A
lot of us within the Pagan community seem to harbor resentment towards
Christianity. Rare is the Pagan who has reclaimed the Christian language and
made peace with a religion that, for many, is the religion of their childhoods.
I’ve often wondered why this is. Many people will tell you (and truthfully, for
them) that it is a matter of persecution (which is sometimes the case). Even in
cases where a person is not being persecuted, there still remains some distaste
for the magical symbols and terms associated with or appropriated by
Christianity. For example, very few of us would be comfortable invoking Christ.
Why is this?
The second most
common answer would be hypocrisy. It is an answer given by those of us who
pride ourselves on some level of tolerance (“It’s just the hypocrites I can’t
stand”). This is the point at which we usually begin to separate the Christians we know into two camps: The Good Christians (rare, but everyone usually knows
at least one) and The Bad Christians (who are, let’s face it, every one else). What
qualifies a person as being in one camp or another seems to be by how true they
are to (the Pagan) person’s perception of Christianity. Are they loving? Are
they giving? Are they forgiving, tolerant, kind, etc? Do they follow the teachings
of Christ?
If the Pagan
community were a singular entity (and Christianity were as well), I would tell
Paganism that we do not dislike something in others without first seeing it in
ourselves. While we are so busy judging other people by OUR idea of their life
path, we rarely stop to consider how other people are judging us by their view of ours. If we
are not to be judged by the pop culture satanic cardboard cutout, then we will
be judged by another stereotype. Given our roots and our writings, it would
seem to some that we should more closely resemble the hippie movement from which our
culture sprang.
We claim to
worship the Earth, to revere nature, to have spirit animals, to follow in the
footsteps of indigenous peoples and first nations everywhere who still dance to
the rhythm of the sun and earth. We toss about their terms and mysteries like
name-droppers at a party in Hollywood, eager to impress each other with our
esoteric knowledge. And yet, we do know how any of this works? Do we actually practice and work with it? Not really. Remember that
scene in Avatar when Neytiri says to
Jake, “Sky People cannot learn, you do not See”? Do you remember the difference
between who Jake was at the beginning of the movie, and then who he was at the end? Which Jake do you more closely resemble?
How often do we
sit outside, only to be glued to our devices? How many times have you walked
from one place to another staring at your cellphone? Do you hide from thunder
and shun “bad” weather? When was the last time you felt dirt between your toes?
When did you last feel the rain on your face? Have you ever sat with an insect
that you didn’t kill, and marveled at its beauty? Have you ever grown your own
food? Are you comfortable with nature?
My point is, while
we are busy judging Christians as good or bad, someone is judging us. And if I
have seen all of this on the inside, what must people be thinking from the
outside? What do all those whose cultural icons and symbols we have
appropriated think of us? How hypocritical do we look? Are we being "bad" Pagans?
This brings me to two
very important points: One: stop judging. The next time you see a “bad
Christian” ask yourself if you are being a “bad Pagan.” Then lovingly forgive both of you (and mean it). We each have our own tasks and paths, and only the divine can truly see where we are. Two: It’s your religion. When you stumble through
life attached to your cellphone, you’re the one who misses the intimate and powerful
relationship with nature that is rightfully yours. You are the one who is tuning
out magic and disconnecting yourself from the web of life. You chose this path,
is today the day you will get up and walk it?
