P.S. How You Use Language DOES Count (Even Though You Were Not Taught, You Are Still Responsible to Learn)

Yes, I know, I cannot let it go.  I was lucky -- I missed the Great Dumbing Down in American education. (This started a few years after the Apollo programme put our astronauts on the moon in 1969.  We did it -- now we don't need to do anything anymore mentality.)  Teachers knew when you read Cliff's Notes instead of the novel -- and, there was no internet to buy a term paper.  It was hard to get away with things.  I am sure it happened; but, most of it got caught.  Anyway, within 5 years of my graduating from college (9 from high school), secondary prep had so eroded that high ranking universities were having to teach new students how to read, write and cipher.  So the Fact that Mr. Halstead is just generally ignorant to the first degree in the humanities should really come as no surprise.  However, it is unethical to allow him to continue to let him slather his ignorance over minds as equally ignorant as his own.  There have been enough so-called pagan crises of faith over the years with the dreck being published from Llewellyn (ya know -- the crescent moon logo).  My particular favourite (looks around to make sure there are no rabid fluff bunnies on patrol) has the so-called "reference" to an "Irish Potato Goddess."  (Need to go to the barf, sorry, bathroom now.)  The bloggers on Patheos are above this, I would like to believe; but, you, sir, make things up like that woman did, out of whole cloth.  Obviously you did not use a dictionary of the English language or ask a former English teacher how your essay would read.  I am a former English teacher.  As a gift, I would grade it a D-.  You whine, trying to make your faults the world's.  Poor, poor, pitiful you.  Wrong!  I do not like whiners.  Whiners are lazy.  You probably did not take Philosophy or Religion (yes, it is studied generically, you may hit yourself on your head now) when you were in college, thus decreasing your knowledge base exponentially.  Instead, you are the well-squared off orange and are only now seeing that you have lost something.  However, rules are rules for a reason.  You need to go back to square one and take or retake those intro courses to logic, philosophy, religion, and maybe even art and music. ---- And, don't let me ever see you stealing again.  

Mr. Halstead, Part 2 (a few needed added touches!)

So, yesterday, after wrapping up my post, I said to myself, "Yikes!  There are still so many other things that I wish to discuss." 
The most important things which struck me on his blog over on Patheos are first, the title of the Blog itself:  The Allergic Pagan; the second thing was within the recent posting itself which I pointed out in my first posting, where Mr. Halstead was comparing himself to almost every form of spirituality and non-spirituality available, including the kitchen sink, there-by erasing from history good and pious people's understandings of themselves.  Way to go, Mr. Halstead.  You are probably one if not THE MOST ARROGANT "insert expletive of choice here" under your gee-whizz exterior (no one can say that such a cute fellow as you are could possibly be certainly one of the most VISIBLY IGNORANT FAUX MENTORS of the community).  Yet, there it is.  Your main identification is as an atheist.  You have stated so yourself.  There is nothing wrong in being an atheist.  However, to then cloak yourself in the language of the spiritual and/or religious is specious.  It is bait-and-switch, it is fraud.  I know that it is possible to stand in awe before Nature without having to call upon or pray to the deities and spirits.  You should try it -- at least you would not be a hypocrite. Carl Sagan was an atheist -- buy the DVDs of the original Cosmos if you want to see how it is done.  Stay with your New Atheist friends, including Dawkins, laughing up your sleeves at the poor polytheists (oh, we're now multi-deists because of your troublesome meddling).  Sometimes I wish that metal edged rulers hitting certain fingers are called for at this point.  I do not call myself a pagan -- and my religion does not start with the letter "P", either.  Obviously, you are not really educated in the how or why of developing a relationship with the divine.  However, that's just the thing.  You are an atheist, so you cannot develop a relationship to the divine -- or with Nature, because of the spirits.  You cannot develop a relationship to a group of cells or molecules. You really are rather pathetic, yet, you have so many eyes and ears turned to what you say.  Eventually people will see you for the hollowman you are.  Go Away Now.

Oh, Dear, the Neos Are Causing Trouble, Again

Has it really come down to this?  We now have to use Latin instead of Greek to identify our type of religiosity because some nitwit who calls himself both a "pagan" and an "atheist" has also decided that the adjectival form of polytheist sounds just fine to describe himself with as he wishes with no regard as to it's definition (Halstead).  How can someone be both an atheist and a polytheist -- or even a monist, as he claims?  That is really a feat of imagination -- and offensive.  He is not the one who should be "using" our words and definitions, words which have had centuries of use and understanding, and creating his own out of them.  He should have the brains to articulate what he means with his own words.   
Already on the internets (HuffPost) I have come out in favour of bringing back public humiliation punishments, ie. placing the offender in stocks for a period of time.  This is especially good for forms of  egregious stupidity.   
I think that it would be just better if religious/pious people of the new religions split away from these people who are just as ignorant of Christianity or whatever religion they are running away from.  We who are attempting authentic worship already know most of this.  Some of us have stepped away.  I include myself here, though I really do leave myself open to the sincere seeker.  All religions have forms -- in Greek, threskia -- of worship.  These have been handed down through time.  This it to MAKE IT EASIER!!!!   DUH!!!!  Religion is the Gods.  The  philosophers speak of ethics, which I really wish that every one possesses.  I still think I need to keep my virtual baseball bat at the ready for -- has it been 50 years of stupid already? Sigh......

Theodosius I: A Most Evil Man

Reblogged from The Edithorial: The Man Who Abolished Classics

Everyone interested in history or Classics needs to be able to drop the name ‘Theodosius I.’   It’s the 1,667th anniversary of his birth today, but I’ve been meaning to share my grudge against him for a while. If we want to identify an individual responsible for abolishing pagan antiquity, Theodosius is a prime candidate. His portrait needs to glower at the reader from the last page of any history of the classical world.  .   .   .    .     .     .

http://edithorial.blogspot.com/2014/01/the-man-who-abolished-classics.html