Recon?

[Gemyndig]

Just to add a little note here - we have the something like this too in the UK, as in the Christian "authoritarian right" end of the political spectrum on our tail trying to make us look at the very least foolish, at worst to have our rights to claim status as religion taken away. A great proponent of this is Daily Mail journalist Melanie Phillips, who wrote the following article back in 2010, having a pop at Druids. Fair enough she might be right about some of the more, erm , childish and unfamily-friendly aspects of the NeoPagan community, but there are surely swathes of perfectly decent Druids and Heathens etc who'd find her writing grossly offensive. The bulk of the article I thought was simply her showing her own bigoted Christian Supremacist ideology. It's a shame because I've read other articles by her which I've agreed with on other matters, but on this one she really falls down the hole of fascistic intolerance IMO...

The worst bits of the article for me personally are

The defining characteristic of such faiths is a spirituality which is concerned with the self rather than the world beyond the individual.

(obviously Ms Philips knows nothing at all about Heathenry then!)

and

But if all creeds, however absurd, have equal meaning then every belief is equally meaningless. And without the Judeo-Christian heritage there would be no morality and no true human rights.

She needs to read Tacitus then, about the family values of the Germanic peoples, and also revisit the period of Abolitionism, wherein Biblical passages were used by slave-traders to justify and defend their activities. Oh the hypocrisy!!

[Kitta]

Oh, now that is just infuriating. Monotheists all seem to be absolutely convinced of their moral superiority, despite the fact that they are often the aggressors trampling all over others' rights!

I read an article a while ago that really started getting my gears to turn, so to speak. The guy who wrote it was part of the inspiration for my pagan-community-building efforts. I started a group called 'P.E.A.C.E.' which stood for 'Pagans Encouraging Active Community Efforts' whose mission was to strengthen the pagan community (we had an online forum and I hosted open-to-the-public-events around st louis), to provide accurate and truthful information about paganism, and to fight for pagan rights. Right now the groups a little slow and broken because I just moved out of that area, but I am trying to get someone to be a chapter head for the St Louis area and I will concentrate my efforts here around Wisconsin and see if I can't get the same energy started.

At any rate, the reason I tell you guys this is because when I say this article really lit my fire, you know it's not just the sit-there-and-be-angry-but-deal-with-it type, it's the I'm-gonna-do-something-about-this! type, lol!

The Pagan/ Wiccan Front
BY: Jason (Jaguire) Manyen
http://www.wiccantogether.com/profiles/ ... agan-front

[Gemyndig]

I realized how bad things had gotten when I happened upon the den of ignorance and evil intent that is the Landover Baptist Church forum - I'd advise NOT to read if you've got a nice relaxed evening planned. These guys really know how to infuriate - not only do they hate us and wish us all dead and in their hell, they also hate Jews, Hindus, Catholics, Gays etc and believe that Black people should "know their place"!!

I remember seeing Jerry Falwell on the TV after 9/11, basically spouting ridiculous hateful nonsense, so it was a trip down memory lane reading the Jason Manyen article and seeing his words repeated in print. I recall one prominent British Atheist, on hearing of the death of Falwell, stating that "it's a pity there's no hell for him to go to!" (at the time I found it rather amusing, now I realise quite how serious this whole thing could become!)

Congrats anyway on the good work you're doing with PEACE. Here in the UK, it seems some Pagans have joined voices with the Hindu community in defending rights, with good results. I did read up about that a while ago but would need to revisit the site I read about it on. It seemed worthwhile anyway, because Hindus share a lot in common with us and face the same disrespect of their deities etc, plus they're very numerous and are good at "freedom" type movements because of their history.

[Bathilde]

Landover Baptist is a parody site. The Law of Poe strikes again, lol.

[Gemyndig]

I was hoping that's what it was - there really are people out there though who believe that stuff though, that's the scary thing (you're damn right about Poe's Law...) I joined and got a very abusive private message from one of the moderators for being Heathen. I'm guessing that was just part of the parody experience maybe - they really go to some lengths then to make it feel real!

[Bathilde]

They delight in tricking people into thinking they're real. In fact, the only way people know it's a parody site(other than being told by people who know, or googling it), is the little disclaimer:

"The Landover Baptist Church is a complete work of fiction. It is a satire/parody."

If you didn't notice it, it's probably because it's at the bottom of the TOS page, hidden in spoiler tags.

[Gemyndig]

He he - they really had me fooled anyway! I know I'm not the only one either because the time I was there (a while back), some people were going in and actually being persuaded by the scriptural BS and being "saved"! One Danish guy (who actually sounded to me to be rather lost and depressed) was persuaded that they were right, and he should follow them. I couldn't believe it!

Actually, when I was scanning through some of the posts yesterday, I thought "boy, these people haven't changed one bit!" and also "Pastor Billy-Reuben? Now that sounds like a spoof, since it's what makes poop brown!" (shoulda listened to my BS detector then I think! ) It's really clever anyway -

[Wyrdwulf]

I feel Reconstructionism is what we are doing, blowing on the embers of the religion, culture and worldview of our ancestors and trying to stay true to it to the utmost best of our ability, while keeping a healthy attitude that religion is dynamic and can change. I feel, however that reconstructionism is the best approach for reviving worthwhile points of view from our forebears.

[schwarzesonne]

I don't remember where I read it, but a quote that has always stuck with me was one describing Heathenry as “firm but flexible like an oak; not hard and brittle like a rock”.

I see reconstructionism as being the furthest thing from what a Heathen ought to be doing. Instead of trying to re-build or re-invent the past heathens ought to be building our present and our future only educated and inspired by the past.

Kitta makes some great points about the dead of ancient Heathendom. As a matter-of-fact, anyone interested in studying such topics further might find themselves enlightened by a book called Twilight of the Primitive by Lewis Cotlow, wherein the author discusses various tribal cultures in the 20th Century and their interactions with urban culture around the world.

Perhaps the strongest argument I've ever read, though, about trying to revive something long dead was in Mary Shelly's novel, Frankenstein. In a nutshell, the moral to the story is “things that are dead ought to remain dead”.

[Bathilde]

...heathens ought to be building our present and our future only educated and inspired by the past.

I consider this to be recon.

Perhaps the strongest argument I've ever read, though, about trying to revive something long dead was in Mary Shelly's novel, Frankenstein. In a nutshell, the moral to the story is “things that are dead ought to remain dead”.

Mary Shelley didn't have the Olympics.