Henke 2022ce

Gods’ and Demons’ Procreation Myths

Kevin R. Henke

September 15, 2022

In Henke (2022b), I stated the following:

“Rather than recognizing the virgin birth of Romulus as nothing more than a made-up story, Lundahl (2022a) again suggests that it might have happened and that a demon could have been responsible. Lundahl (2022a) again shows his inability to separate out real history from likely mythology that involves angels, demons and other supernatural beings. This is part of a superstitious mindset that sees demons almost everywhere instead of recognizing that fertile human imaginations are more than capable of making up stories and that these stories can become popular with gullible audiences.” [my emphasis]

Lundahl (2022m) comments on the bolded clause, which mentions the supposed conception of Romulus:

“It was not a virgin birth, Mars or whatever other entity it was had not left Rhea Silvia a virgin. Livy (and Pausanias?) don't consider the story as made up, nor did St. Augustine.

You can have an atheistic world view, and neither Mars nor a demon is possible. But the rest of the story could stand, if she was not entirely well guarded.

You can have a Christian world view, and Mars is impossible, but demonically assisted procreation is not. The story, including impregnation in absence of human males is possible.

You can have a pagan world view, and Mars becomes possible, or whatever Kumaran or Shiva or Hachiman or Tyr you prefer putting in the place of Mars. The story can stand as it is.”

Unless someone has archeological or other external evidence that Romulus actually lived and can confirm the identity of his parents, there’s no reason to believe the groundless opinions of Livy, St. Augustine and others. The rational or “atheist” position is the default position. We should doubt that these stories ever happened until good evidence actually becomes available to entirely or partially support them. Yes, it’s possible that parts of these stories could be true. Nevertheless, the Christian and pagan views on the birth of Romulus are currently nothing more than groundless superstition without a shred of evidence to support the claims that gods or demons exist, and that they can procreate.