Free Your Mind in 2012
As a Heathen I find it as annoying to have people worrying about my “immortal soul” as I do having them think I worship rocks and trees. Worse is the idea that by practicing my First Amendment rights to freedom of belief I am destroying America by promoting and participating in a “Pagan culture” of “immorality and death.” I could only wish. If America really was being dominated by a Pagan culture, we would all be better off.
Some people dismiss these “Pagan-directed” utterances by Republican pundits and politicians and fundamentalist religious leaders as hyperbole, not actually to be taken to mean Paganism. But they do mean Paganism. They have always meant Paganism because Paganism has always been the ultimate bogeyman to Christian fundamentalists. That they lump other “non-believers” among Pagan ranks does not dilute this essential focus of their rhetoric.
Most people probably do not know any Heathens, let alone any Pagans in general. If they are at all familiar with Paganism it is likely through Wicca, either by way of an acquaintance or family member, or something they read or were told third hand. Wicca is no more representative of the Pagan landscape of America than my own Heathenism, and the two are poles apart. They don’t even necessarily have polytheism in common. There are covens that are essentially monotheistic in their focus on a goddess to the exclusion of all else.
When asked, as when my son was recently in the hospital, I answer that my religion is Heathen. The usual response is one of confusion. What does that mean? How do you spell it? People, secularist-minded or those only nominally Christian, often refer to themselves as “heathens” using the term in a very general way. It is a common term, after all. But the Heathens of old did use it of themselves and I have adopted the Old Icelandic word as part of my email address: “alheithinn” or “utterly Heathen.”
Lack of comprehension of American Paganism is often a problem. Many Christians are rather parochial in their outlook: they simply cannot conceive of people not being Christian. They probably have no idea that the people they forward religiously slanted emails to might have no interest in the contents, or might even be offended by them. How could anyone not be Christian? The idea that anyone might actually worship a Marvel comic book character is incomprehensible to them.
The fact that Marvel’s Thor was inspired by a real Thor who was once worshiped doesn’t seem to occur to them. Others simply don’t care.
Atheists, of course, however friendly they might be, have no problem at all telling you they think you’re idiots. In that, they have a disturbing degree of similarity to Christians.
It is a lonely place between the None and the Many.
Of course, one of the reasons I started this blog was to further awareness of the unusual religion in America’s midst. One of the reasons I am happy to write for PoliticusUSA is because I can write the news, politics, and religion, from a Heathen perspective, a rather rare thing, if not unique. I belong to the Pagan Newswire Collective for the same reason. Only knowledge can dampen fear. And then only if the reader is open to new ideas.
A fundamentalist is far less likely to be convinced. But then, I don’t write for them or to them. I know what the odds are there, and they are not in my favor. I don’t really are to convince anybody of anything. I’m more focused on challenging people’s preconceptions; making them think, making them ask questions. That’s the sort of thing that broke me away from Christianity more than 30 years ago.
I personally do not care if people break away from the White Christ. I don’t care who they worship or if they worship anything at all. Belief isn’t necessary for an open mind and often operates in the opposite direction. Where a person might end up once they begin to question is up to them. But a free mind is essential for the health of a free society.
This point seems more important than ever in this religiously charged atmosphere we inhabit. Fundamentalism surrounds us on all sides, and the specter of theocracy is as real as at any other time in history. My New Year’s resolution is usually to be a better Heathen. But if I have any resolution at all this year, it is to question, to challenge my own thinking. Because I refuse to be parochial in my own outlook; there is so much more at stake than Heathenism in this year of 2012. We can’t afford to limit our thinking; the turn we miss might be the one we needed.
Hrafnkell Haraldsson is the author of A Heathen’s Day, which since 2005 has addressed the life and thoughts of a modern day Heathen. He is also the founder of the Mos Maiorum Foundation (www.mosmaiorum.org) which is dedicated to the study and support of Paganism as ethnic religion and writes for PoliticusUSA (www.politicususa.com) 
I get the impression, from the context, that a lot of the religious nutters use the terms “Heathen” or “Pagan” as a sort of verbal shorthand for “any aspect of contemporary culture that I happen not to like.” i agree, however, that the use of the term in a derogatory sense in unfortunate and needs to be corrected.
Absolutely. As Jan Assmann writes of the Mosaic Distinction, monotheism has always denigrated everything outside itself as Paganism – and that includes not just us Pagans but all the other “Others”
How do you differentiate heathenism and paganism?
