News today that Stephen Hawking has said God was not necessary for the Universe to be created. Actually it’s not news at all, he’s been saying this for a long time, it’s just that he’s got a book to promote. Not that there’s anything wrong with that.
People like Hawking, Dawkins etc always fall into the same trap, no matter which side of the debate they are on, i.e. they assume that if God exists at all, then (a) He created the Universe; and (b) it must be the Judaeo-Christian-Islam model of God. Hence if there is no evidence that the Universe was created by anyone, they assume that God does not exist.
However,if one rejects the Judaeo-Christian-Islam model of God and substitute that of most Pagan religions, one finds that Hawking et al have nothing to say, because one realises that the existence of God does not depend upon Him / Her having created the Universe.
Most forms of Paganism, no matter how disparate, tend to follow the line that the current patron God(dess) of mankind is not the creator of the Universe at all, which was instead created by a more ancient or primordial force. For example: Zeus is the ruler of the Olympus not because he created the Universe but because he took over the role. Odin is the All-Father, not because He created the worlds, but because he is the mightiest of the Aesir.
Thus if Hawking etc were to say to a pagan, there is no evidence that God created the universe – therefore God does not exist – the pagan would send him away with laughter ringing in his ears.
In any case, we should remember that the “Supreme Creator” is only one aspect of Divinity. Another aspect, and one which is probably far more important to most people in their daily lives, is “Supreme Moral Authority,” given that most people are concerned with God’s existence to give meaning to their lives. Prove that there is a Supreme Moral Authority in the Universe and you have proved the existence of God in a far more meaningful and relevant way than any argument based on creationism. In fact – prove that Morality exists in objective terms, and Creationism can go hang altogether!
Sol Ascendans - The Website of Alex Sumner 
The Pentagram
News today of naughty Pagan goings on in the Forest of Dean, in Gloucestershire, UK. Apparently, a local well has been the subject of a severe case of well-dressings to celebrate the Equinox. Shock, horror! Apparently St Anthony’s Well, which is the renowned for its miracle cures for skin conditions, has been haunted by several teenage delinquents who have also been leaving pentagrams nearby, much to the consternation of local Christians.
Let us gloss over for one moment the fact that Christians ought to be praising God for any teenager that ventures near a cure for skin conditions, no matter how odd. Let us also gloss over the fact that this ancient well, though supposedly a Christian site is almost certainly an old pagan one that got saved for the Lord. What – pray tell – exactly is wrong with a Pentagram?
The Pentagram is a symbol of Nature – literally. Its proportions are based upon the Golden Ratio – 1:1.618… etc – which itself is based upon the Fibonnaci series.
Now there is a curious (and not unrelated) fact – if one were to imagine that the orbits of both the Earth and the Planet Venus were circles, then the major occlusions of the Sun by Venus as seen from Earth would mark out the points of a pentagram! There is a simple reason for this: the ratio of the distance of Venus from the Sun, to the distance of the Earth to the Sun, corresponds to the Golden Ratio – 1:1.618. Because orbital speed is also proportional to its distance from the Sun, it follows as a Math that a Pentagram-like arrangement would occur.
I was chatting on this matter to some Companions of mine in the pub – where all matters of cosmic importance are always discussed.
“What I find most remarkable,” I said, “is that the planet Venus just so happens to be that particular distance from the Sun in relation to Earth.”
“Yes,” one of my Companions answered. “And we are the only planet with intelligent life to see it.”
In this sense the Pentagram is quite exciting – it is a greater argument for Intelligent Design than a lot of the tripe put forward by Bible-bashing fundies. Christians have a unique opportunity to embrace this symbol because it really does indicate that a divine being created the Heavens and the Earth – yet they shy away from it because they think it is a symbol of the occult. Pagans are smarter in that respect.
Of course there are some Christians who like to appropriate the Pentagram as a sacred symbol – simply because it is a symbol of the number 5. There were 5 wounds of Christ, and there are 5 letters in the Hebrew spelling of the Qabalistic name of Jesus – “Yeheshuah.” This, incidentally is the basis for the Pentagram ritual of the Golden Dawn, which itself has passed into the neo-pagan tradition.
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Tagged as christian, Forest of Dean, Gloucestershire, Golden Dawn, Golden Ratio, occult, pagan, paganism, Pentagram, Phi, St Anthony's Well, Venus, wicca, Witch