Reflections on my faith, part 2....

[poltr1]

There was a lot more I could have put into my previous post. But I wanted to stay on the topic and question at hand.


How did I get involved with paganism? (I use a lower-case p because I view paganism as an umbrella-term encompassing many earth-based belief systems; it's not a belief system in and of itself.) In 1987, the brother of a former friend of mine was speaking in hushed tones about something called "The Craft". He didn't elaborate, but I know I felt fear around what he was saying. Fast forward to 1993. I was dating a Wiccan (amazon_42). One day, the topic of faith came up in conversation. She then took me to Anything Under The Moon, a local pagan store. She borrowed a tape from their library, we went home, and she had me sit down and watch. Most of what I "knew" was based on misconception. I have since become part of the local and regional pagan communities.

Who is Patt Huttsell? She is the mother of one of my friends here in Dayton. We met last fall when she and her husband flew in from Utah to help her daughter and son-in-law move to a new house. The only topic on which we seem to butt heads is religion. Here is an example of one of our skirmishes, from her Facebook page, dated May 25, 2011.

Patt: "I am a Christian and proud of it and I DEMAND my civil liberties be respected and that my choice be honored and that all of you that are NOT Christian get out of my space. If you choose to believe in something or someone or nothing else so be it, but I am not going to be Politically Correct anymore. You have trampled my faith long enough FELLOW CHRISTIANS ARISE"

Me: "I am a Witch. I want the same for myself and my kind."

Patt: "So be it but not at the expense of mine or anyone else's"

(Gad, speaking those 4 words is so empowering.)

How do I perceive God? I believe there are both masculine and feminine aspects of Deity. The early Catholics -- the oldest of old boys' networks -- dispensed with the feminine aspect of Deity altogether and made their God masculine, just like them. I believe that what we humans have come to call God is a collective of spirits -- past, present, and future. And there is part of that "divine spark" within me. That part was never taught to me in CCD classes.

I should mention my first wedding, in 1999, to mariasmom. She is also Wiccan, but is a solitary. We had the marriage ceremony at a Unitarian church -- the same one I belong to now. We even wrote the script of the ceremony. My best man, and still one of my best and closest friends, is a Sikh. Two of my Jewish friends met at the reception and conspired to do the Hora for us. That's the dance where the bridge and groom are seated in chairs, lifted, and carried around the room aloft. And we all did the Time Warp together. Sadly, she and I grew part soon after my daughter was born. She moved out in the fall of 2006 and divorced me soon after.

In a future post, I want to post something that another good friend of mine wrote back in 1993 about his and his family's experiences with Pat Robertson and his 700 Club. I need to get his permission to repost it, and make any necessary edits.

I also want to mention that I like the woodcut on this page: http://www.executedtoday.com/2011/02/14/1554-david-van-der-leyen-and-levina-ghyselius-anabaptist-martyrs/. It's an engraving from Jan Luiken's Martyrs Mirror, and it depicts someone being burned at the stake while their inquisitor is poking them with a forked stick. I don't believe *anyone* should be killed solely because of their faith. (Although I'll admit that Fred Phelps and his minions from the Westboro Baptist Church are pushing that boundary.) I often compare the Burning Times to the Holocaust. if I had lived in Europe at the time of WW II, I too would have been sent to the concentration camps and their gas chambers, because I'm a member of at least one of the groups that Hitler tried to exterminate. This is why the phrase "NEVER AGAIN" holds special significance and resonance with me.

Oh yeah. On my car is a single bumper sticker with two pentacles -- 5-pointed stars inside a circle -- and the words "Religious freedom means ANY religion".

I am blessed to have such a wealth of religious diversity among my circle of friends.

Comments

[browngirl.livejournal.com]

I admit, I'm not neutral on the subject, but reading Mrs. Huttsell's words about demanding rights for Christianity reminds me of people I grew up with who loudly proclaimed how oppressed they were as Christians, in this majority Christian country. *sigh* (And whenever someone complains about "political correctness" I pretty much figure they're complaining about having to treat other people as equals rather than inferiors, and evaluate their other opinions accordingly.)

