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From the Shadows: Faith & Politics in Paganism

From the Shadows: Faith & Politics in Paganism

Last updated on: April 20, 2016 at 8:38 am by Sable Aradia

From the Shadows: Faith & Politics in Paganism 2016-04-20T08:38:22-08:00 Sable Aradia

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Should we link our politics and our faith? This is a question that is beginning to be asked in our community. Some of that has to do with the stir that Gods & Radicals has created, especially the recent controversy.

I try to stay out of online bickering, and when I feel I must get involved I try to do it in the form of a column so that we can have a mature, intelligent debate rather than a bunch of back-biting, pot-stirring and name-calling, with the usual wake of vultures showing up to cannibalize whomever looks weakest for their own self-glorification through gossip. Hard experience has taught me that wading in to the mix while the shit is still flying is never helpful. But even I was drawn partway into this one. I guess it’s because it’s such an emotional issue for me. It’s a button-pusher, and my buttons were pushed.

Sometimes that’s a good thing. It makes you consider where it is that you really stand on important issues, and why; or it forces you to confront all those shadowy sub-motivations and personal issues that you bury under the subconscious muck. For me it did both.

One thing that made me very . . . I won’t say angry, but perhaps exasperated is the correct word . . . was the accusation leveled against the writers of G&R (of which I am one, if you’ll recall) that we put our politics before our faith. That couldn’t be more wrong, and I felt inspired to explain why.

Religion Informs Culture

There is a movement not to use the singular word “community” to describe us Pagans, because we don’t really have one. That’s true. But we do have a distinct Pagan culture. Anthropologists who study us refer to it as a “sub-culture” (which we don’t like, because we’re too proud to be “sub-anything,”) or a “counterculture” (which isn’t exactly true; most of us aren’t directly opposed to the culture we live in, we just don’t entirely agree with it.)

The separation of church and state is something Americans hold as an inalienable right. Weirdly, you are kind of alone in the world. Most other countries, even we Canadians, your closest neighbours and probably closest to you culturally, don’t quite go that far. Culture is something we talk about as being an important force. Culture is an issue that our bilingual country, which was founded on, and continues to grow by, the juxtaposition of three distinct cultural aspects — Anglophone, Francophone, and First Nations (note the plural) — has had to be hyper-aware of since our founding.

We do believe in the principle of not enforcing a religion through the mechanism of the state. Our Charter of Rights & Freedoms (our Constitution) protects freedom of religion. We Canadians are strong supporters of that right and we try to accompany those rights with equal respect (which aren’t quite the same thing).

But religion is also a part of culture. The Quebec court systems and legislature in many cases still carry crucifixes on their walls, because when they joined Canada, Quebec was a distinct French Catholic culture living under English Protestant rule. Much of the religious element is moot now in the wake of what was called the Quiet Revolution, which happened in the mid-seventies. The Catholic church was a significant part of everyone’s life in Quebec, running most social services and so forth — until, all of a sudden, they weren’t, and much of that became secularized. But there are remnants. For instance, property still passes to the eldest son, at least in part, after a man who owned it dies, rather than entirely into the hands of his widow.

This distinct Francophone culture ultimately culminated in a long series of Constitutional crises and an endless series of referendums, a strong Quebec Sovereignty movement and a federal political party whose entire goal was Sovereignty for Quebec. There were arguments and a lot of bitterness on both sides, but I think we seemed to have settled into an uneasy peace that is becoming easier with each passing year.

However, the triumvirate of religion, culture and politics doesn’t have to be a negative thing. That Anglophone-Francophone cultural tension is part of what makes Canada so unique. It teaches us to have a broader appreciation for cultural differences in general and to create a truly beautiful fusion in many places. And we’re learning how to do it better. For instance, many First Nations incorporate their spiritual practices into their social services and decision-making processes. They believe that this helps to create a sense of community which makes it easier to come together on divisive issues. Furthermore, many official federal and provincial functions are beginning to include elements of First Nations’ ceremonies. I think this is a positive trend and I’d like to see more of the cooperative decision-making elements of some of our most politically powerful First Nations included as well.