I know exactly how you feel! I just found this website btw. Someone asked what my religion was today and I said “Heathen” but they didn’t even know what that was. They said the only religions they know is “Catholic, Jewish, Baptist, and Methodist.” I was shocked they never even heard of the words “Pagan” or even “Atheist”. Is the world really so narrow minded?
That’s pretty sad, Ashley and I know what you mean. They can’t imagine somebody wouldn’t be like them – they seem to have no comprehension of even the possibility of other belief systems. I’ve gotten used to explaining myself. I feel as though I should develop a pamphlet and next time asked, just hand it over.
Metalgaia, that’s a good question. Heathenism and Paganism are quite different from one another. Heathenism has a rather unique worldview. Heathens pledge troth to our own gods and do not tend to view the gods in terms of Zeus=this god or Isis=that goddess. We tend to be less eclectic in our approach to the divine than with your average Pagan. There is also the approach to magic, which seems to have replaced ritual for many modern Pagans. Heathens also tend to take a more historical approach to their religion, trying to some degree to reconstruct or revive ancient practices.
Many Pagan and Heathen bloggers have addressed some of these differences. I can think of a couple off the top of my head:
The Pentagram and the Hammer
Asatru: The Black Sheep of the Pagan Community
Heathen, Pagan, the Difference
I came upon your blog while searching for pagan+blog. To be quite honest, I’m a pagan and trying to find like-minded people who I think would read my upcoming book(s)–I’ve also been trying to figure out how to stay free of politics (as in not get caught up in and become completely insanely furious) and still feel like I belong in this country–I put the url to my books website up here but my other blog is: http://niksblog-authorinprogress.blogspot.com where I write about self-publishing, druids, Celtic holidays and other eclectic stuff…
I am a progressive left leaning liberal Jew from New York City who has been living in South Carolina for the past 42 years…(has it been that long?) My religious journey has taken many twists and turns in my 6 plus decades on this planet, but I have settled on my birthright and am comfortable with it. I was born from a Jewish mother and a Catholic father and never saw either of my parents go to temple or church.
I have read some of your articles in Politicususa, clicked on your name and read your small bio.
Heathen huh? Well, that got me interested, to say the least. Being labeled a “Christ Killer” a few times down here, I have had to arm myself with some interesting facts about the Political times that Christ was in in order to kind of defend myself. One of the better books I have read to help is “Jesus and the Riddle of the Dead Sea Scrolls”. Kind of helps explain that virgin birth stuff and what not, if you know what I mean.
My religious beliefs have been replaced by a spiritual belief in one God, but I still believe in other forces in the Universe.
If my computer goes on the fritz, I ask my wife if she made a sacrifice to the electron goddess this morning? Gets a smile from her. If something goes wrong at the check out counter of Wal-Mart, I ask the same question of the clerk and get a laugh, so my belief system is strong, but not without some dry humor. I believe God has a hell of a sense of humor because he put me and my wife together, and that’s a hoot anyway you look at it.
I like your idea of an open mind, and will explore this blog and site to read more about what a modern Pagan and Heathen really are. I’ll probably write a comment here or there, and would like to strike up some sort of correspondence with you. Our spiritual paths may differ somewhat, but we both seem to enjoy open minded discussions of different ideas without offense, and an enjoyable curiosity that takes us on different journeys, both intellectually, and spiritually.
Look forward to some different thoughts and ideas.
David29073
Lexington South Carolina
Nice to meet you, Nikki. I am not certain myself how to stay free of politics. I try to direct most of my political writing to PoliticusUSA.com, where I address the subject from a Heathen perspective, but even here I can’t escape it entirely, and some things are better directed at a Heathen/Pagan rather than a general audience. I look forward to viewing your website and your writings.
David, well met! Yes, you have to approach life with a sense of humor; some people are entirely too serious about it. I often say I would sacrifice a virgin if it would make my computer run…and I could find a virgin. And I’m only half joking. Seriously, this stuff is all like magic to me, just like the internal combustion engine. Fortunately, you don’t have to understand technology to use it.
There are quite a few different kinds of Heathens; we’re far from all alike, which is true of most religions, I think. There are some pretty conservative and even scary Heathen types out there who speculate about 19th century pseudo-science and so forth or who sound like Thule Society rejects.
I look forward to hearing from you and I’m always happy to strike up correspondences with open-minded individuals like yourself.