RE: Re: atheists in Glorantha

From: Gareth Martin <gamartin_at_...>
Date: Wed, 11 Apr 2001 17:18:13 +0100

> Here you are, a good Heortling. A Lunar comes along and says your god
> is worthless. Pretty annoying, but you know she has her own powerful
> goddess protecting her -- she can get away with this for a while.

Fair enough

> Then a soulless Meldek comes along and says your god isn't really a
> god. Really annoying, and even though he has no god at all, he isn't
> struck down by lightning. How does he do it? What secret protection
> does he have?

OK. The term Meldek does not ring any immediate bells, but:

1. why is he "soulless" when the Lunar is not?
2. The claim that orlanth is "not really" a god can be easily falsified by making orlanth act like a god - i.e. repsond to the appeals of worshippers
3. I would not expect him to be struck by lightning - what he is saying is no threat to the manifest truth of my faith. But presumably they are protected by this insible god

At the moment I would see the above as much less of a threat than the Lunar. If this Meldek is a threat, they are a threat as the worshipper of another (invisible) god, surely - and witghout Chaos (or so I believe). Either way, the assertion that orlanth is not a god is meaningless - for orlanth demonstrably behaves as a god. Even if I were to accept the Meldeks argument, that Orlanth is some entity other than a god, I still don't see why I should care - as long as orlanth delivers the goods, I have no worries.