I keep asking the same question, in one form or another: "Why hasn't the Pagan Community, for all its growth and advantages, accomplished more than it has?"

The original format of the question was "Why can't the Pagan community get organized?" but that's not really a fair question. We have, after all, come very far in a very short period of time. Some of this is because we've got some amazing people working for the Pagan Community on the local, regional, and national levels. Some of this is simply a matter of the force of history-- we're benefiting from the progress made by other minorities, religions, and social movements.

My point, I guess, is that with the force of history and with the strength of the people working for us, we could go so much farther, and so much faster. It's just that we've got forces from within that slow us down and make it harder for us to move with the flow of history, and make it much harder for our Community's activists to get anything done.

One of the problems I see is the fact that we're not exactly one community. We're several communities that overlap and-- mostly-- coexist. This isn't a bad thing; diversity is a major strength of both the Pagan Community and the United States itself. But the key to finding strength in diversity is to embrace the diversity-- and to do that, a group must understand the nature of its own diversity.

While there are a number of ways one could subdivide the larger Pagan Community along Social, Political, or Religious lines, these individual divisions aren't what I'm talking about-- I'm talking about the larger categories themselves... Social, Political, and Religious.

Christian Churches tend to be unified (at least in outward appearance) on these three lines, as many Christian denominations tend to dictate social values and political platforms, either directly or through peer pressure. We tend to forget that, as a religion of personal choice, political and social issues are not necessarily "inherently Pagan," and not all Pagans are going to agree with our specific social or political agendas.

I've seen a variety of issues treated as Pagan issues that are not. In my experience, the two most common of these are drug legalization and alternative relationship structures (into which category I'm lumping polygamy and various sexual lifestyles). I can espouse at great length why I think certain drugs should be decriminalized, or why alternative relationship structures can be beneficial, but these aren't Pagan issues.

(Note: When I say "alternative relationship structures", I am not including homosexuality. There's a difference between a basic civil rights agenda (which in my opinion is a religious issue) and using one's religion to push one's tastes.)

When social and political issues are pushed as religious issues, no matter which religion is pushing them, I think both the issue and the religion are diminished. It's even worse in our case, though, as many of these issues are particularly sensitive issues, and there's still a lot of hesitation about things Pagan. Dragging an issue like polygamy or legalized marijuana under the umbrella of Paganism is only going to add stigma to each side. Yes, I know a lot of Pagans who support these issues, but I know just as many people who support these issues that are not Pagan-- turning it into a Pagan issue not only hurts the issue, but it creates the impression that all Pagans support these issues, when this is not the case.

This may seem that I am suggesting Pagans avoiding taking certain stances on certain issues, but that's not what I'm saying. Think of it this way: Many members of the Religious Right would have you believe that God is a Republican and to vote against His candidates can get you into Hell or cause God to turn away while terrorists throw passenger airliners at your buildings. It's obnoxious, it's presumptuous, and it makes Christians look like mindless goons. Using Paganism to promote one's social or political agendas is the same thing, just from a different angle.

If you wish to advocate a political or social stance, that's your prerogative, and I'm not suggesting otherwise... but don't bring the Gods in on it, and don't try to bring the entire Pagan Community in on it. While a large number of us may have severe left leanings, that's not all of us, and it's a disservice to the Pagan Community to imply otherwise. I'm not even suggesting that anyone must remove anything from their personal religious practices-- the beauty of the coven system is that it allows for such diversity. But don't try to represent the Community in such a fashion.

The Pagan Community does not have any common religious mandates, and even the smaller Wiccan Community has a thousand interpretations of what constitutes Wicca. And certainly there are covens and traditions that include, shall we say, non-mainstream practices.

Our developing culture encourages a non-judgmental position towards many of these practices, certainly, but that shouldn't be represented as a universal endorsement of any particular practice or viewpoint. The whole point is to encourage diversity, not just one part of the spectrum. Speak your mind, we welcome that. Just don't try to speak for everyone.

© 2002 by Cather "Catalyst" Steincamp