Neopaganism growing quickly
Give them that old-time religion — ancient religion — and then watch an exploding population of modern pagans give it contemporary twists.
Their numbers roughly double about every 18 months in the United States, Canada and Europe, according to the Ontario Consultants on Religious Tolerance.
Neopaganism, whether a careful reconstruction of ancient practice or a completely modern interpretation of ancient lore, is now among the country’s fastest-growing religions.
People, especially teens, are rejecting what they see as the “autocracy, paternalism, sexism, homophobia and insensitivity to the environment” of some more traditional religions, the Canadian group concludes.
[ link ]
Rejecting the “autocracy, paternalism, sexism, homophobia and insensitivity to the environment” of some more traditional religions ‘eh…. that’s gonna get a whole bunch of conventional knickers in a lot of unconventional knots ain’t it?
…. they never were much for constructive criticism were they.
The ever dwindling power of the conventional church is something that I personally get a great deal of satisfaction from, personal faith and religion is a wonderful thing, until people believe that they have the right to foist their personal truths on to the rest of us…. at which point they make the jump from believer to authoritarian bigot.
Never fear though my monotheistic brethren, Pagans (unlike yourselves) are a very tolerant bunch, and there is an upside you may not have considered, halloween Samhain is gonna be a heck of a lot more fun in a few more years than it is right now :-)
Trackposted to Stop the ACLU, Perri Nelson’s Website, third world county, McCain Blogs, The World According to Carl, Shadowscope, Pirate’s Cove, The Pink Flamingo, Big Dog’s Weblog, The Amboy Times, Leaning Straight Up, and Conservative Cat, thanks to Linkfest Haven Deluxe.
I’ve always felt that the problem is power, not a particular faith or category of faith. When a governing body with a legal mandate to use the force of arms becomes linked with the belief that one is the possessor of the sole and universal truth, that force will almost inevitably be used to oppress those whose religious beliefs do not jibe with those of the state.
It’s not about monotheism. India is predominantly polytheistic, and various extreme Hindu parties have intermittently used state power to murder or persecute Muslims.
From the wild excesses committed in the name of Sharia within Islamist states today to Spanish expulsion of Jews in the sixteenth century, from the forced conversion of natives in the Americas to the murder trains exchanged post-partition by India and Pakistan, state power wedded to state theology is a terrible thing. The United States, Canada and much of Europe enjoy our current state of relatively good governance (bitch about it as much as you want) due in part to the fact that our governments are secular. The fond neocon fantasy of American military power linked to their peculiarly primitive version of Christianity is a pretty terrible vision.
Not to be rude to my very good pagan and Wiccan friends, but I’ll suspend judgement on your essential niceness until you guys get your own county. Then we’ll see how long the warm and fuzzy lasts.