It hurts me to see a lot of the conflicts between people these days. Sometimes it's so easy to see the differences between each other, making it easier to hate each other because of them. This isn't the way it should be. Pineapple on pizza vs not on pizza, blue and black dress vs white and gold dress -- these disagreements are not worth the pain they cause. Above all other arguments, so many people will fight each other over religion. Who follows the "right" faith? Who worships the "right" deities and how? Arguing something so personal never turns out well. So what if we embraced how personal and unique it can be? Let's just bring back some of the systems of the old gods. There are positives to the world being made of pagans.

1. More open mind to religion

It's not about a total overhaul of modern religion, it's about an integration of other systems and the inclusion of all of them. The Roman pantheon was open to all gods that they came in contact with, and they often integrated foreign deities into their pantheon (i.e. Magna Mater, Isis and Mithris). They even tried to integrate the Judeo-Christian God before taxes and culture made things a little bloody. It's a religious system put in place to accept all methods of worship.

2. More education about other cultures

One of the faults of some cultures -- namely the US, in my experience -- is that there just isn't much legitimate education about any other cultures. With how interconnected the world is right now, a lack of global awareness is dangerous. Bringing back the open, polytheistic system allows for an easier flow of information in the form of religious practices and deities. By learning how a culture approaches and has approached certain matters in the past, we can build up a culture that is tolerant of the way other people do things by understanding why.

3. More festivals/holidays

Some of the best things that can transfer between cultures, though, is a reason to throw a party. With all of the cultures and possible deities of the world, there are a ridiculous amount of reasons to throw a party. Why stick with the normal holidays of the modern day when you can fill up your calendar with festivities constantly. The Romans had a festival called the Saturnalia, where they inverted their roles between people such as slaves and masters. In our case, I would say the interns at work could make the regular workers run for coffee. Or you could just drink wine all day; ancient festivals seemed to really rely on wine.

4. More stories to pass around

Another great piece of culture to pass around the world would be the myths and stories associated with world religions. The greatest thing about exploring new cosmic possibilities is explaining how they fit into the existing story of the universe, or if a whole new narrative will be created. By sharing these stories, people can share their culture, their hopes, their anxieties and so on. These stories being from another religion doesn't make them completely inapplicable to you. Plus, watching those stories fit or meld together is how more belief systems evolve.

5. Nature might become the slightest bit sacred again

This goes off of an idea I heard a while ago: when the old religions were lost to the monotheistic religions, nymphs and river gods just became trees and rivers, allowing humanity to destroy and take as they pleased. Climate change wouldn't be a thing if we actually respected the nature we were born from. As a polytheistic system comes back, humanity will develop a respect for Earth again and hopefully chill out on the whole poisoning-it thing.

6. Cooler ways to worship

I'm not going to go as far as to say we should start sacrificing animals and humans again, but old religions/cults (cults being the word to describe a religious group based on one deity in particular) made use of a multitude of ways to worship. Festivals, themselves, were ways to celebrate deities. Maybe get a sweet altar and burn some incense or something on it to make it smell nice. Mystery cults also had secret rites to celebrate a particular deity. Any and all of these together=divine favor.

7. You can blame gods for stuff and not feel bad about it

A major positive of the whole polytheistic system is that the deities don't have to be all-benevolent and all-knowing; they can be ignorant and spiteful, which opens the doorway for people to be angry at them and it's totally cool. If your cat gets struck by lightning, you could just be like "Zeus, bro, not cool" without a bit of remorse unless someone starts smiting again. You're free.

8. No more sex-shaming based on religion

To be honest, there shouldn't be shaming for most mutually consenting adults having sex, but here we are. I realize that all reasons for sex-shaming don't come from religion, but no more of this "You're a harlot because pre-marital sex is bad" stuff. It's time to put that away for good because gods go around banging everything and everyone. When Bacchus/Dionysus touched down on Earth, it was said there were often parties and orgies. It was on the casual, and people should be just as casual about sexual expression these days. Out of that, we would start to have better sex education, hopefully more access to contraceptives and easier, happier lives for everyone.