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A Sad Reckoning
I had hoped that the American Presidential election would be a repudiation of Donald Trump and the divisive, racist, misogynistic, homophobic, fascistic nightmare of Trumpism. That hope was not realized. While Joe Biden–a decent man who I think will be a good though not transformative President–will eke out a victory, nearly 50% of the country voted for Trump even after watching four years of his antics and destructive policies. I could not be more disappointed…unless Trump had actually won. I don’t link to him very often, but John Beckett has a very fine piece on this. You can find it here. He has said the things I want to say.…
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A Pagan Opportunity to Reflect
Recently, John Beckett wrote on “A Pagan Crisis of Faith“. Beckett’s central premise in this piece is that from time to time, and especially when confronted with extreme circumstances, some theistic Pagans will come to a point where they question their beliefs in gods. However, he argues, what they should really be doing is doubling down on their credulity, seeing such major life events as reflecting the actions of gods or “fae” or what have you in the way of invisible, magical entities. Unsurprisingly, I have a different take. I think that when crises arise in life, it is an opportunity for us to shed comforting illusions: to realize that there…
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Returning to a Space of Our Own
Recently, Niki Whiting at Patheos advised her readers not to read the work of those who are “mean”, and specifically named me as one such writer. It’s not hard to see why. A core truth of Atheopaganism clashes with a treasured precept of the hard theist. We don’t believe in literal gods. They do. So in the very articulation of my beliefs, I am—if you see it that way—”mean” to those whose are opposite. And do I cushion my position much, so as not to offend? No, I really don’t. I don’t, because I don’t see many examples of those in the theist camp making the slightest accommodation in the other…
