Question for Those Who Practice 2+ Religions

[Shine]

For those who practice two or more religions: do your religions have opposing ideas and if so, how do you deal? When I say "opposing ideas", I mean like maybe one religion says that you should never eat meat while the other says "meat is tasty!" Or maybe one says that women are spiritual equals and the other says the opposite.

And if two or more of your religions are theistic, how do you keep your theistic models separate? What I mean is, how do you keep yourself from improperly (and some would say impiously) syncretizing deities across pantheons?

In venturing deeper into Hinduism, I'm finding it hard to balance ideas that clash between it and Kemeticism. Also, thanks to my soft polytheism, Hindu deities are starting to take on Kemetic faces and some Kemetic deities are starting to look decidedly Hindu. (Bast-Durga, anyone? Or Atum-Brahman?)

In fact, at one point, Bast appeared to me as Devi (although from an Hindu perspective she is one face of Devi). Bast actually might have told me she was Devi, but I'm not sure if that's genuine revelation or mental sock puppetry. Hm.

[Fireof9]

For those who practice two or more religions: do your religions have opposing ideas and if so, how do you deal? When I say "opposing ideas", I mean like maybe one religion says that you should never eat meat while the other says "meat is tasty!" Or maybe one says that women are spiritual equals and the other says the opposite.

And if two or more of your religions are theistic, how do you keep your theistic models separate? What I mean is, how do you keep yourself from improperly (and some would say impiously) syncretizing deities across pantheons?

The first thing I do is to realize that this is MY spiritual journey and to never accept anything in blind faith.

After that if there are opposing ideas, I study them carefully then go with the one that makes the most sense. Please do not read them as the one that is most comfortable and easy for me, but the one that really speaks to me after some study. If I can't reach that point, then sometimes I set it aside as something to come back to, something that maybe I am not ready for.

When it comes to deity from different pantheons, I tread very carefully, and just make sure I do not confuse one with the other.

[Shine]

The first thing I do is to realize that this is MY spiritual journey and to never accept anything in blind faith.

After that if there are opposing ideas, I study them carefully then go with the one that makes the most sense. Please do not read them as the one that is most comfortable and easy for me, but the one that really speaks to me after some study. If I can't reach that point, then sometimes I set it aside as something to come back to, something that maybe I am not ready for.

What if you have Idea A and Idea B, and they both seem equally likely no matter how much you reflect on them? Do you pick the one you like the best?

When it comes to deity from different pantheons, I tread very carefully, and just make sure I do not confuse one with the other.

 
Do you ever find in practice that this is a very difficult thing to do?

[Fireof9]

What if you have Idea A and Idea B, and they both seem equally likely no matter how much you reflect on them? Do you pick the one you like the best?

I can't think of a time when that has happened, usually one will outweigh the other by at least a little bit. But yeah I think if that was to happen I would go with the one I like best, while keeping the other in mind. The thing is, I think that different ideas can both be valid in different situations. So while I might like idea B for the most part, I would keep idea A in mind for a time of my life or a situation where it might be more applicable if that makes sense(it does in my head, not sure if it does in print LOL)


 

Do you ever find in practice that this is a very difficult thing to do?

Yes and no. What I ended up doing was to spend enough time learning everything I could about each as to not confuse them. That said I am pretty much really only drawn to Nordic and Celtic deity. There is not really an overlap there that I can see. However I am not so sure when it comes to some Celtic and Gaulish. Sometimes I just wish there was a Canadian bunch to make it much easier

[Jack]

For those who practice two or more religions: do your religions have opposing ideas and if so, how do you deal? When I say "opposing ideas", I mean like maybe one religion says that you should never eat meat while the other says "meat is tasty!" Or maybe one says that women are spiritual equals and the other says the opposite.

I suppose whether I can answer this depends on how you define "practicing two or more religions" - are you speaking in the context of fully practicing both religions, performing puja and all for the Hindu deities, etc?

