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.