'Heathens' Coming Out Of The Closet

How dare they?! That's basically what Christian leaders are beginning to say. In a pre-Christmas speech, the pope told some 20,000 pilgrims and tourists gathered in St Peter’s Square in Vatican City: “Even we Christians, who are also the people of God, risk becoming worldly and losing our identity, ‘paganising’ the Christian style.” This commentary piece from 22 Dec 2018 lays out a lot of the reasons people are seeking spiritualism outside the confines of church dogma (http://indiafacts.org/pagan-revival-why-it-is-a-nightmare-for-christianity/). I found it quite informative; well worth reading.

The Catholic Pope seems to be on a crusade against paganism – the original and vibrant indigenous religions across the planet that Christians tried to destroy in the centuries past. It seems to me that the organized churches might want to address their own dirty laundry before seeking to blame outside influences for their declining membership.

The movement away from the confines of "church" is not new; it's simply becoming more openly practiced. The power of "the church" to force its precepts on everyone under penalty of torture or death has diminished from its heyday (beginning 320CE or so). England only repealed its "anti-witchcraft laws" in the 1950s, and Ireland only repealed its blasphemy laws in 2018! A few U.S. states still carry blasphemy laws on their books. That oppressive, destructive power is still firmly held in many Middle-East countries -- the combination of religion (in this case Islam) and government is deadly to the concept of human dignity and freedom. The fact that over 1 Billion (with a B) Hindus have managed to retain their basic heritage is a testament to their spiritual resilience as well as their military defense. 

Allah is (or is not?) Jehovah, and Jehovah is (or is not?) Yahweh who is also just plain "God", who is (or is not) a trinity... Mohammed and Jesus are prophets, or Jesus is really son of (or an actual part of) God himself... I have read all of these contradictory doctrines within the past 3 hours of simply researching this single post. They cannot all be right. 

But if we are all God’s children, why does God spend so much time in history ordering one branch of his universal family to wipe out another branch? Why did his love for his Jewish children have to be expressed by the extermination of his Palestinian children? Why did he later abandon his Jewish children in favour of his Christian children and encourage his new favourites to torment their older siblings? Why did he order his Muslim children who worship him as One to persecute his pagan children who worship him as Many? Why is there so much violence in religious history, all done by groups who claim God is on their side?

Unless you are prepared to believe that God actually plays favourites like some kind of demented tyrant, then there are only two ways out of this dilemma. The obvious one is to decide that there is no God. What is called God is a human invention used, among other things, to justify humankind’s love of violence and hatred of strangers. Getting rid of God won’t solve the problem of human violence but it will remove one of its pretexts.

-- Richard Holloway, A Little History of Religion

The fact that the long held, but hidden and secretive, beliefs and traditions of Druid, Norse, Witches, Buddhism, and other forms of nature worship are being rediscovered or "re-embraced" shows the desire of many to feel less dictated to but more spiritual and in tune with the world around them. Finding the power within yourself, becoming one with the 'god' of nature and the universe, is very spiritually satisfying. Knowing we have just one life to live and give makes each day even more precious. 

Go and enjoy your life today! Love, Live, Learn or if you prefer: Live Well, Love Much, Laugh Often (from a plaque over the family room doorway). Blessed be.