Pagan Theology
A Major Distraction
I’ve always known that the blog The Wild Hunt [1] was full of interesting and provocative stuff, but lately I’ve been reading it a bit more and realize just how good it is. One of the entries caught my eye and I thought it would be worth discussing it [2].
The background is that Colorado State Senator Dave Schultheis apparently has a pretty fuzzy idea of what religious tolerance is [3]. He came out on twitter deploring the religious intolerance of Egyptian Muslims toward Egyptian Christians. Then, not 20 minutes later he tweeted: “Wicca and Druidism to be given chapel space in Air Force Academy Chapel…Where will this end?” [4]. In addition to making him look like he doesn’t remember what he wrote 10 minutes ago, this also caused a bit of a kerfuffle as it sounded like he was disrespecting Pagans [5].
Now I’d not normally be one to rise to bait that some random conservative whack job dips into the river, but in this case I think his comments raise a couple of interesting questions. First, to get kind of Buddhist on the issue, is the question of right thought. What should we think about people who don’t think our religion is worth as much as the “real” religions? Next is the question of right speech, what should we say and when we’re confronted with religious intolerance? Finally, there is the question of right action. What should we do in response to comments like these?
When someone attacks you the first reaction is often defensive. They are invading your real or intellectual space, and you immediately react to protect it. You say they are a whack job (oops) and immediately serve the poop ball back into their court for the next round of escalation. Historically speaking you might get away with saying that this is the Pagan way, as Celtic and Northern tribes certainly did not have any trouble getting into fights, either with each other or with other tribes.
However if we ignore the basic tribal instinct to defend our own and consider what is really going on you come to the question of charity and forgiveness. In the Christian tradition there is the whole concept of charity as an alternative to hatred and malice. It requires that you give others a more or less unconditional benefit of the doubt and you recognize that others are as worthy of love as you are.
Interestingly enough we don’t have much talk about a similar concept of “agape” or self-sacrificing love in the Pagan community. This is probably because it is an essential Christian concept, and forms pretty much the heart of Jesus teachings about how to live. And, acknowledging people who might disagree, Jesus’ teachings are not our teachings. On the other hand I would argue that we do have a pretty effective substitute for charity in our concept of the divine: the combination of the reified divinity of the Gods and Goddesses (thou art God/Goddess) and the understanding of imperfection in that divinity (the God/Goddess can make mistakes).
If we believe that Sen. Schultheis has the same essential nature as the Gods and the Goddesses do, then we also understand that he, just like the Gods and Goddesses, can have complex motivations and beliefs. He is not perfect, neither are we, and neither are the Gods and Goddesses. This is not charity in the Christian meaning of the term, instead it is a radical call for acceptance of all types of actions and behaviors as part of the world. Just as we accept the darker aspects of the Morrigan, so too we accept the darker aspects of those who would do us harm. Of course this does not mean we don’t resist such actions, even while knowing that the resistance itself may be seen as hostile. But what it does mean is that we see the divine in the actions, all actions, not just the ones we approve of. Ultimately this means accepting that some are on a dark path, whether it’s a path of certainty, hostility, or ego.
Our faith gives us the ability to see this path they are on, and avoid it. It does not require “turning the other cheek” [6]. But it does give us the option of not walking the same dark path that our opponents are on. Instead we can hold up to them their reflection in the Gods and Goddesses. If they see themselves there, they may also see that of the many paths that are open to them the hostile ones are perhaps not the best way to travel.
Charity, forgiveness, love of others. Our equivalent of this idea is knowing that the Gods and Goddesses exist and set us on a path of acceptance and respect. For Pagans acceptance is our equivalent of charity. It is what calls us to not return hate with hate. We cannot hate what we accept, even as we disagree with it. Respect for the divinity within requires us to treat others with love and a magical, light, heart [7]. We accept the behavior is part of the world. We respect the divinity within. Even still we defend our faith and must hold up the honor of the Gods and Goddesses.
Ok, so we should not shit all over this guy and piss him off. Got it. Don’t like it, but I got it. So what should we say in response when people challenge Paganism [8] as not being a “real” religion. How do we “hold up the honor of the Gods and Goddesses”?
First the basics. Theologically neo-Paganism is both a religion and a faith system, in fact Paganism encompasses many different religions and faith systems. We can pretty much prove we are a religion, and that we have faith [9].
But of course that is not what the people who are criticizing us are interested in. Rather they are interested in making it more difficult for us to add new members to our religion, by marginalizing it and making it more difficult for us to be public in the celebration of our faith. They see us as a competitor. And we are.
I believe this notion of competition is more important than the idea that their inherent discomfort with us is a reflection of their own insecurities. They are fearful because they know something that we tend to ignore: we are a powerful and dramatic faith. If more people understood what it meant to be Pagan, then many more would realize that they are actually Pagan and not of another faith or no faith at all. This is decidedly not the direction that the book religions would like to see things go in.
While I won’t go into why our appeal is broader than we think it is, I will suggest that if we are being challenged because the others recognize our appeal and we don’t, maybe we should start realizing it too! We can answer our critics by making our faith more available for entry. There are many ways to do this. Bookstores are one venue where people are welcome to participate, as are CUUPs [10] groups. Being welcoming, being inclusive, and being willing to speak up about our faith is a positive answer to our critics.
Being welcoming is not necessarily the same thing as proselytization. There has been a general taboo against proselytization amongst Pagans. I will point out that if the other guys proselytize aggressively and we don’t we will loose by the pressure from simple diffusion [11]. However we don’t really need to proselytize, because we have the default option: many Gods and Goddesses instead of one. All we have to do is be more welcoming, to honor those who come and seek to join, and to stand up and be examples of our faith for those who do not know us. We continue to grow at great rates, being more open and welcoming will only accelerate that growth.
But there is the question of what action we should take. What should we do? I don’t think we actually need to “do” anything. If we speak up, if we use the attention given by those who attack us to give more people a view of our religion, we will continue to grow. That is the action I believe the ones who attack us really don’t want. While they often heartily endorse economic competition, they don’t really want competition in religious ideas. That seems to always end badly for them.
So someone criticizes us. We can use the opportunity to get better known. We can welcome those who end up being curious about us. And we can do so without any confrontation or hostility. Perhaps we should thank the Senator. And all those who want to make us more visible, more accepted, and more mainstream. Of course that is pretty scary all by itself!
[1] The Wild Hunt is an example of a thoughtful, academically focused, and mature contribution to neo-Pagan literature. It gives me hope for our religion. http://wildhunt.org/blog/
[2] http://wildhunt.org/blog/2010/02/a-senators-vision-of-tolerance.html
[4] http://twitter.com/Sen_Schultheis but its strange that his tweets are now protected. On his page he also has the interesting statement “Tolerance is the virtue of man without convictions” – Gilbert K. Chesterton. However you can find them at the Colorado Independent article.
[5] He was. He’s also a bit of a nut. More evidence here: http://coloradoindependent.com/42099/schultheis-explains-its-just-that-obama-is-making-the-u-s-fascist
[6] About the last recourse for an old school Witch.
[7] More on this concept of wonder, magic, and lightness of heart in a future column. But I will say the way we see magic in the world really affects the way Pagans relate to everything, including other people.
[8] Of course I’m really talking about Western neo-Paganism here, these guys usually don’t take on Hindus or Buddhists. (Because they know they’ll be taking a bath in a can of whoopass).
[9] As much as anyone else can.
[10] Covenant of Unitarian Universalist Pagans (http://www.cuups.org/content2/)
[11] An we did once before.