let's be real.

[georgia@netzsphaere.xyz]

let's be real. hindus today believe in Ishvara or at least in their personal Bhagavan, even while many often worship several or more devas. and yet wikipedia talks about "hindu atheism" (often with sources from the 19th century) as if there is a significant cohort of hindus who believe in the eternal authorless nature of the vedas (who the fuck cares about the vedas anymore except the upanishads cmon) who dont believe in God. perhaps part of this misconception is the tyranny of christianity which says that if you believe in a predominantly impersonal God you dont believe in God. but I think its mostly just ignorance which leads people to talk about hindu atheism today, as if theres some huge cohort of mimamsakans or classical samkhyans that nobody talks about.

[technicallydifficult@brain.worm.pink]

@georgia

A lot of people say "Japanese people don't have religion, they don't believe in god"

It's like, as a former shintoist, I feel the need to point out, that there's a misconception there... Kami are not "Gods" in the western sense. About 22 of them meet the definition out of 80,000 ish total. (they're actually kind of similar to Devas, to the point that there's a legend where a Kami kills Agni and that's why humans struggle to build fires easily). There's also the fact that "religion" has a negative connotation and refers to only foreign and new religions. Not to Buddhism, Shinto, Onmyoudo, or Shugendo. A very astounding number of Japanese pray at shrines, so saying they don't believe in anything is a hell of a stretch. But for ordinary practice of Japanese religions, there isn't really a mandate that you must do x y z, and I think that confuses unfamilliar people. They're superstitous and following a shamanic philosophical way of life, they're not exactly all atheists though. And of course there are exceptions.