> The existence of colleges of sorcery in the West, which AFAIK are
>public, would suggest that this isn't the case. I did raise this point
>briefly with Greg once, and he seemed not to be very clear about what the
>term 'atheist' actually meant, and hinted that most sorcerers might not
>actually be atheists in the sense of 'people who don't believe in God'.
I'm getting a feeling that we've visited this point in the past. There are two possible senses of atheism that could apply:
Now the Brithini are stated to be atheists but they do acknowledge the existance of the Invisible God (Genertela Book p82, ToTRM #13). Hence they are atheists #2. Greg has recently elucidated this by stating that the Brithini believe in an impersonal god (similar, I suppose, to Spinoza's statement that God is the sum of the cosmic laws) whereas most Malkioni believe in a personal god (ie Malkion is Logic made Flesh).
There are further distinctions within Malkionism. I've seen Greg suggest (I dunno if he still thinks so) that the Loskalmi believe the God has human attributes and works through the world within his worshippers whereas the Rokari believe that God does not have human attributes and intervenes through saints and miracles. I imagine similar philosophical divisions exist among the sorcerers.
>Their magic doesn't come from God but (aside, perhaps, from the
>Brithini or other such 'outsider' groups) that doesn't necessarily
>mean they deny His existence.
All Western Magic comes from God. Sorcery works through manipulation of the cosmic laws that are held to be emanations from God. Wizards and Sorcerers do disagree about the nature of the ultimate source (although both agree that It made the Cosmos).
> For many of them at least, 'deism' may more accurately describe their
>religious beliefs ('God does exist but He doesn't care about us, so prayer
>and the like are pointless').
Most Deists did believe that "prayer and the like" were useful. Their unifying factor was the religious knowledge was rationally obtainable and denied the validity of special revelation.
>[Faith] might, however, be of more significance to the Malkioni (or most
>of them, anyway) since, according to RQ, they gain no benefit from their
>worship ceremonies.
Incorrect. "..all participants receive spiritual assurance that the magic points donated to their deity were acceptable to him." GoG p48.
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