My practice is not strictly Taoism, Buddhism, Asatru or Dievturība, but I'm going to give my opinion anyway and you can feel free to ignore the parts that wouldn't be relevant for you.

For the most part, if there are obvious differences, I look at the explanations for those differences and weigh them - the Hindu opinion on eating cow is pretty strong, for example, so I would give it a lot of weight. On the other hand, if it's something that varies relatively widely in the religion - like vegetarianism in Buddhism - then I usually believe there's more leeway.

And if two or more of your religions are theistic, how do you keep your theistic models separate? What I mean is, how do you keep yourself from improperly (and some would say impiously) syncretizing deities across pantheons?

Lots of people are going to have opinions on your level of piety regardless of what you do or how "officially" you do it - you have to find a level and a theology that works for you and your gods.

In venturing deeper into Hinduism, I'm finding it hard to balance ideas that clash between it and Kemeticism. Also, thanks to my soft polytheism, Hindu deities are starting to take on Kemetic faces and some Kemetic deities are starting to look decidedly Hindu. (Bast-Durga, anyone? Or Atum-Brahman?)

In fact, at one point, Bast appeared to me as Devi (although from an Hindu perspective she is one face of Devi). Bast actually might have told me she was Devi, but I'm not sure if that's genuine revelation or mental sock puppetry. Hm.

 
To be perfectly honest, I'm not sure that I'd even call that soft polytheism instead of squishy. Hinduism offers a variety of options, including squishy polytheism and even monotheism, so you could do that without being impious from a Hindu POV, at least.

And personally, I'm sure as hell not gonna argue with Bast.

[Shine]

I can't think of a time when that has happened, usually one will outweigh the other by at least a little bit. But yeah I think if that was to happen I would go with the one I like best, while keeping the other in mind. The thing is, I think that different ideas can both be valid in different situations. So while I might like idea B for the most part, I would keep idea A in mind for a time of my life or a situation where it might be more applicable if that makes sense(it does in my head, not sure if it does in print LOL)

The polyvalent approach sounds best. Idea A is true and Idea B is false, except when Idea B is true Idea A is false. Except when both Idea A and B are true. . . and then except when they're both false. Sounds convoluted, but it does seem to work in a lot of spiritual situations.

Yes and no. What I ended up doing was to spend enough time learning everything I could about each as to not confuse them. That said I am pretty much really only drawn to Nordic and Celtic deity. There is not really an overlap there that I can see. However I am not so sure when it comes to some Celtic and Gaulish. Sometimes I just wish there was a Canadian bunch to make it much easier

 
I think it might depend on the pantheon, too. The Kemetic and Hindu pantheons are much squishier than the Nordic and Celtic pantheons. Can't speak for the Celtic and Gaulish pantheons.

I've spent two years learning about Bast and other Kemetic deities and they still pull the wool over my eyes on a daily basis. :-p

[Shine]

I suppose whether I can answer this depends on how you define "practicing two or more religions" - are you speaking in the context of fully practicing both religions, performing puja and all for the Hindu deities, etc?

Yeah, I was thinking along the lines of fully practicing both.

To be perfectly honest, I'm not sure that I'd even call that soft polytheism instead of squishy. Hinduism offers a variety of options, including squishy polytheism and even monotheism, so you could do that without being impious from a Hindu POV, at least.

What's the difference, exactly, between soft and squishy polytheism?

One of the nicest things about Hinduism is it generally doesn't matter which god/dess you worship, just that you do it regularly and with great devotion.

And personally, I'm sure as hell not gonna argue with Bast.

You'd think after two years I'd have figured out not to do that.

I guess it just scared me, is all.

[Darkhawk]

For those who practice two or more religions: do your religions have opposing ideas and if so, how do you deal? When I say "opposing ideas", I mean like maybe one religion says that you should never eat meat while the other says "meat is tasty!" Or maybe one says that women are spiritual equals and the other says the opposite.

