There's a post going around Facebook -- again -- which looks like this:
I see it every year, shared enthusiastically by rational people who also share an antipathy towards religion.
It's wrong. Wrong several ways, from trifling to fundamental.
The trifling: Ishtar is pronounced ishtar. MAYBE "eeshtar". Not "Easter".
Ishtar was indeed an Assyrian and Babylonian goddess, a very important one. Her domains were love, sex and war. She and her roles went by different names in different societies in the region over millennia: Inanna, Astarte, and Isis. She makes an appearance in the Epic of Gilgamesh, the oldest surviving great literary work (from which the story of Noah and several other Biblical narratives ultimately derive). Like more than a few gods and goddesses throughout history, she comes off as a real bitch.
Her symbols were the lion, the gate, and a star with eight points. Not rabbits, not eggs. Though both of those things ARE symbols of sex and fertility, celebrated since time out of mind in the spring when the land "resurrects" itself.
The word EASTER, as any dictionary will tell you, comes from Eostre, a Germanic pagan dawn goddess, also known as Ostara. (If you do a survey of different languages' words for Easter, you'll notice that English and German (Ostern) are two anomalies: practically every other European language takes its Easter word from the Hebrew Pesach (Passover) through the Latin Pascha. This is one of many instances where I feel compelled to remind Christians that Jesus was a Jew. At its roots, Easter was about celebrating Passover.
Constantine didn't have any contact with Germanic pagans and the word Easter would have meant less than nothing to him, since English wouldn't even exist in its absolute earliest form for another two centuries. So "Easter" wasn't "changed to represent Jesus".
Anyway. It drives me buggy when things are shared on Facebook that look authoritative and are so riddled with errors. That said, the overarching idea behind it should be worth considering, even if it's wrong in almost every particular. Religions beg, borrow, steal and subsume other religions all the time.
______________
Can an atheist be a minister?
This one is. Though maybe not for much longer. The United Church is reviewing her position. According to this, she doesn't have much of a leg to stand on.
Which is really too bad, in a way. Vosper reminds me of Tom Harpur, one of my favourite theologians, who writes in his book, The Pagan Christ:
“Can we say with any authority that Jesus of Nazareth actually existed as a historical person? I have very grave doubts that we can.”... [Jesus is] “in fact a mythical copy of many preceding saviors.”
Another person that springs forcefully to mind considering the case of Gretta Vospar is the Rev. Roger McCombe, or "Uncle Rog", as generations of Ingersoll high schoolers knew him. Now regrettably passed on whatever awaits us all, he and his inclusive, lovingly critical approach to life and learning had a huge impact on me and many, many others.
Rev. McCombe didn't believe in God so much as he believed in gods. And goddesses, and the power of myth. "Myth", he said, echoing Joseph Campbell, is something "that never was, yet always is". That's my view in a nutshell on religion in general and Christianity in particular, and I think it's more than possible to be an atheist with a healthy respect for the power and uses of myth. I wonder if Vosper feels the same.
Hmm. I see here a book I should read.
----------
I'm toying once again with joining a church, specifically this one. Whether I will or not is up to several things: work, mostly. Church services don't exactly accommodate night shift workers, and the place is halfway across town. And I'd probably be going alone, which doesn't scare me near as much as it would have as little as a year ago, but does still give me pause.
Why would I do this? The same reason Vosper values her ministry. Community. I've lived in largely self-imposed exile for quite a while, not considering myself fit for human interaction. That's past, but I'm still searching for connection by any and all means. The only way I'm going to have new experiences is to open myself up to them. At this time of resurrection and rebirth, that's a potent thought to hold.
Happy (hoppy) Easter, everyone.
No comments:
Post a Comment