This culturally diverse history is why we can open our arms to 25,000 Syrian refugees without batting an eye, knowing they will bring their own unique colours to our mosaic.

Religion Informs Ethics

Much of the American and Canadian judicial system is founded in English Protestant Christianity. Our system believes in “right” and “wrong,” and it punishes what it sees as wrongdoing. The enforcement of concepts of good and evil is an Abrahamic concept and you probably don’t even think about this, since you grew up in this culture and despite the efforts of the more extreme of us to throw off that yoke, it still influences our behaviour and perhaps always will. Christian ethics also led them to found the very first hospitals and pensions for widows and orphans — institutions no one but the most dedicated libertarian or fascist would argue against now.

Yet Protestant Christianity has a powerful Humanist influence, which culminates in trying to balance the needs of the state with the rights of the individual. In a way, both Paganism and Atheism are simply following the reasoning of Protestant ideas — human rights, personal dignity, and individual relationship with the Divine — to their ultimate conclusions. (Please note that I do not say “logical” conclusions. Faith, by its nature, is illogical and is something we engage with emotionally and then justify through reason. At least, that’s what I think.)

Ethics are, perhaps, the most significant influence that religion can have upon us. This is something we Pagans tend to be a bit fuzzy on. We’re a new religion (yes, even the Reconstructionists) and so we are still trying to figure this stuff out as we go. Most of us would say that the Christian ethic simply didn’t work for us and that was the impetus that drove us into this crazy patchwork quilt of a community. Many of us, if pressed, would say that we have no dogma at all. We are liars, but at least we are subconscious liars. It’s our genuine belief, not an intentional falsehood, and I think it’s based in a misunderstanding of what “dogma” actually is. Kind of like when people say they’re not religious because they don’t believe in Jesus.

Many of the definitions of “dogma” don’t fit, including anything that is declared, proclaimed or handed down. But as Brendan Myers once tried to explain to people in a lecture I attended, that very thing is dogmatic! Part of the Pagan dogma — one of our most “settled or established opinions, beliefs, or principles” — is that no one has the right to act as an authority for the whole group on anything, ever.

Where am I going with all of this? I’m suggesting that Paganism does, indeed, have some powerful dogma that affects our ethics. Like, for example, a strong ethic of personal rights and freedoms. A slightly less strong ethic of personal responsibility. I have written about my belief that the Charge of the Goddess is a series of ethical commandments that is at least as important as the Rede, if not more so. And I’ve also written about my belief that the Rede is not nearly such a black-and-white, namby pamby ethical code as you may have been led to believe. Other Pagan faiths have their own liturgies and their own codes of ethics, such as the Nine Noble Virtues, and these will dictate ethical choices just as surely as mine do.

Deities Inform Your Politics

Polytheistic faiths have an additional factor that influences these things, and that is the individual Deities we choose to follow (or Who choose us) will also influence our ethics and our priorities, and thus, our politics. A devotee of Coyote or Loki is probably a bit of a shit-disturber, coming from the understanding that sometimes the wisdom of the Fool and the Trickster is needed to make us question ourselves and take us down a peg. A devotee of Apollo, on the other hand, is going to resent anything that breaks the harmonious order. Neither side is wrong, and both are needed, but they will clash in places and as Pagans, we must simply accept this as part of our reality.

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A Personal Perspective

Winding this discussion in from the wide perspective to the personal, I am a Wiccan, so for me there are some definite ethical guidelines, contained within the smattering of liturgy we have, that I feel I should observe. I say “guidelines” because individual interpretation and understanding is also one of those ethical guidelines.

One of these ethics is an abhorance of slavery. “You shall be free from slavery,” my Goddess(es) says, and so I must believe, since Her “law is love unto all beings,” that She would want me to fight for the freedom of all.

