The Norse Pantheon, how many believe?

[Roserthegothi]

I myself am a believer in the norse gods and was wondering how many of us are out there in the world?

[Enzo]

I think there is about 1000 followers of Asatru in Iceland and probably another 1000 throughout the rest of the world.

[removeduser_487563287433]

You sincerely believe in Norse mythology? Why?

[The spartan]

You sincerely believe in Norse mythology? Why?

I don't see many ice giants around, do you?

[Aeneas Veneratio]

You sincerely believe in Norse mythology? Why?

Norse Mythology makes as much sense as the Abrahamaic religions, Buddhism, Hinduism, etc. At least the Norse Gods are cooler than the rest.

I am an agnostic, but if I have to choose one faith above the others, I choose Norse Mythology, closely followed by Roman/Greek Mythology.

A bunch of awesome Gods > Some passive, apathetic God

I can't see someone being a pagan and actually believing in it. It seems like such a teenage hipster thing to do, really.

Is it also a teenage hipster thing to believe in some hippie being the son of God?

[removeduser_487563287433]

Norse Mythology makes as much sense as the Abrahamaic religions

Which is to say none at all, and it has none of the social pressure behind it that makes people believe in such demonstrably false mythologies.

[ivan_the_terrible]

Norse Mythology makes as much sense as the Abrahamaic religions

At least Abrahamic religions have had some quite sophisticated intellectual justifications over the centuries, moreso than most other religions. Certainly more than Norse paganism.

[Aeneas Veneratio]

A thing about Norse mythology that always bugs me is that people, who don't speak any of the Scandinavian languages, constantly refer to the beings from Jotunheim as Giants... In our languages they are called "Jætter" or "Jǫtunn " in Old Norse, and there are no mention of all of them being giants. Most of them have the same size as the Vanir or the Æsir.

At least Abrahamic religions have had some quite sophisticated intellectual justifications over the centuries, moreso than most other religions. Certainly more than Norse paganism.

What justifications are you talking about?

I would say the Bibles depiction of the universe matches closer than the Norse. The sun and moon aren't dragged across the sky by gods but instead were placed there by God as part of the natural world. And the natural world is scientifically understandable because it had a deliberate design with a framework something missing from the Norse religion but Odin had a hand in creating a few bits. He made clouds and mountains and stuff from the body of a dead giant.

Check up on Heliocentrism versus Geocentrism before claiming anything in regards to earlier beliefs of the universe.
The moon is only there, because Earth and planet Thea crashed into eachother.

Crash happens around 2:40

[Slaytaninc]

What justifications are you talking about?

It's called theology, an entire religious discipline. Theology is a systematic study of religion and its influences and the nature of it's "truths".

Norse theology is pretty much "Christian monk believes the pagans worship this."

Although, as I pointed out, both religions are just as believable as the other, so don't think I'm saying Christianity is more true than Norse paganism.

[Humble Warrior]

In the days of the Bible this planet was considered flat, like a pancake or a piece of paper. Some of the ancient civilizations didn't believe that the Earth was flat, but morons, I mean Christians ruled the day and got enough influence to make most people in Europe into believing that the Earth was flat.

From where did you get that Christians made people believe the Earth was flat? And really, calling people morons? At least we had the decency not to call your gods-believers morons.

This is one of those angry knee-jerk `I think` comments, isn`t it?

[Enzo]

Check up on Heliocentrism versus Geocentrism before claiming anything in regards to earlier beliefs of the universe.
The moon is only there, because Earth and planet Thea crashed into eachother.

Crash happens around 2:40

I meant the laws of physics that produce the effects that formed these bodies within the universe in general. All of that is was designed and intentional, it's part of a greater process directed toward the evolution of intelligent life. Not necessarily the Earth specifically but planets such as Earth of which there will be many. They have found Earth like planets around other stars now. It's all much too complex and precise to be some kind of random coincidental thing though obviously you don't have some kind of god creating each particular part and making it move. It could be the Earth was marked out from the very beginning as the movement of all material in the universe may have been preset at the Big Bang, the moon was pre-set to form for instance. The asteroid that killed the dinosaurs was always going to hit Earth and so on.

