We Are All Pagans Now

The Spectator ^ | December 18, 2004 | Mary Wakefield

[quidnunc]

Paganism is one of our fastest-growing religions. A druid explains why witchcraft appeals to 21st-century Britain

The sky was already murky at 4 p.m. when I locked my bike outside Ye Olde Cheshire Cheese on Fleet Street. Inside, it was even murkier: wood-panelled corridors stretched off into the gloom, men in grey suits were wedged together, smoking Bensons and drinking bitter. No one looked even slightly like an Arch Priest of the Council of British Druid Orders. At 4:10 I found a separate little bar near the back of the pub. As I walked in, a big man with round shoulders and grey hair stared at me and I saw the corner of a magazine poking out from inside his coat. As I watched, the whole cover slowly emerged: a yellowy-purple watercolour of a fairy, and the title: The Witchtower. ‘Steve?’ I said. He nodded.

We bought bitter, found somewhere to sit, and began what turned out to be a three-hour crash course in modern paganism, one of the fastest-growing religions in Britain.

-snip-

So, can a modern pagan just pick any god to worship? I asked. Egyptian? Roman? African? Are there any rules? Steve put his hands self-consciously under the table, ‘No rules,’ he said. ‘Being a pagan is about being free from institutional rules. And the gods? Once you start seeking they choose you, really. Everyone has their own path, but we all celebrate the same festivals: the summer and winter solstices, spring and autumn equinoxes and four other festivals: Samhain, Imbolc, Beltane and Lughnasad.’

Pagans, I discovered during our second pint, are also united by their sense of the injustices done them by Christians. The last 2,000 years of history is a heart-wrenching tale of innocent occult revivals squashed by ignorant Christians …

-snip-

[Pyro7480]

Norse paganism, Heathanism, or Asatru, has as much to do with Neo-Nazi's as a tennis shoe has to do with global warming trends. Ie; nothing.

How do you explain these then?

While not by nature a racist religion, Odinism is popular among white supremacists because its Old Norse origins are seen as representative of Aryan heritage and cultural pride. The symbol was common within Norse and ancient Germanic cultures and was later adopted by the Nazis for this reason. There are many variations of this symbol.

[orionblamblam]

> I'm going to quote some Scripture.

I can do that too:

The ignorant booby had best be silent
When he moves among other men,
No one will know what a nit-wit he is
Until he begins to talk;
No one knows less what a nit-wit he is
Than the man who talks too much.

Havamal, stanza 27.

[freepertoo]

I get tired of hearing that Christians participated in atrocities. No Christian would ever do such things...however, people claiming to be Christians, or thinking they were Christians, would. Jesus said that not every one who says Lord, Lord was one of His.

[trisham]

Where the dew drops cry and the cats meow

************

One of the funniest movies ever made. Christopher Guest was brilliant.

[DarkSavant]

God made pagans, and gave them their beliefs, just like He did with everyone else and their beliefs.

*scratches head*

This makes as much sense as "God made serial killers, and gave them their beliefs, just like He did with everyone else and their beliefs."

Your statement is a little silly.

[Mark in the Old South]

Re: "...there were also well-established Christian groups which burned "witches" at the stake, and went around slaughtering people who refused to convert Christianity"

This is a simpletons view of history. The same sort who blame America first, just consider the prison scandal in Iraq. Someone did it so it must be everyone in Government behind it. Don't look behind that curtain little girl, don't question the great OZ.

I can think of no Christian church where this was "policy" and the closest is when one Christian group was doing it to another. These pagans and other idiots who love to take potshots forget, don't know or don't care to remember 300 years of persecution by the gentle pagans before Christianity was even permitted out in the light. Add to that the slaughter of missionaries ever since. Consider Sudan today or China. But I doubt not the committed blind man's will to ignore truth that does not fit what they wish to see.

"It is better to cross paths with a she-bear who has lost her whelps than to cross paths with a fool."

[orionblamblam]

> How do you explain these then?

Get that from the same ADL page that lists "Pagan symbols *co-opted* by racists?"

