Phoenician cities (such as Tyre and Sidon); the five Philistine city-states; the Berber city-states of the Garamantes; the city-states of ancient Greece (the poleis such as Athens, Sparta, Thebes, and Corinth); the Roman Republic (which grew from a city-state into a vast empire); the Italian city-states from the Middle Ages to the early modern period, such as Florence, Siena, Ferrara, Milan (which as they grew in power began to dominate neighboring cities) and Genoa and Venice, which became powerful thalassocracies; the Mayan and other cultures of pre-Columbian Mesoamerica (including cities such as Chichen Itza, Tikal, Copán and Monte Albán); the central Asian cities along the Silk Road; the city-states of the Swahili coast; Ragusa; states of the medieval Russian lands such as Novgorod and Pskov; and many others.” ref

“The Uruk period (ca. 4000 to 3100 BCE; also known as Protoliterate period) of Mesopotamia, named after the Sumerian city of Uruk, this period saw the emergence of urban life in Mesopotamia and the Sumerian civilization. City-States like Uruk and others had a patron tutelary City Deity along with a Priest-King.” ref

“Chinese folk religion, both past, and present, includes myriad tutelary deities. Exceptional individuals, highly cultivated sages, and prominent ancestors can be deified and honored after death. Lord Guan is the patron of military personnel and police, while Mazu is the patron of fishermen and sailors. Such as Tu Di Gong (Earth Deity) is the tutelary deity of a locality, and each individual locality has its own Earth Deity and Cheng Huang Gong (City God) is the guardian deity of an individual city, worshipped by local officials and locals since imperial times.” ref

“A tutelary (also tutelar) in Hinduism, personal tutelary deities are known as ishta-devata, while family tutelary deities are known as Kuladevata. Gramadevata are guardian deities of villages. Devas can also be seen as tutelary. Shiva is the patron of yogis and renunciants. City goddesses include: Mumbadevi (Mumbai), Sachchika (Osian); Kuladevis include: Ambika (Porwad), and Mahalakshmi. In NorthEast India Meitei mythology and religion (Sanamahism) of Manipur, there are various types of tutelary deities, among which Lam Lais are the most predominant ones. Tibetan Buddhism has Yidam as a tutelary deity. Dakini is the patron of those who seek knowledge.” ref

“A tutelary (also tutelar) The Greeks also thought deities guarded specific places: for instance, Athena was the patron goddess of the city of Athens. Socrates spoke of hearing the voice of his personal spirit or daimonion:

You have often heard me speak of an oracle or sign which comes to me … . This sign I have had ever since I was a child. The sign is a voice which comes to me and always forbids me to do something which I am going to do, but never commands me to do anything, and this is what stands in the way of my being a politician.” ref

“Tutelary deities who guard and preserve a place or a person are fundamental to ancient Roman religion. The tutelary deity of a man was his Genius, that of a woman her Juno. In the Imperial era, the Genius of the Emperor was a focus of Imperial cult. An emperor might also adopt a major deity as his personal patron or tutelary, as Augustus did Apollo. Precedents for claiming the personal protection of a deity were established in the Republican era, when for instance the Roman dictator Sulla advertised the goddess Victory as his tutelary by holding public games (ludi) in her honor.” ref

“Each town or city had one or more tutelary deities, whose protection was considered particularly vital in time of war and siege. Rome itself was protected by a goddess whose name was to be kept ritually secret on pain of death (for a supposed case, see Quintus Valerius Soranus). The Capitoline Triad of Juno, Jupiter, and Minerva were also tutelaries of Rome. The Italic towns had their own tutelary deities. Juno often had this function, as at the Latin town of Lanuvium and the Etruscan city of Veii, and was often housed in an especially grand temple on the arx (citadel) or other prominent or central location. The tutelary deity of Praeneste was Fortuna, whose oracle was renowned.” ref

