Re: Athiests in Fantasy Settings ( Was: some help please (druid))

psychohist wrote:
> Mary Kuhner posts, in part:
> 
>   So you could have the theistic faiths, which have become
>   mainly propritiation and power-wor****p, and something like
>   Buddhism or Taoism growing up around them, quietly,
>   outside their notice, to satisfy the human needs
>   which religions tend to meet.
> 
> I'm curious - what needs do you see them as meeting?
> 
> Note that I'm not denying that there are such needs, I'm just
> wondering if you are thinking of the same needs as I am - or perhaps
> more accurately, which ones I'm failing to consider.

I'd be interested to see Mary's answer as well, but here's what I was 
thinking of in my previous post on the subject:

- Spiritual reassurance. The idea that human beings are meaningless 
insects grubbing about on the surface of a ball of dirt in cold empty 
space isn't particularly comforting. A religion needs to say people "the 
world makes sense, there is a greater meaning behind apparent chaos, and 
even if you are suffering now, there is hope for you if you have faith."

- Social glue. A coherent moral philosophy, some basic laws, perhaps 
even backing the political status quo (or, in the case of Judaism or 
Christianity during the times when those faiths were persecuted, keeping 
a community together through a common faith when everything else had 
been taken away from them).

- A focus for the community. Everyone's busy working away at their own 
affairs in Average Medieval Village X, but no matter who you are, come 
Sunday you come to church and wor****p together with everyone else in 
your village. Even if you don't understand the Latin mass - heck, 
chances are your village priest doesn't - it's nice to have a chance to 
catch up with your neighbours.