on Pagan tracts

[dragonyphoenix]

Forever in Hell has a set of atheist tracts, to hand out to those annoying Fundies when they come to call. This reminded me of Pagan tracts my friends and I ran across a few decades ago. The first, called “The Other People” because it claims Pagans are descendants of the other people – the people Cain found a wife among – has two Fundies out annoying people with their religion. One says they shouldn't stop at a certain house but the other insists. The guy at the house explains the fallacies of their arguments away, from a Pagan perspective, while the woman looks pretty and serves herbal tea. So many problems with this tract. The woman may have two lines, if that, and none of them especially meaningful. Both of the Pagans are very good looking, the man's rugged good looks emphasizing that he's the alpha male (i.e. just like God) in the story, while the Christians look geeky and unattractive. The Christians are blown away by the Pagan explanation, and don't even try to defend their interpretation of the Bible. Not only implausible, but it's sexist, reinforces a “pretty people are good” stereotype that I find disturbing, and it's exposition is told rather than shown.

I so prefer the second Pagan tract. A group of the Norse Gods, and one Goddess, show up at a school demanding equal time. That is, Thor thinks Thursday should be devoted to him since the name of the day derives from his name, ditto for Freya and Friday. That's about all I recall of it, but it certainly did a better job of showing and was just a lot of fun.

Hmmm, and there's no real point to this apparently, just memories brought back by a post.

Comments

[dragonyphoenix.livejournal.com]

It was pretty funny. I wouldn't mind finding that tract again!