“The Roman ritual of evocatio was premised on the belief that a town could be made vulnerable to military defeat if the power of its tutelary deity were diverted outside the city, perhaps by the offer of superior cult at Rome. The depiction of some goddesses such as the Magna Mater (Great Mother, or Cybele) as “tower-crowned” represents their capacity to preserve the city. A town in the provinces might adopt a deity from within the Roman religious sphere to serve as its guardian, or syncretize its own tutelary with such; for instance, a community within the civitas of the Remi in Gaul adopted Apollo as its tutelary, and at the capital of the Remi (present-day Rheims), the tutelary was Mars Camulus.” ref 

Household deity (a kind of or related to a Tutelary deity)

“A household deity is a deity or spirit that protects the home, looking after the entire household or certain key members. It has been a common belief in paganism as well as in folklore across many parts of the world. Household deities fit into two types; firstly, a specific deity – typically a goddess – often referred to as a hearth goddess or domestic goddess who is associated with the home and hearth, such as the ancient Greek Hestia.” ref

“The second type of household deities are those that are not one singular deity, but a type, or species of animistic deity, who usually have lesser powers than major deities. This type was common in the religions of antiquity, such as the Lares of ancient Roman religion, the Gashin of Korean shamanism, and Cofgodas of Anglo-Saxon paganism. These survived Christianisation as fairy-like creatures existing in folklore, such as the Anglo-Scottish Brownie and Slavic Domovoy.” ref

“Household deities were usually worshipped not in temples but in the home, where they would be represented by small idols (such as the teraphim of the Bible, often translated as “household gods” in Genesis 31:19 for example), amulets, paintings, or reliefs. They could also be found on domestic objects, such as cosmetic articles in the case of Tawaret. The more prosperous houses might have a small shrine to the household god(s); the lararium served this purpose in the case of the Romans. The gods would be treated as members of the family and invited to join in meals, or be given offerings of food and drink.” ref

“In many religions, both ancient and modern, a god would preside over the home. Certain species, or types, of household deities, existed. An example of this was the Roman Lares. Many European cultures retained house spirits into the modern period. Some examples of these include:

• Brownie (Scotland and England) or Hob (England) / Kobold (Germany) / Goblin / Hobgoblin
• Domovoy (Slavic)
• Nisse (Norwegian or Danish) / Tomte (Swedish) / Tonttu (Finnish)
• Húsvættir (Norse)” ref

“Although the cosmic status of household deities was not as lofty as that of the Twelve Olympians or the Aesir, they were also jealous of their dignity and also had to be appeased with shrines and offerings, however humble. Because of their immediacy they had arguably more influence on the day-to-day affairs of men than the remote gods did. Vestiges of their worship persisted long after Christianity and other major religions extirpated nearly every trace of the major pagan pantheons. Elements of the practice can be seen even today, with Christian accretions, where statues to various saints (such as St. Francis) protect gardens and grottos. Even the gargoyles found on older churches, could be viewed as guardians partitioning a sacred space.” ref

“For centuries, Christianity fought a mop-up war against these lingering minor pagan deities, but they proved tenacious. For example, Martin Luther‘s Tischreden have numerous – quite serious – references to dealing with kobolds. Eventually, rationalism and the Industrial Revolution threatened to erase most of these minor deities, until the advent of romantic nationalism rehabilitated them and embellished them into objects of literary curiosity in the 19th century. Since the 20th century this literature has been mined for characters for role-playing games, video games, and other fantasy personae, not infrequently invested with invented traits and hierarchies somewhat different from their mythological and folkloric roots.” ref

“In contradistinction to both Herbert Spencer and Edward Burnett Tylor, who defended theories of animistic origins of ancestor worship, Émile Durkheim saw its origin in totemism. In reality, this distinction is somewhat academic, since totemism may be regarded as a particularized manifestation of animism, and something of a synthesis of the two positions was attempted by Sigmund Freud. In Freud’s Totem and Taboo, both totem and taboo are outward expressions or manifestations of the same psychological tendency, a concept which is complementary to, or which rather reconciles, the apparent conflict. Freud preferred to emphasize the psychoanalytic implications of the reification of metaphysical forces, but with particular emphasis on its familial nature. This emphasis underscores, rather than weakens, the ancestral component.” ref