[Eofor]

At least Abrahamic religions have had some quite sophisticated intellectual justifications over the centuries, moreso than most other religions. Certainly more than Norse paganism.

On the other hand, non-Abrahamic religions typically have more interesting/cooler stories.

[ivan_the_terrible]

The flat earth myth is a nasty piece of slander that unfortunately doesn't seem to ever completely go away. Even disregarding the numerous ancient and medieval texts that discuss the earth's spherical shape, the fact that it's a sphere is patently obvious to anyone who has ever looked out to sea (or plains) and saw the curvature for themselves, and saw distant objects like ships 'rise' out from beyond the horizon as they approach (or are approached).

The horizon itself is proof that the earth isn't flat -- anyone with half a brain could make that deduction, in the ancient or medieval world as much as now.

On the other hand, non-Abrahamic religions typically have more interesting/cooler stories.

Well that's entirely down to personal taste.

[Valden]

In the 13th century Snorri Sturluson postulated that the Norse Gods were in fact great kings of old, who over the generations after their deaths had gradually become venerated, and a mythology had grown with this veneration.

This aside, I would very much like to hear some Norse apologetics!

[MathiasOfAthens]

In the 13th century Snorri Sturluson postulated that the Norse Gods were in fact great kings of old, who over the generations after their deaths had gradually become venerated, and a mythology had grown with this veneration.

This aside, I would very much like to hear some Norse apologetics!

There Norse Mythology is considerably young. The Greek and Roman gods are older. And by older I mean more recorded evidence of their worship. I dont think there is actual evidence of norse gods until the 4th-5th centuries. Great kings of old is like mythology right there? What great kings?

[Enzo]

There Norse Mythology is considerably young. The Greek and Roman gods are older. And by older I mean more recorded evidence of their worship. I dont think there is actual evidence of norse gods until the 4th-5th centuries. Great kings of old is like mythology right there? What great kings?

They clearly had some degree of interaction with the ancient Greek religion, in Norse myth there were the three Norns and in ancient Grrece there were the three Fates, they both had similar roles spinning the thread of life for all mortals.

[sumskilz]

They clearly had some degree of interaction with the ancient Greek religion, in Norse myth there were the three Norns and in ancient Grrece there were the three Fates, they both had similar roles spinning the thread of life for all mortals.

There is a relationship between all the Indo-European religions. A lot of the deities across the cultures have names which are cognates.

[Copperknickers II]

There is a relationship between all the Indo-European religions. A lot of the deities across the cultures have names which are cognates.

Indeed. Hinduism, Romano-Greek religion and Germanic/Slavic pantheism are all derived from a proto-Indo European origin, indeed you might almost group Archaic Vedic Hinduism with Early Bronze Age Greek/Hittite religion, they are so similar.

[Dr. Croccer]

In the 13th century Snorri Sturluson postulated that the Norse Gods were in fact great kings of old, who over the generations after their deaths had gradually become venerated, and a mythology had grown with this veneration.

Which of course begs the question how he knows this, why this view didn't exist until after the Christianization of the Norse world and why Norse sages and legends do refer to existing historical personalities, while the gods do not.

There is a relationship between all the Indo-European religions. A lot of the deities across the cultures have names which are cognates.

I don't think it's surprising that a group united by a common ancestral language has linguistic similarities.

[sumskilz]

I don't think it's surprising that a group united by a common ancestral language has linguistic similarities.

Well yeah, to be more clear the Indo-European deities whose names are cognates also share common characteristics indicating a common religious inheritance, like the Sanskrit Dyaus Pita, Greek Zeu pater (Zeus), and Latin Jupiter.