A Pantheon of Gods

As Iran and Syria use the Danish inspired cartoons depicting Mohammed and other Moslems in a less than flattering light, which is quite sophomoric when compared to a crucifix in a jar of urine, and agitate for death and destruction of the "artists" before the Western media, we have to recognize that a new era is now emerging in the West of an old specter not seen for nearly 1700 years: Pantheism. In ancient Greece and Rome, there were many gods one could worship so long as no other god was dominant over the other. There was no one exclusive god which negated the others. All were accepted as bonified deities as recognized by the state and endorsed by ritual practices that involved gratifying the body through food, sex, works, and/or animal and human sacrifices.

The rise of ecumenical religion amongst the "mono-theistic" religions of the Middle East, Christianity, Judaism, Islam and other non mono-theistic religions around the world cannot now be ignored. We shouldn't be in denial of these developments considering how the Greek Helene culture has come back with a vengeance since the 18th century in Western Europe and America. Even a militant and violent atheism in the 20th century couldn't compete and stop this apparent juggernaut of unitary religious thought that appeals to the souls of men that imputes a form of righteousness upon them that is so lacking with socialist political doctrines and evolutionary scientific theories that was the fountainhead of belief for Fascists, Nazi's and Communists alike in the last century.

The push is on these days to unify the religious amongst us into one voice. The President has a prayer breakfast and Protestants, Catholics, Jews and Moslems are all invited. The National Council of Churches demands servitude to an ecumenical mission that eschews "nativist" belief in a Christ that excludes the works of man and one in which the believer is saved by the atoning work of God by grace. In other words, man must save man. The primary mover for religious unification is the Roman Catholic Church and they have their own reasons to play host to "interfaith" functions that would apparently involve heretical practices so antithetical to Catholic doctrine. Seated in Rome, the heartland of western culture, history and thought, they are the queen of the worlds religions for who else has a "religious capital" that receives ambassadors from other nations? They are the envy of the world and will continue to fill the void left open by the self-destructive nature of atheism throughout Europe.

Global commerce and global religion are a powerful force in the world today that continues to expand and deepen within all of the nations of the world. There is not a single continent or nation that is not affected by the twin forces of global capitalism and ecumenical religion that is clearly being steered from Western Europe. It may seem strange that a continent so fragmented as Western Europe should still have such a political, commercial and spiritual pull that the rest of the world still looks to them for guidance and understanding. With the advent of the information age and the internet, this will only serve as a "force multiplier" of Western European influence. Make no mistake about the future: ecumenical religion, the global economy, Helene culture all serve the same cause of unifying a fractured humanity. The only thing left that may play havoc to this endeavor is man's free-will.

Nativist belief in an avenging God that demands faith in his only begotten Son is no longer accepted when a conglomeration of deities is demanded in order to unify the earth under one flag. Welcome to the 21st century.