There’s more to it than that, but a lot of these things intersect. Environmentalism comes from a love of the earth and its creatures and a desire that we might all be free to enjoy the earth’s bounty. My sex positivity and my staunch defense of all rights to choose in reproduction, relationship and personal expression, are bound up in a combination of that freedom from slavery principle, love unto all beings, and the exhortation to sing, feast, dance, make music and love, and the need for beauty and strength, power and compassion, honour and humility, mirth and reverence.

As a result of all of that, I feel I must defend the oppressed. Oppression can be expressed socially, politically, militarily, or economically. It is my understanding that these things are abhorant to my Goddess, and abhorant to me, that drives me to take a stand against them.

Culturally, as a Pagan I have allies. Culturally, Pagans of various stripes, but perhaps none more so than the Women’s Spirituality Movement, have a long history of forming peaceful but outspoken opposition to oppression. This has filtered over into the whole community and in particular, a lot of Polytheists seem to be on board. It makes much more sense for me to support the work of my allies in this complex and wearying fight, driven by my religious ethics, than to do it alone. I get more done that way. And I get encouragement when I need it. I don’t always agree one hundred percent with everyone who writes for Gods & Radicals. But dammit, they’re doing something. And I would answer their critics with, “and what are you doing?”

Spiritually, I also believe I have a calling to do this work. I have written before about how Diana accepted my offer to pray to Her before I realized what that really meant. At the time, I was connecting to the Maiden Warrior Goddess in the Moon Whose name I had been given. I believed in feminism and the wild and its preservation and I had no interest in sex whatsoever, so Her Maidenhood was attractive to me.

But over time that relationship changed. I learned, as I began to realize my bisexuality, about Diana’s preference for the company of women. And about Her love of the occasional man who was especially worthy of Her attentions. I discovered Women’s Spirituality then and a spiritual impetus to support my desires for equality.

And then, when I had finally reconciled my sexuality and the idea of the holiness of sex, when I had accepted a path to become a High Priestess in the way that a Catholic might have accepted a calling to become a nun, I discovered Diana, Queen of the Witches, Mistress of all Sorceries, seducer of Her brother, Lucifer. She and Lucifer gave the world a daughter, Aradia. She was sent to the world to teach witchcraft to the masses and liberate the oppressed. Hence, the choice of my Craft name.

I suppose, as my awareness of politics has grown, I have realized that in many ways, it is a part of my spiritual calling and the oaths I have sworn to become involved in politics. It is my sacred duty to defend the underdog, to raise up the powerless, and to oppose oppression wherever I see it. And if you haven’t read Aradia, Gospel of the Witches, the “oppressors” that Aradia led Her followers against in the myth were the Church and wealthy landowners. In other words, the 1% of their time.

I won’t disagree that there are drawbacks to this stance. In many cases I can’t just “go along to get along.” I can’t keep my mouth shut. It’s like a Bard’s Tongue; silence for too long will just cause blunt, tactless statements to slip out. Sometimes I have to point out elephants in living rooms.

Some people would rather not have to confront a lot of these issues. I don’t blame them; it’s tiring and I don’t always have the energy for it either. I hate fighting. But sometimes I have to. If I don’t, who will?

There are places where politics and faith must not mix; for example, a Pagan conference, or a Pagan Pride Day. I once chastised someone for posting information about an environmentalist rally on the local Pagan Pride list (which I was moderating). I was intending to go to that rally myself, but that wasn’t the point. The point was that it was presumptuous to assume that other Pagans shared that political view.

But the blogosphere is not one of those places. Indeed, I would argue that this is the very place to discuss and debate politics, faith, spirituality and ethics. The blogsophere is the modern Pagan Agora. If you don’t want to be part of that, you’re welcome not to. But you can expect that I — that we — are not going away any time soon.

*Note – When I read back the article I realized it sounded like I had a negative opinion of the Francophone-Anglophone cultural juxtaposition in Canada. Nothing could be further from the truth, so I expanded that paragraph. Also, I added a link to a great article that Steve Posch wrote today about Aradia and the opposition against slavery.

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