> >More precisely then, Westerners who believe in Irensavel can be
> >Atheists because thet believe God to be outside the cosmos and
> >(according to their Atheist beliefs) inaccessible.
>
> No, Irensavel is accessible by definition.
OK. I can certainly live with that.
> Atheists do not
> know God as either Irensavel or Makan, but as "the Prime
> Mover" or "the Creator".
Certainly, but I don't think that this matters for the case in point : Atheists still belong to certain cultural areas, surely, and will therefore be affected by local religious ideas ? That is, they will see the Creator Principle either as immanent or as outside creation, which was the point that interested me : to which you replied with your opposition of Irensavel and Makan.
And this will shape their Atheistic cults : Atheists who believed in an immanent creative principle would see themselves as partaking of this principle, and therefore be unlikely to believe in a god, but in several creative forces engendered by an original force that still inhabited all of the cosmos and is therefore possessed by all beings, as a kind of substance rather than an entity within the cosmos. Essentially : Pure Sorcery.
Those who believed in an outside force that created the cosmos at the beginning of Time can be Atheists (but would far more likely be Monotheists, in the normal sense of that word) understanding that this force is simply inaccessible, or that it is impersonal, and that they (as finite and imperfect entities) cannot engage in a relationship with this entity (unless they believe that by performing various shriving and/or alchemical and/or etc operations, their soul can be purified so as to gain the power to encounter God in an afterlife). Essentially : Mainstream & heretic cults of Malkionism. Including the Brithini ?
Now, we know a lot about this second group of religious beliefs. And yes, it does appear that both Irensavel and Makan belong to this group.
But who then in Glorantha (apart from the obvious Pointy Hat/Shiny Skullcap/Hooked Fingernail -bearing Evil Sorcerors) uses Pure Sorcery, while also denying that they partake of any kind of divine creative principle ?
Not the Brithini I take it from previous statements by various parties on the subject.
Julian Lord
End of The Glorantha Digest V8 #121
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