There's been a lot of hullabaloo recently surrounding a Top Mom Blog of faith contest, wherein a few amazing Pagan/Wiccan bloggin' mamas, namely MrsB's Confessions and Angela @ The Pagan Mom Blog, were personally called out by a Christian blogger. She was originally nominated as a Top Mom blog, resting happily at #2, but fortunately, due to her belief that "[d]ifferent faith is wrong faith", she was subsequently removed from the contest.
Thank heavens. Like we need those kinds of beliefs floating around the interwebs!
This brings up a very serious issue, though, of religious persecution existing all over the world and against all religious faiths. This Top Mom Blog contest is a mere microcosm of the difficulties every religion faces at some point or another. Of course, I'm most interested in Pagan and Jewish issues for obvious reasons, but persecution happens against members of every faith, including Muslims, Hindus, and yes... even Christians.
If you personally haven't been persecuted (or otherwise thought badly of) for your religion, surely you've encountered other forms of hatred and bigotry. It seems that, for every good we try to create in our lives through religion, activity, friendships, personal beliefs, or otherwise, there is someone who is ready and willing to shoot us down for the very same, whether or not they are directly affected by one's religion, activity, friendship, or personal belief.
What can we take from these types of occurrences? We could take the angle that, "Well, everyone else is doing it, so I'll continue to be an asshole towards others whose lifestyle I don't like." I mean, it is an angle, fair enough.
But is it the right one? Do two wrongs make a right?
And what's "right" and "wrong," anyway?
I've been told many a time that, because of my faith, I can't possibly know the difference between right and wrong. That lacking a set of rules to live by and testament to back up said rules precludes not having any rules of conduct or even a conscience at all. That doctrine such as the Ten Commandments eludes me because I'm Pagan. Never mind that I come from a Catholic home and faith system -- I'm Pagan, I have no clue!
It's even worse because I don't really consider myself a Wiccan, either so, I technically don't follow the Wiccan Rede or the Rule of Three as creeds to my own religious faith. While many would discount the Rede and Rule of Three in the first place because they're not the creeds of a "traditional" religion, at least they have something, whereas I'm perceived as having nothing.
But let's think for a second about how the world would be if we didn't have the Ten Commandments, or the Wiccan Rede, or the Rule of Three, or any other set of rules and right actions to which we should abide. If you had none of these to guide your own sense of morality, would you go around stealing or killing or lying or otherwise being an awful person to others?
I hope I'm not assuming by saying this, but... absolutely not! Your morality would come from your parents, from others around you living a positive example, from knowing that those actions would hurt others, from knowing that someone doing that action to you would suck hardcore.
This is how my own sense of morality is guided. While I don't have a set of rules written down and those rules can be bent to suit the situation, in general, I try to live and treat others in a way that I would want to live and be treated. It means a genuine smile to the barista at the coffeeshop when I'm in a piss-poor mood, a good word and hug to a friend going through anything difficult, and stopping at a crosswalk when a pedestrian decides to dart into traffic (there may be profanities as I drive away, but there won't be anyone plastered to my windshield!). Because I know that, if I were in their shoes, I'd appreciate that smile, that kind word and hug, and that chance to see another day.
What really upsets me is when I see someone who purports to follow a certain set of rules and even encourages others to follow the same set, but who doesn't follow them herself. This drama surrounding the Top Mom Blogs is just one example, wherein someone who says she is Christian fails to act like one when she says someone different from her own faith system is "wrong" or even "evil" and "sinful." It's the spreading of this belief in a very public forum that makes others believe that it's okay to talk badly about others for their differences... even if they claim to follow a specific set of moral and ethical rules.
Fortunately, there has been an outpouring of support for MrsB and for Angela, from Pagan bloggers such as myself and from bloggers of other faiths, including Christians! To see this kind of support and respect for others lifts my soul and helps me believe that, one day, we may achieve complete acceptance for others.
Hey, a girl can dream and even work towards that dream... right? :)
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You can vote for these Pagan blogs daily! And don't limit your votes to Pagans -- spread the love and vote for the blogs you enjoy of other faiths, too!
Confessions of a Pagan Soccer Mom
The Pagan Mom Blog
Witchy Mama
Witch Mom: Parenting by the Light of the Moon
Hearth-n-Home
The Teflon Cauldron
One Witch's Wonderland
Earth Mother Musings
Something Oddly
Hot damn, Coexist Cafe throws in their two cents! I'm so happy to be a part of the pagan community. In the face of adversaries we can overcome.
ReplyDeleteAnd as I posted a couple of times yesterday: Hell hath no fury like a bunch of pissed off pagan women.
;)
I tried to stay out of it for as long as possible (it helps that I was SWAMPED yesterday, my first day back at the firm this week), but after thinking about how this attitude could affect other members of the Pagan community, I couldn't help it. You're right, pissed off Pagan women making a positive difference in the world! And Christian women, too. :)
ReplyDeleteI made the joke yesterday that "Hell hath no fury like the Pagan Community scorned!"
ReplyDeleteIn all seriousness though, there is a lot to be said about having an ethics system that is not based on rules. Rules are great for when you don't know any better, but when you know the reason for the rule, is the rule really necessary anymore? There some great books about discovering Pagan ethics out there, too.
Wonderful post, it needed to be said! ♥
Haha, it's so true, though! No matter what, we'll always come out fightin'... though with kind words and intelligent discussion rather than actual fightin' words. :)
ReplyDeleteFantastic! I've seen quite a few of those books, and they get to the core of the issue: Ethics and morality come from within, not from a set of rules dictated by another. One must choose his or her own, and live by them.
I too am Pagan but come from a Catholic/Christian background. I think it was so sad to see the events that took place within this contest. "Judge not, lest ye be judged."
ReplyDeleteI have to say, I have seen the bashing take place on either side of this.... Not necessarily in this contest, but elsewhere. This is one of the reasons why I am a solitary practitioner.....I chose to walk my path specifically as a solitary so that I didn't end up letting things like this color my relationship with Spirit, in whatever form it chose to reveal itself to me.
I did think it was wonderful the way the Pagan community supported its own in the case of this contest, and I too voted for Mrs. B.; not because I wanted to just show solidarity, but because I agreed with her sentiments. The sad thing about all this is, those who were bashing us as Pagans, wont look at it as solidarity...they will find some way to twist the fact that we supported each other into something it isnt.
My sincere prayer (and yes, I believe ritual and spell is a form of prayer) is that we WILL eventually go-exist, without twisting and turning that into making each other fit or not fit in a spiritual light. We all walk the same paths, even if we don't realize it. We're all reaching for understanding of ourselves as spiritual beings; all reaching for higher meaning/higher power; and we all walk the same earth. May Gaia bless us and keep us as we work towards the day where all will walk her lands in peace.
So Mote it Be!
I stumbled across your blog while looking at replies left on the Pagan blog prompt site, and I just wanted to say... Well said!
ReplyDelete[...] cultures has, long-term, affected my Wiccan religious practice. Coexist Café also throws in with a discussion of faith. “I’ve been told many a time that, because of my faith, I can’t possibly know the difference [...]
ReplyDeleteWhat a wonderful blog post. I am currently studying to become a school teacher and took a class on multicultural education based in critical race theory and looking at hierarchy and racism in our culture. We live in a very stratified culture and everyone's gotta make sure there's someone under them so they can be above someone, right? I am a pagan, but also a Quaker and attend a Quaker meeting that is quite Christian in its language. It's amazing to me that some people, like the other members of my meeting, can see love in the teachings of Christ when others just see judgment, tribalism and hate. How you envision god has much more to do with you than it does with god ;)
ReplyDelete