A Pagan Theologian Answers Questions about Paganism
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A Pagan Theologian Answers Questions about Paganism |
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By Christa Landon, M.A., D.Min. When Pagans speak about our religion in public, we are usually asked these questions. We understand that most people have very distorted ideas about our faith; this is due to a long-standing disinformation campaign against us. Still, we'd like new questions. So here are answers to the perennial ones. Q: Isn't Paganism a post-modern parody of Christianity, like Satanism? A: PAGANISM predates Christianity and even Judaism. Paganism is a collective term for all the forms the Old Religion, the indigenous traditional earth-centered religions of Europe, Africa, Australia, Asia, and the Americas. These traditions have their own myths and metaphors and sacramental practices, some of which were adapted by the early Christians and later missionaries to make Christianity more comprehensible and acceptable to Pagans. A parody of Christianity would depend on the perverted use of Christian myths and metaphors and sacramental practices. The Satanic black mass is the classic example, reversing Christian prayers and symbols. As Isaac Bonewits has noted, Satanists must believe in the Real Presence of God in the Eucharist; otherwise their black mass would be going to a lot of nauseating trouble to insult a piece of bread. |
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Q: Don't Pagans believe in the Devil? A: The Devil is part of the Christian mythos, borrowed from the Zoroastrian doctrine of a war between a Good God and an Evil God, ending in a cosmic battle between the Sons of Light and the Sons of Darkness. The Dualistic world view holds that the essential dynamic is revealed in this central story. Theologies centered on this idea are called Dualistic Theologies. Pagans have our own myths and metaphors. We do not believe that the Battle of the Angels reveals the central Truth. Pagans believe that the concept of the Devil is a human artifact, just like Hitler's fantasy about a thousand year Reich, and just as deadly, because both fantasies were used to justify the murder of millions of people. Paganism's ruling metaphor represents opposites as the fertile embrace of lovers, not the deadly embrace of enemies. And so, we do not divide the Cosmos into two warring camps: the Good guys vs. the Bad guys, spirit vs. flesh, heaven vs. earth, virtue vs. pleasure, man vs. woman. Q: If you don't believe in a war between Good and Evil, doesn't that mean that Pagans have no ethical standards? A: Pagans believe that everything in the Cosmos is intimately related to everything else, and that the health of the Cosmos, and of each of us, depends on every being having its own place in the sun. Pagans believe that truly Evil behavior arises from fear, ignorance, and self-hate, from rejecting parts of ourselves and the world. Pagans believe that people are free to make meaningful choices, but that we are not free from the results of those choices. We don't believe that anyone else can magically release us from the results of our actions, nor can I claim that the Devil made me do it. Our ethical Law is simple, DO AS THOU WILT, HARMING NONE. The Law derives from our recognition that all things in the universe are interconnected in a very intimate way; the relationship between you and me is part of what I am, and part of what you are. Magic necessarily depends on this idea. So does Pagan ethics. Pagan tradition speaks of the law of Three: what you do will come back to you 3 times. 1st, as Aristotle said, a crime gives you a bad character; 2 times because it will cause a reaction from the victim and society; 3 times because I can never escape my internal relations with you. The unity of all living beings implies a call to mutual aid and liberation from oppressive conditions in the world. ©2003 Christa Landon, all rights reserved. |
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Updated: July 28, 2009 |
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