One word about Northern European Pagan = racist:

Klan.

[Pyro7480]

Given your recent posting history, what are you doing on a conservative news forum? You sound like a DUer.

[stuartcr]

I don't think so...God did make serial killers...being all-knowing of the past, present and future, then God knew, before they were even born, what serial killers would do....He allowed them to be born, so He did make them.

[TalBlack]

"All in all, people are getting scary these days."

I call it 'choosing sides' and I am all for it.

Can't wait for the next, inevitible phase.

[Dead Corpse]

The same exact way the Hakenkreuz, or Swastika, was perverted by Nazi's from a good luck symbol 3000 years old, to a symbol of hate.

The same way a Roman instrument of torture has been the crucifix idol of modern Christianity despite your Gods admonitions against such things.

Or do I need to pull up some of Fred Phelps ramblings to show there are nut cases in every religion?

Interesting that they would choose the Rune Othala as it has not only the implication of "Roots" or "Beginnings" to it, but it can also mean "retreat" or "withdraw to whence you came".

[orionblamblam]

> what are you doing on a conservative news forum?

Gee, you think maybe because I'm a conservative?

I note you FAILED to address the point, and instead resorted right off to ad hominem.

Ah, the majesty of full-blown Christian PRIDE. The belief that anyone who does not hold to a Christian faith must therefore be some liberal Commie. Entertaining, but in the end rather sad and pathetic.

[Pyro7480]

Ah, the majesty of full-blown Christian PRIDE. The belief that anyone who does not hold to a Christian faith must therefore be some liberal Commie. Entertaining, but in the end rather sad and pathetic.

Ah, the majesty of full-blown libertarian PRIDE. The belief that anyone who does not hold to an objectivist faith must therefore be some liberal Commie. Entertaining, but in the end rather sad and pathetic.

It's amazing what word processing can do. ;-)

[orionblamblam]

> It's amazing what word processing can do.

Indeed. in your case, it can substitute for actual debate.

Quite the DUer, aren't you. Or do you have an actual response to the fact that for every racist pagan there's a Christian Klansman or worse?

[stuartcr]

Arians or Areians (Old-Persian Haraiva): ancient tribe, living in western Afghanistan. Their name means 'noblemen'.
In historical times, the Arians lived in the country along the river Arios (the modern Hari Rûd), which is more or less identical to the Afghanian province of Herât. There were large deserts surrounding the fertile river valley.

[TChris]

Yes, an extremely tortured rendition of a single event from the life of the Savior, taken out of context and magnified to the point of obliterating the entirety of the New Testament.

Neither Satan himself nor his vile servants have any qualms about abusing scripture for their own purposes. This neither establishes them as Christians nor lends credence to a comparison between any of them and a true believer.

[stuartcr]

I've heard people say the same about Islam!!

[TalBlack]

Just saying, since you can't associate modern day christians with the evils of old why do it with "druids"?"


An absurd equivalence.

At the heart of Christianity is Love and Truth. Christianity was not healed, it healed ITSELF. This is testimony to the truth at it's core.

At the heart of Paganism is the void, Death, nothing.

Try basing something like the constitution on "truths" derived from mere men, pagans.

[Dead Corpse]

Today Christians ... stand at the head of [this country]... I pledge that I never will tie myself to parties who want to destroy Christianity .. We want to fill our culture again with the Christian spirit ... We want to burn out all the recent immoral developments in literature, in the theater, and in the press - in short, we want to burn out the *poison of immorality* which has entered into our whole life and culture as a result of *liberal excess* during the past ... (few) years.

Can you guess who said this? Hint: It wasn't Pat Robertson.

You guys don't like your religion begin tied to nut cases? Neither do the rest of us.

[DarkSavant]

I see what you're saying now. I'm of the opinion that God gave the potential for every human being to become Pagan, Christian, whatever, but that doesn't mean he caused it to happen. If you're saying God caused all these, it's really impossible to have any right or wrong, since in that hard line determinism there's no human freedom. God created a human being, not an atheist, Pagan, Christian, etc. the human being chose to become what he is.