The Sacred Hearth

There has been much discussion in the mainstream that might give the impression that NeoPagans in general are lawless and hedonistic, and perhaps even a danger to ourselves and others. The religious right constantly uses the word “pagan” to describe things that are decidedly not NeoPagan, adding to this impression. I would like to counter this by giving a short list of those values that are common in America’s Pagan subculture and even a list of Pagan “sins”, which many seem to believe do not exist. But first I’d like to make a few points that many who follow the mainstream media seem to miss.

It seems to be a very big deal both within the Pagan community and without when a Pagan is convicted of a crime. Half the Pagan community rushes to his or her defense and the other half rushes to condemn the accused to underline the Pagan community does not encourage such behavior and the mainstream says, “Oh look, another Pagan shot his wife.” I would like to ask all of these people to take a moment and think about all the people in the world, no, just America alone, who commit horrible crimes. How often is religion mention, excepting of course, those cases when the offender is a member of the clergy? Since the majority of Americans are Christian, one can assume that the majority of the crimes reported by the media, though they neglect to tell us their religion in most cases, are Christian. However, since Wicca has already been named by the media as the fastest growing religion in the America, with 134,000 in 2001 (according to The Graduate Center of the City University of New York), and one can assume that other NeoPagan religions, such as Druidry and Eclectic Paganism has grown right along side it, there are going to be a few Pagans among those Christian, Muslim, Jewish and Atheist criminals. It’s just common sense.

Whether or not it’s appropriate for the media to bring religion into these things is another issue altogether, though in some cases it’s necessary. Just as it’s appropriate to report a Catholic Priest molested a boy in his confidence, it is also perhaps appropriate to report that a NeoPagan teacher “married” a student in a Pagan ceremony. These are details that simply wouldn’t have the same impact, or wouldn’t make sense, without the religious information. But let me assure you, just as the Catholic community was certainly shocked and horrified about the Priest, the Pagan community was just as shocked and horrified about the teacher. We were not, for the most part, horrified that two females joined in a religious union, but we were certainly horrified that one of them was underage and entrusted into the care of the one who was not. We were also horrified for reasons that the meanstream would not understand. We were horrified that a NeoPagan would “convert” a child without their parents’ consent. Most of us won’t even talk about our religion, much less teach it, to anyone under 18 without parental consent, and are very strict that people wishing to learn come to us. We are not out to recruit new members, and a Pagan missionary is a rare, and to most, laughable concept.

Another issue that has been brought up in the past is the issue of faith based charities. It has been said that there are no faith based Pagan charities, that Pagans don’t care about the poor or worry about such things as volunteerism and charitable giving. I would like to beg to differ on this point. For one thing, many Pagans are very active on environmental issues. It is practically a requirement within some groups as tithing is among some Christian groups. These people organize cleanup days, recycling drives, and get out in the muck to count bugs to guage the health of their River Goddess. In addition to this, many Pagans take an active role in combating poverty. It is true that many keep their charity within the fold, so to speak, but many Pagans find this sort of thing to be discriminatory and insist on providing equal charity for any person regardless of religion. This is why you will find many Pagans cheerfully donating to Christian charities and volunteering at Christian shelters. This is not to say that there aren’t Pagan charities out there. There are a few. Though NeoPaganism is growing by leaps and bounds, it’s still not very big or very well organized, so most NeoPagan charity takes place outside of established NeoPagan organizations.