Personal Reflection
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A Pagan in a Christianized Society
We discussed many of the ideas in this post in this week’s episode of THE WONDER podcast–check it out! Being a Pagan often isn’t easy–and especially being a naturalistic Pagan, in a world dominated by an Overculture that flies in the face of one’s values. I live in the United States: a country deeply steeped in conservative Christianity and in which, as belief in more traditional religions wanes, the most reactionary of Christians–including a majority of our Supreme Court–are scrambling to enshrine their beliefs into laws we must all follow. On issues like sexual morality, gender equality, bodily autonomy, racial equality, environmental protection and reproductive rights, these Christians could not…
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Knowledge, Understanding, and Anti-Colonialism
I am an anti-colonialist and anti-racist. This is a life commitment I have made and, though as for all people raised in a culture steeped in white supremacy and racism it is hard work to try to get beyond them, it is joyful work, even when it is hard. If you view the world through an Atheopagan lens, it becomes pretty evident that colonialism, capitalism and their resultant white supremacy and genocidal engagements with other cultures have been disasters for both the Earth and for its so-successful species, humanity, and have created tremendous suffering for those colonial empire has not valued. As such, I take listening to marginalized voices very…
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A Reminder
These are hard times. We have a global climate crisis, a global health crisis, rising authoritarianism and cruelty. Simply reading the daily news can be a real challenge to our mental health and well being. All of this is true. You struggle with it. I struggle with it. And yet: look out the window. Above, the short-wavelength light scatters through the atmosphere to create a blue vault dancing with white, ever-changing clouds, bringing the rain that is life. Below, the green things, breathing our waste carbon and turning the light of the Sacred Sun into the sugar that will feed, eventually, nearly everything on Earth. Flitting birds: adventurers across thousands…
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The Post I Never Wanted to Write
The US Supreme Court overturned the 50-year-old precedent Roe v. Wade this morning, erasing the Constitutional right to an abortion. And they’re not done. “Justice” Thomas, in his concurrence, encouraged the Court to overturn the precedents establishing the right to access to birth control, to private consenting behavior among adults (in other words, preventing government from regulating your sex life), and to same-sex marriage. Just to be clear about where we stand as a community, here are planks 8-11 of our 13-point Statement of Political Values, approved by the Council of The Atheopagan Society: VIII. Body sovereignty is paramount, particularly with respect to reproductive choices. Only the individual can make…
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The Overculture vs. Reciprocity, Redux
In western societies (like all societies), people have fundamental and largely unspoken assumptions about how the world is supposed to work and how we are to behave. Subscribers to these assumptions believe that they are inherently entitled to certain rights, for example, and that governance should protect these rights and enable redress if they are violated: something called justice. They assume that sexually exclusive life commitment by two partners is the default and only “real” relationship format, which is known as monogamy. They view men as superior to women in a wide variety of ways, and that women exist primarily to advance the wishes of men, a system called patriarchy.…
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Wisdom
It’s a word that makes some of us cringe a little: wisdom. Because pretty much anyone who claims to have it is automatically suspicious, right? It’s those who don’t claim to have it who very often do. My contention is this: if you are living in a manner open to growth and change, the trade-off for the physical infirmities that come with age is the accumulation of wisdom: of internal tools so that you are able to contend calmly with adversity, of a big-picture perspective that helps you not to sweat the small stuff. And the recognition that nearly all of it is, in the end, small stuff. Wisdom comes…
