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<html><head><title>Elks; religious conversions</title></head>
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<center><h1><!--title-->Elks; religious conversions
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<p>Posted by <b><!--poster-->Ian Samuels</b>
on <!--date-->23:25 4/2/02
<p>In reply to: <a href="345.html">Elks; religious conversions</a> posted by Irgend Jemand</b> on 20:53 4/2/02
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<p>
Mark writes re: religious conversion:
<blockquote>
"One factor is that historically, paganism does not have the cohesion and
(so to speak) stickiness of the great monotheistic religions. To put it
bluntly, it's easy to convert pagans."
</blockquote>
<p>
$.02 from Ian:
<p>Besides, conversion isn't necessarily an either / or situation. Very
often, people simply take up the new religion and practise it alongside
or integrate it with the old rituals and traditions.
<p>Syncretism is a commonplace in both the histories of European and African
paganism (as well as New World societies where African paganism took root
and flourished, cf. Cuba and Brazil). It's what usually happens when
religions face a mandatory top-down conversion by rulers (or conquerors),
which was almost invariably the case wherever Christianity or Islam
became really entrenched on either continent. The ability to keep the old
traditions alive, overtly or covertly, makes the transition a lot less
disruptive and often significantly reshapes the "converting" faith.
<p>Cheers,
<br>Ian
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