Personal Reflection
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Returning to a Space of Our Own
Recently, Niki Whiting at Patheos advised her readers not to read the work of those who are “mean”, and specifically named me as one such writer. It’s not hard to see why. A core truth of Atheopaganism clashes with a treasured precept of the hard theist. We don’t believe in literal gods. They do. So in the very articulation of my beliefs, I am—if you see it that way—”mean” to those whose are opposite. And do I cushion my position much, so as not to offend? No, I really don’t. I don’t, because I don’t see many examples of those in the theist camp making the slightest accommodation in the other…
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Castles in the Air
John Halstead has published a characteristically provocative piece in which he calls out John Beckett about the advisedness of the so-called “polytheist revolution”. Please go read them both; this post won’t make a lot of sense without them. I agree with Halstead completely on this matter, but for somewhat different reasons. The first is cultivation of an appropriate sense of scale. Pagans generally and polytheists particularly are a handful of people on a multi-billion-person planet, and their so-called revolution is, therefore, mostly in their minds rather than in fact. I think it would behoove all of us to stop talking about world transformation as if it’s a thing we can actually do–it…
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Humans are Fallible. That Includes Theists.
John Beckett at Patheos has responded to my blog post, The Religion That Dares Not Say Its Name. His response is frankly disappointing. Beckett takes issue with my suggestion that theists preface their claims with “I believe”, and that atheists do the same. While acknowledging that beliefs can be wrong, his claim is that by saying “I believe”, theists would undermine the confidence communicated in their expressions of faith; that, by admitting the possibility that they may be wrong, they are opening the door—albeit just a tiny crack—to admission of the chance that what they so fervently believe is factually untrue. “In the atheist-influenced reaction to this culture,” he writes, “that…
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The Religion that Dares Not Speak its Name
The provocative John Halstead has kicked the hornet’s nest again with his posts critiquing elements of modern Paganism, and defending the legitimacy of doing so while still identifying as a Pagan. This sort of thing foments much unhappiness on the part of some theist Pagans, and in response, John Beckett has penned something suggesting that you can’t both be a Pagan and “look down your nose at it” (the second Halstead piece is a response to this). I suggest you read all three of these pieces. Go ahead, I’ll wait. Increasingly, my experience of Pagan theists in relation to Pagan atheism is no longer that they want to kick us out…
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What Atheopaganism Won’t Do for You
Recently, I have experienced some severe life challenges. A period of disability followed by a one of unemployment drained my savings away. I finally landed a good job with a great organization…only to be told, one paycheck in, by my landlord of 18 years that my beautiful home has been sold and I must move by Sept. 1. Without any money. And 18 years’ worth of accumulated possessions. I believe I will get through this, as people do. I have community and fundraising skills and ideas, and I am earning a salary now. Nemea and I will find another home, and survive. But it occurs to me that members of other…
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Atheopaganism and the Broader Pagan Community
It’s never going to be a completely comfortable fit. Just as the suggestion of religious ritual and other symbolic, poetic, metaphorical practices will always be dismissed by some in the atheist community, Atheopaganism is always going to be viewed by some in the Pagan community as not rightfully belonging. Let me stop there and say that in my experience, that is a distinctly minority position. Most of the Pagans I have come out to as Atheopagan have been curious and interested in talking about the details of what I believe and do, but they have shown no interest in showing me the door. So let’s start there: this appears only to be an…
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A Subtle Art, the Medium of Which is Emotion
She was lifting the curtain, looking down from the window in her Civil War blouse, jacket and hoop skirt. Outside, a wagon bearing a flag-draped casket was drawn forward by black horses, flanked with erect soldiers. Suddenly, it was 1865. I was 6, and touring the Custis-Lee Mansion at Arlington National Cemetery with my family. And that tiny moment when a costumed docent lifted the curtain on the scene below transported me back in time, began a lifelong fascination with other eras, living history, modes of dress from other times. It was a feeling, a particular and very specific emotional sense, and I was riveted by that: that in a moment, my sense of where (and when)…
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Eggs and Sprouts
Reflecting here, on a mild day shortly after High Spring, on the currents of newness that have come to and through my life in the past few months. Feeling grateful. For better or worse, my life will change significantly in the next few months. I hope it is for the better, and what better time for hope than the Spring? Here are some of the Eggs I am incubating and the Sprouts I see emerging, already born and angling towards the Sun. Egg: With some luck, I will be starting a new job soon. If it’s the one I hope for, I’ll be working for a great organization with an exciting…
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Why Pagan Temples? A Not-Very-Good Reason.
John Halstead over at Patheos published a great series entitled “Why Church is No Substitute for Religion”, in the final episode of which he concludes that we need to be making our sacred places on an ad hoc and constantly-renewed basis, rather than focusing on buying land and building structures. He points out—quite correctly—that when your entire planet is “the special place”, it’s a bit odd to focus a lot of attention and resources on building and maintaining one particular building. But as I look around the Pagan community, that’s what I see people trying to do. Quite a lot, actually. There’s the Matraeum of Cybele in Catskill, New York. There’s…
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Reflections on Year One: Atheopaganism as Forward-Looking Religion
It is now about a year since I first made my essay, “How I Became an Atheopagan” widely available on the net, and since the Atheopaganism Facebook group became active. It has been exciting and gratifying to see the amount of interest and growth in Atheopaganism over the past year. I created this path for myself and thought some of my friends might be interested; I had no idea that the core precepts and ritual approach of Atheopaganism would resonate for people across the globe. In the past year, I’ve learned a lot about this religion I helped to midwife–among many lessons, that there are plenty of others who are also…