And if two or more of your religions are theistic, how do you keep your theistic models separate? What I mean is, how do you keep yourself from improperly (and some would say impiously) syncretizing deities across pantheons?

 
A lot depends on what is meant by "opposing ideas".

My gut feel is that every religion has stuff that's absolutely core to it, that if you're not doing that you're not doing the religion; also, every religion has stuff that's taken seriously but which is not strictly speaking mandatory; each one has stuff that some people do and care about and some people don't; eventually one gets out to stuff that is not included, though not forbidden.

Two religions work best in combination when they have overlap in core regions, meaning that they either have the same stuff going on or at least a lot of the stuff that's core to one falls in the serious zone of the other.  They can't work in combination when something that's mandatory in one is forbidden in the other, though someone could still do both in a chaos magic style in which they're very heavily compartmentalised, I suppose.

The tricky bit is figuring where on the spectrum of expectation any given thing falls, and how to balance them.  I can't recommend caring about other people's perspectives on piety, though.

[Lykeia]

For those who practice two or more religions: do your religions have opposing ideas and if so, how do you deal? When I say "opposing ideas", I mean like maybe one religion says that you should never eat meat while the other says "meat is tasty!" Or maybe one says that women are spiritual equals and the other says the opposite

Well often times you will find contradicting ideas in a singular religion so coming up with them when combining two religions is expected. I haven't come up against a lot of contradictions between Hellenismos and Hinduism so I guess I haven't particular encountered this problem myself. The only conflicts I would say are more mythical in which we get more into a symbolic cultural context and I understand it as such...that *this* is how this idea is conveyed in this culture...and so I appreciate it. For instance the unity and oneness of Artemis and Apollon reflecting each other and coming of the same source in Hellenismos is of the same concept to me of the unity of Paravati and Shiva. One is twins the other is spousal, but functionally in the cosmos this unity is working together along the very same lines. I have a page on my blog where I have been working on discussing this unity because it is important enough to me that I wanted to have a permanent space to clarify it.

And if two or more of your religions are theistic, how do you keep your theistic models separate? ...In venturing deeper into Hinduism, I'm finding it hard to balance ideas that clash between it and Kemeticism. Also, thanks to my soft polytheism, Hindu deities are starting to take on Kemetic faces and some Kemetic deities are starting to look decidedly Hindu. (Bast-Durga, anyone? Or Atum-Brahman?)

I actually don't bother. Ancient religions themselves were syncretic and so I have no problem syncretically linking the gods as you can see above. In fact often you will see similar symbols already in place that makes such imagery transference quite fluid. For instance with Apollon Shiva. Shiva has his snakes, well so does Apollon, he is depicted frequently in the company of snakes and himself takes the form of serpents in a few different myths, so when I visualize my god he is wearing serpents regardless of whether I am thinking of him in the Hellenic context as Apollon, or in the Hindu context as Shiva. My primary image for my household altar in fact has him with a serpent wrapped around his neck that I am trying to finish up sculpting..hopefully within the next week. For Artemis is the easier with Paravati though lol.

[WinterrTradition]

For those who practice two or more religions: do your religions have opposing ideas and if so, how do you deal? When I say "opposing ideas", I mean like maybe one religion says that you should never eat meat while the other says "meat is tasty!" Or maybe one says that women are spiritual equals and the other says the opposite.

And if two or more of your religions are theistic, how do you keep your theistic models separate? What I mean is, how do you keep yourself from improperly (and some would say impiously) syncretizing deities across pantheons?

I mesh some Christian beliefs in with Wicca, but I do not call myself a Christo-Wiccan.

I don't worship the figure from Christianity called YHWH... I do, however (Don't shoot me!) worship the angels and archangels of Christianity as a multitude of different deities. So, not only to I have the traditional pagan deities like Artemis, Demeter, Venus, Thor, ect... But I also have the opportunity to worship and recognize the angels and archangels as divine figures.

Jesus, I consider to be an ascended master. A mentor. Not God-incarnate. I like Jesus and all, but I just don't see him as God.