The religions of our culture (which your “religious processes” seems to refer to) are the religions of our culture because they support the mythology of our culture (“the world was made for man and man was made to conquer and rule it; there is one right way to live, and we have it; everyone in the world should be made to live the way we do). If this mythology ever disappears, then these religions will disappear as well.

The assault on animism is of course being carried out primarily by Christian religionists working among aboriginal peoples, who (as a by-product of their work) bear the message that ours is the one right way to live and everyone should be made to adopt it, thus destroying native cultures wherever they find them. The destruction of these cultures is irreversible, of course; once they’re gone, they’re gone, just like extinct species. Animism itself is indestructible, at least as I’ve defined it. Anyone who views the world as a sacred place (and humans as worthy of a place in a sacred place) is an animist.

ID: 594
posted:
updated: 18 Jan 2003