(I also disagree with the idea that the people who give Christianity a bad name are just rogue individuals -- during my time as a Christian I saw a great deal that was systematic that I think was dangerous and deleterious, from the insistence that Christianity is the only valid faith onwards -- but that's another argument and I've written too much in your journal already for today.)

I'm sorry for the stress this must be causing you, but the look into your faith and how and why you chose it is deeply fascinating and really wonderful. Thank you!

[ocean-star.livejournal.com]

I also disagree with the idea that the people who give Christianity a bad name are just rogue individuals -- during my time as a Christian I saw a great deal that was systematic that I think was dangerous and deleterious, from the insistence that Christianity is the only valid faith onwards(snip)

I could not agree more! Thank you so much for posting this.

I have found that the Christians who proclaim by word or deed that they "aren't like those people" are the ones who are rogues. They deviate from the mainstream church to such a degree that they're most likely looked down upon as well. The only systemic forms of Christianity I have encountered that are really open and embracing are the United Methodists and the United Church of Christ.

[poltr1]

I had two more questions I wanted to ask Patt: "How many atheists do you personally know? And what makes you think that your rights trump their rights?" But I'm not going to get a chance to ask her. She dropped me from her friends list this morning.

It's stressful dealing with folks like her, and it's stressful during the writing process. But after it's been written, the stress evaporates.

I just wish I could be as articulate in person and in real time.

[zorya-thinks.livejournal.com]

I am sorry that she dropped you as a Facebook friend but I am happy that I won't have to deal with her comments on my links.

Being dropped is not a pleasant feeling, nor is dropping a person. I had to do that with someone on my Facebook Friend List last night, but I gave her the courtesy of a message with the reasons before I took her off my list.

[ocean-star.livejournal.com]

You have trampled my faith long enough

So be it but not at the expense of mine or anyone else's

Yes, because Christians are so persecuted. :-P

[athenawindsong.livejournal.com]

Christians have never gotten over that whole Roman lions thing. They love being martyrs and will go out of their way to put themselves in situations where they offend everyone around them in order to become martyrs for the sake of their testimony. A good website to watch is Voice of the Martyrs -http://www.persecution.com/

[stevieannie.livejournal.com]

I'm so very, very sorry that this person thought it appropriate to thrust her misguided views down your throat.

All I can say to those who are having such negative experiences with self-obsessed idiots is that there really are some of us who believe that the Christian message is of love, tolerance and forgiveness.

And I firmly believe that those people who warp that message in the way that you've all so obviously experienced will have to face a reckoning for their hate. I'll keep trying to forgive them for it, but to be honest, I'll find it much easier to love you all in your honesty and truth.

[horsewomann.livejournal.com]

Your postings have reminded me of the time my Wiccan coven hosted a tree planting day at a local park. My mother (who is Christian) came with me and was a great help with the planting and then the feasting that took place afterwards. One of the most embarrasing moments of my life took place when one of my fellow Wiccans made the LOUD comment, right in front of my Mom about "hate[ing] Texas Christians" for one reason or another. I wanted the Earth to rise up right then and bury me, I was so embarrased that one of my "enlightened" friends could make such a sweeping and hurtful statement. I later pulled my friend aside and tried to gently let her know that my mother is Christian, and she lives in Texas for 7-8 months of the year. She later apologized to my Mom, and bless her, my mom brushed it off, saying she couldn't stand the intolerance of most of those "Texas Christians" either.
Ever since then, I've seen my Mom as the embodiment of what a TRUE Christian is. She is kind and loving, does what she can to help others who are in worse circumstances than her, judges people on their ACTIONS, not their beliefs, and NEVER nags me to return to the Christian church to "save my soul". All of my friends who know her, agree with me when I think she is a saint. Maybe I'm just a besotted daughter, but I hope someday I can grow up to be just like her.