I think the point about it becoming popular in a Muslim country is interesting. Monotheistic religions tend to be quite hostile to astrology - not uniformly or at all times but pretty consistently so these days.
It was always popular in South Asia. It's folk tradition.
Folk practices were how religion always tended to practiced until the rise of globalization and literacy pushed more "Puritanized" forms of all religions.
Barely 50 years ago your village Maulvi or Pandit was a barely literate man who's job mostly consisted of farming, lay preaching, mediating disputes, and teaching the 3Rs.
Same way how a significant portion of practicing Muslims in the Balkans would also drink alcohol, eat pig, or not cover women's hair until the 90s.
In the bit of South Asia I am familiar with it is far more popular with Buddhists and Hindus than it is with Christians or Muslims and is far more ingrained in those religious subcultures so I imagine it has been for a long time.
> Folk practices were how religion always tended to practiced until the rise of globalization and literacy pushed more "Puritanized" forms of all religions.
More intellectual, more lead from the centre, more heierachical, rather than "puritan", I would say. The rise of globalisation and literacy has made Christianity less puritan (the same may not be true of Islam) globally (not sure about the US).
Also, it was not just popular with illiterate villagers in the case of monotheistic religions, in SOuth Asia of elsewhere. Kepler and Galileo were court astrologers at some point in their lives, and I think there are similar people (i.e. intellectuals who were astrologers) in the Muslim world.
That also makes it all the more interesting that it is happening now. Youtube is getting people to abandon tenets of their religion.
> In the bit of South Asia I am familiar with it is far more popular with Buddhists and Hindus than it is with Christians or Muslims
Adherants of all religions (except for the recent converts) would continue to use traditional customs and norms, but would use ethnic specific terms (eg. Getting an Aineh was always a thing among Paharis of all major religions - Islam, Hindu, Sikh)
> rather than "puritan", I would say
I think "Textualist" a la Constitutional Law is a better term.
At least in modern South Asian Islam, Sikhism, Hinduism, and Buddhism, reformist movements like Ahl-i Hadith, Akali, Arya Samaj, and the Mahabodhi Society respectively.
> That also makes it all the more interesting that it is happening now. Youtube is getting people to abandon tenets of their religion
That's the issue. My grandparents peers did aineh, my parents peers did aineh, and my peers might or might not.
I argue that a textualist interpretation of religion is closer to abandoning tenets of religion (as religion is the codification of folk beliefs and traditions), and the fact that most of the textualist movements are barely 100 years old, they are the "new" movements deviating from traditional norms.
I do not know what aineh is! Search does not help (the top result on Google is a village in iran!).
I think we have different experiences of SOuth Asia because we have experience of different ends of it - mine is of Sri Lanka.
> I argue that a textualist interpretation of religion is closer to abandoning tenets of religion (as religion is the codification of folk beliefs and traditions), and the fact that most of the textualist movements are barely 100 years old
I think that varies with religion. Texts have always been central to Christianity and Islam, and both originated (as did Buddhism) as ideas propounded by definite historical foudners rather than being a codification of folk beliefs.
It's interesting to imagine a world where the USA government would use these as weapons, mandating different content for allies vs enemies (like China uses tiktok).
Lots of people in Pakistan? Could be dangerous, let's feed them garbage and keep them in ignorance. Back home? Hide astrology entirely.
I think the point about it becoming popular in a Muslim country is interesting. Monotheistic religions tend to be quite hostile to astrology - not uniformly or at all times but pretty consistently so these days.
It was always popular in South Asia. It's folk tradition.
Folk practices were how religion always tended to practiced until the rise of globalization and literacy pushed more "Puritanized" forms of all religions.
Barely 50 years ago your village Maulvi or Pandit was a barely literate man who's job mostly consisted of farming, lay preaching, mediating disputes, and teaching the 3Rs.
Same way how a significant portion of practicing Muslims in the Balkans would also drink alcohol, eat pig, or not cover women's hair until the 90s.
In the bit of South Asia I am familiar with it is far more popular with Buddhists and Hindus than it is with Christians or Muslims and is far more ingrained in those religious subcultures so I imagine it has been for a long time.
> Folk practices were how religion always tended to practiced until the rise of globalization and literacy pushed more "Puritanized" forms of all religions.
More intellectual, more lead from the centre, more heierachical, rather than "puritan", I would say. The rise of globalisation and literacy has made Christianity less puritan (the same may not be true of Islam) globally (not sure about the US).
Also, it was not just popular with illiterate villagers in the case of monotheistic religions, in SOuth Asia of elsewhere. Kepler and Galileo were court astrologers at some point in their lives, and I think there are similar people (i.e. intellectuals who were astrologers) in the Muslim world.
That also makes it all the more interesting that it is happening now. Youtube is getting people to abandon tenets of their religion.
> In the bit of South Asia I am familiar with it is far more popular with Buddhists and Hindus than it is with Christians or Muslims
Adherants of all religions (except for the recent converts) would continue to use traditional customs and norms, but would use ethnic specific terms (eg. Getting an Aineh was always a thing among Paharis of all major religions - Islam, Hindu, Sikh)
> rather than "puritan", I would say
I think "Textualist" a la Constitutional Law is a better term.
At least in modern South Asian Islam, Sikhism, Hinduism, and Buddhism, reformist movements like Ahl-i Hadith, Akali, Arya Samaj, and the Mahabodhi Society respectively.
> That also makes it all the more interesting that it is happening now. Youtube is getting people to abandon tenets of their religion
That's the issue. My grandparents peers did aineh, my parents peers did aineh, and my peers might or might not.
I argue that a textualist interpretation of religion is closer to abandoning tenets of religion (as religion is the codification of folk beliefs and traditions), and the fact that most of the textualist movements are barely 100 years old, they are the "new" movements deviating from traditional norms.
I do not know what aineh is! Search does not help (the top result on Google is a village in iran!).
I think we have different experiences of SOuth Asia because we have experience of different ends of it - mine is of Sri Lanka.
> I argue that a textualist interpretation of religion is closer to abandoning tenets of religion (as religion is the codification of folk beliefs and traditions), and the fact that most of the textualist movements are barely 100 years old
I think that varies with religion. Texts have always been central to Christianity and Islam, and both originated (as did Buddhism) as ideas propounded by definite historical foudners rather than being a codification of folk beliefs.
It's interesting to imagine a world where the USA government would use these as weapons, mandating different content for allies vs enemies (like China uses tiktok).
Lots of people in Pakistan? Could be dangerous, let's feed them garbage and keep them in ignorance. Back home? Hide astrology entirely.
See https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/britain-hired-astrologer-to-pr...
It's not like a particular party in the US is in favor of education.
Funny how the US fought the Taliban but some factions in the US want some tenets of the Taliban applied across the nation.
LGBTslop for Americans, harmonious society content for China