[Arthur Gordon Pym]

Originally Posted by bombadillo

Europe, Europeans, and European culture certainly existed before Christianity.

Hm, not sure about that, since European culture is an intreplay between Greek thought, Roman law AND Christianity.

Originally Posted by bombadillo

And today's European Christianity is a strange hybrid creation -- very different from the primitive faith that came out of Palestine. Christian theology is inconceivable without the impact of neo-Platonism in the early centuries.

Absolutely correct. Christianity contained elements of Greek thought, from the very beginning (the Gospel of John).

Originally Posted by bombadillo

But still there remains a kernel of non-European dogma (superstition?) at the heart of the religion -- and this is responsible for much of the mischief we see in the American evangelical movement. I would argue that this kernel is profoundly non-European. Nietzsche wrote about this more insightfully than I can manage here.

American evangleicalism is beyond contempt, it is not even Christianity in any meaningful sense...some of their leaders and preachers even started preaching that Jews are still "chosen people", something that contradicts the basic tenets of Christianity.

Originally Posted by bombadillo

Material like the Old Testament does not relate to us at all but is the basis of an expansionist semitic ideology with its roots in a semitic tribalism.

I must say, first time I took the Old Testament into my hands and started reading it, it seemed to me as a hideous book, from many aspects. However, its stories are to be understood allegorically, as they have always been throughout history in the Christian theology.