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Like a Vague Malodorous Stain Seeping into the Theological Discourse — 2 Comments

  1. I wish I could think that such divisions over definitions meant that neo-paganism has in some sense “arrived”, but I’m not really sure. Now that the argument you discuss is out there, there is also the argument over whether polytheists can share space with “ordinary” pagans who might not be orthodox enough for some of them.

    In some senses, both arguments distress me for a similar reason — much as early Christianity lost it’s initial focus and tore itself into divisive schisms once legalized by Constantine, neo-paganism seems poised to rend it’s unherdable cats characteristics to bits, too. As a more humanistic pagan, I find myself every more solitary because while used to being given the ‘hell bound’ speech by dominant paradigm monotheists — it still shocks me to be verbally savaged by other pagans!

    While the current arguments are certainly important; it seems there is no way to address the issues that don’t cause a lot of pain and distress.

    • The issue of postmodern politics is bigger than Paganism. It’s just that it has only begun to affect the communities in the last five years, so we can’t pretend it doesn’t relate to us anymore. Addressing the issues isn’t what causes pain; it’s the censorship and self-censorship caused by the current political climate. Thank you for commenting. I encourage you to explore the issue of orthodoxy.