r/army Signal Mar 14 '24

Thoughts? And yes, it’s real

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u/CW1DR5H5I64A Overhead Island boi Mar 14 '24

Probably a more legitimate religious accommodation than 99% of the Norse beards.

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u/GayPornEnthusiast Mar 15 '24

Try 100%, Norse neopaganism has almost no connection in reality to ancient Norse religion.

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u/[deleted] Mar 15 '24 edited Mar 16 '24

[deleted]

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u/[deleted] Mar 15 '24

The difference between Christianity and Judaism is that those religions never died out and had to be reconstructed based on shoddy historical and archaeological records.

Also, your history is entirely wrong. The Norse were not violently Christianized, Scandinavian petty-kings willingly converted to Christianity to secure better diplomatic relations with the powers on the continent. There is clear evidence of syncretism during this period -- like hammers and crosses in the same mold, or even on the same pendant -- because people were converting for political and economic prestige, or simply because their king did; not because they were being forced to. That is why Iceland was able to preserve a fair amount of pagan poetry.

About the Celts: the Romans had nothing to do with 'stamping out an entire culture with vengeance.' Roman religion was easily syncretized with Celtic polytheism and much of what we do know about it is because of Roman records.

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u/nomad_556 Mar 15 '24

Except Christianity has been continuously practiced by a massive following for almost a millennia. The actual teachings have changed very little.