“William Edward Hearn, a noted classicist, and jurist, traced the origin of domestic deities from the earliest stages as an expression of animism, a belief system thought to have existed also in the neolithic, and the forerunner of Indo-European religion. In his analysis of the Indo-European household, in Chapter II “The House Spirit”, Section 1, he states:

The belief which guided the conduct of our forefathers was … the spirit rule of dead ancestors.” ref

“In Section 2 he proceeds to elaborate:

It is thus certain that the worship of deceased ancestors is a vera causa, and not a mere hypothesis. …

In the other European nations, the Slavs, the Teutons, and the Kelts, the House Spirit appears with no less distinctness. … [T]he existence of that worship does not admit of doubt. … The House Spirits had a multitude of other names which it is needless here to enumerate, but all of which are more or less expressive of their friendly relations with man. … In [England] … [h]e is the Brownie. … In Scotland this same Brownie is well known. He is usually described as attached to particular families, with whom he has been known to reside for centuries, threshing the corn, cleaning the house, and performing similar household tasks. His favorite gratification was milk and honey.” ref

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

Expressions of Atheistic Thinking:

• Around 2,600 years ago, Ajita Kesakambali, ancient Indian philosopher, who is the first known proponent of Indian materialism. ref
• Around 2,535 to 2,475 years ago, Heraclitus, Greek pre-Socratic philosopher, a native of the Greek city Ephesus, Ionia, on the coast of Anatolia, also known as Asia Minor or modern Turkey. ref
• Around 2,500 to 2,400 years ago, according to The Story of Civilization book series certain African pygmy tribes have no identifiable gods, spirits, or religious beliefs or rituals, and even what burials accrue are without ceremony. ref
• Around 2,490 to 2,430 years ago, Empedocles, Greek pre-Socratic philosopher and a citizen of Agrigentum, a Greek city in Sicily. ref
• Around 2,460 to 2,370 years ago, Democritus, Greek pre-Socratic philosopher considered to be the “father of modern science” possibly had some disbelief amounting to atheism. ref
• Around 2,399 years ago or so, Socrates, a famous Greek philosopher was tried for sinfulness by teaching doubt of state gods. ref
• Around 2,341 to 2,270 years ago, Epicurus, a Greek philosopher known for composing atheistic critics and famously stated, “Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able? Then he is not omnipotent. Is he able, but not willing? Then he is malevolent. Is he both able and willing? Then whence cometh evil? Is he neither able nor willing? Then why call him god?” ref

This last expression by Epicurus, seems to be an expression of Axiological Atheism. To understand and utilize value or actually possess “Value Conscious/Consciousness” to both give a strong moral “axiological” argument (the problem of evil) as well as use it to fortify humanism and positive ethical persuasion of human helping and care responsibilities. Because value-blindness gives rise to sociopathic/psychopathic evil.

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

ref, ref, ref

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

Damien Marie AtHope’s Art

Damien Marie AtHope (Said as “At” “Hope”)/(Autodidact Polymath but not good at math):

Axiological Atheist, Anti-theist, Anti-religionist, Secular Humanist, Rationalist, Writer, Artist, Jeweler, Poet, “autodidact” Philosopher, schooled in Psychology, and “autodidact” Armchair Archaeology/Anthropology/Pre-Historian (Knowledgeable in the range of: 1 million to 5,000/4,000 years ago). I am an anarchist socialist politically. Reasons for or Types of Atheism

My Website, My Blog, & Short-writing or Quotes, My YouTube, Twitter: @AthopeMarie, and My Email: damien.marie.athope@gmail.com