#37 Mary on a Cross

Hosted by The Skeptical Ghost Heathen, The History Of Religions and their Gods! is a journey through belief, power, and the human stories etched into our past. This isn't just a list of dates and deities; it's an exploration of how faith shapes civilizations and is shaped by them in return. We begin with the most ancient echoes-the ceremonial burials and ritual offerings that hint at our first spiritual impulses-and trace the path to the rise of massive kingdoms and the monumental Temples they built. A significant portion of the podcast digs into the complex world of pre-Israelite cults, examining their direct influence on the development of Judaism and, later, Christianity. We ask tough questions about the political motivations woven into foundational scriptures and gospels, considering how earthly power and divine narrative often intertwine. The series then moves into the modern era, concluding with an examination of the Holocaust in the 1930s, using that catastrophic event as a lens to investigate religion's enduring and complicated role in human conflict and identity. Each episode connects these vast historical dots, offering a clear-eyed survey of how the gods we worship and the stories we tell are inseparable from the history we live.