Riiiiigggggghhhhhhht, because Gawd isn't a superstitious construct.

@AnneWimsey
It isn’t a superstitious construct in pantheism, generally speaking.
My understanding of the pantheist concept of God is that it’s just another word for Reality, or Nature, or Universe, etc.

@skado HOW IS IT NOT A SUPERSTITIOUS CONSTRUCT?

Nature is an observable fact. Saying gawd(s) cause natural phenomenon is just silly and improsing your superstitions onto observations.
And sorry but your understanding of Pantheism is far, far, from mine...saying trees have souls is just silly!

@AnneWimsey
I have never claimed trees have souls, and as far as I’m aware, it is not claimed by pantheism.

As with most -isms, there are different views of pantheism, but the most general view, as I understand it, is simply that God and reality are identical.

This doesn’t say anything about the nature of God that isn’t observable in the universe.

[en.wikipedia.org]

What’s your understanding of pantheism?

@skado Everything is Gawd and gawd is everything...example: if you cut down a tree for firewood you need to apologize to it first.

@AnneWimsey
I think the “everything is God” part is consistent with my understanding of pantheism, but I’ve not heard about the need to apologize to trees part.

@skado Nattive American belief..also to the deer for food, etc etc. and maybe some India indian sects.

@AnneWimsey
I don't doubt that sects exist who hold such beliefs/practices, and I don't doubt that they may legitimately fall under the umbrella of pantheism, but I question whether such specific, local practices define the general concept of pantheism.

From what I am able to read, pantheism, in the most general sense, is just the idea that God is just another word for Reality.

@skado My sense is that therefore we must Respect everything around us, but it is unnecessary to give it worship, therefore, to me, not actually godlike at all...i feel calling something 'god' requires me to worship, or obey, or tithe, or something, to which i say, spit in one hand, wish in the other, see which hand gets full the fastest.

@AnneWimsey
I grew up around folks who held similar beliefs, so I understand what you’re talking about, and find it as wrongheaded as you do.

One of the many reasons I find it wrongheaded is that I don’t see convincing evidence that it is true to “original” Christianity, if there is such a thing.

I find clues to original thinking in the history of words. The word worship evolved as a contraction of worth-ship. Recognizing worth.

And of course, humans being human, often find slavery an easier life than thinking for themselves, so they find a way to read submission into what was originally only a recommendation to simply pause in order to acknowledge worth.

There are lots of different versions of Christianity, not to mention other religious traditions, and they don’t all follow the fundamentalist mindset.

@AnneWimsey If god is a synonym for everything, then god is a meaningless word. The great tautology. But some people don't care as long as they get to use the god word, because if you use a different word to everyone else, then that makes you different, which is very good for the fragile egos of narcissists.

@AnneWimsey
Anne, what is it you like about this comment? Do you really believe that being a synonym makes a word meaningless? Or that using synonyms makes one a narcissist?

What?