Pagan America

I don't use this blog as much these days, but I'm glad to play my small part in the Blog Against Theocracy.

This is a matter near and dear to my heart, because me and my family are modern Pagans. Which means, in our case, we revere the Natural World and the Imminent Divinity found in all of Life. We celebrate the Seasons of the year as part of the great circle of all existence, and revere a collection of household Gods and Goddesses, mostly Celtic or Egyptian.

Because we live under the Laws of the Constitution and the Bill of Rights of the United States of America, we are free to live our spiritual lives as we see fit. To paraphrase Thomas Jefferson, we are free to worship twenty gods or no god, so long as it does no harm to our fellow citizens.

This is almost identical to the Pagan "commandment" known as the Wiccan's Rede: "An it harms none, do what thy will." (The archaic use of "an" means, in modern parlance, "if".)

"If it harms none, do what you will". Doesn't that neatly sum up the essence of the American concept of liberty?

In a religious context, we Pagans generally harm none. We don't proselytize, we don't preach, we teach by example. We don't demand that our mythologies be taught as history and science in classrooms. (Because we recognize that they ARE mythologies, not history or science.) We don't tell people who don't agree with us that they will suffer eternal punishment, or manipulate the power of the State to coerce others into accepting and favoring us. We accept pluralism, because every modern Pagan can have a different, very personal concept of Divinity and their place in it. This spiritual individualism is not just accepted, but celebrated. We can even attend each other's gatherings and rituals with complete respect and dignity.

Doesn't that neatly sum up the essence of the American concept of religious freedom?

This, I think, is what drives the religious right-wing crazy, whether they know it or not: if the United States of America has a religious identity, then it is, in essence, a Pagan Nation. A place where your neighbor can worship twenty gods. Or no god.

We even have our own tribal Deities, like Lady Liberty and Uncle Sam (not to mention the American Eagle), which fill the same niches in our tribal consciousness as the ancient gods filled in theirs.

So remember your Pagan roots, my fellow Americans, as you celebrate your Easter weekend. Even the name is of a Pagan holiday, based on the cycles of the Moon, that celebrated the Spring goddess Eostera, and the traditions of eggs, chicks, bunnies and baskets are all Pagan artifacts of Her worship.

Like I say, The United States of America is a Pagan Nation. And thank the Gods for that! Always remember, it was those plucky Pagan Greeks that invented this whole idea of a Democratic Republic in the first place. Now it remains to us to find out if, as Benjamin Franklin warned, we can keep it.