Same Thing, Different Skin?

Recently there was a discussion question posted on a religious facebook page I follow that was a submission by an atheist. "[W]hy believe in deities and supernatural without evidence?"


Four of the first five comments said "faith" and is repeated again over the rest of the comments. Some said that there is no harm in believing in "something that encourages you to be a better person." One man even said "because... there has to be more."

Can you guess which religion this question was aimed at? If you said Paganism, Witchcraft, and Wicca, you would be right. Curiously, these are the same arguments made for Christianity (and other monotheistic religions). It seems that many pagans taken their old religion and just re-wrap it. Take the belief in Karma in our community:

Fear-based Karma sounds an awful lot like the Wiccan Threefold Law. It also sounds a like like the dogma of Christianity, where your actions can either land you in Heaven or Hell, and God is the judge and jury of you. Why? Why do this? Is it familiarity, or that you truly don't believe in anything else? Is it because you were sick of the company you had in your old beliefs and decided to put yourself elsewhere while still believing? Of course, there is absolutely nothing wrong with believing in the doctrine of Christianity, but please don't call it Paganism because it isn't.

Now, back to the question and comments; why exactly do you need faith to believe in the supernatural and deities without evidence? Faith is a dirty word, and if there is absolutely no evidence, then there is no reason to worship or "believe" in something. "Evidence" is a tricky word, however, and can and is manipulated to suit the need of whomever is using it. Personally, I have my evidence through personal contact, results, feelings, and experiences. My "evidence" is mostly subjective. Is that enough to convince others, especially atheists or scientists? No, and I wouldn't try to because Paganism is a personal path. Again and again, you will come across the "personal path" tid bit around the community because it is true. I will not have the same experience as the covenmate standing next to me or the solitary doing the same exact ritual. "Seeing, contrary to popular wisdom, isn't believing. It's where belief stops, because it isn't needed any more." - Terry Pratchett

Believing in something "because it doesn't hurt to have morals" is a poor argument.
It's Pascal's Wager.

"The Quirmian philosopher Ventre put forward the suggestion that "Possibly the gods exist, and possibly they do not. So why not believe in them in any case? If it's all true you'll go to a lovely place when you die, and if it isn't then you've lost nothing, right?" When he died he woke up in a circle of gods holding nasty-looking sticks and one of them said "We're going to show you what we think of Mr. Clever Dick in these parts..." --Terry Pratchett

 You can have morals without believing in a higher power. Not killing, stealing, or lying doesn't have anything to do with Gods or Goddesses, it has more to do with just being a good person in general. Perhaps some Gods and Goddesses care about whether someone does these things, but others couldn't care less and might even advocate for it if it teaches a lesson or is just fun entertainment. Some Deities are not good role models for morals as well. Take being faithful to one's spouse and the example of promiscuous Zeus. This kind of flawless role model is the structure of the omni-everything Christian God. 

Hecate by William Blake

Which brings me to another point: it has come to my attention that our Deities are being twisted. Hekate, for example, has been praised as a kind, motherly Goddess who cares about humans and their well being, especially the witches who worship her. Hekate is a night Goddess, a Moon Goddess, who presides over crossroads, fire, magick, knowledge of herbs and poisonous plants, necromancy, and sorcery, among other things. Her abode is the Underworld, and "Zeus the son of Cronos honored above all. He gave her splendid gifts, to have a share of the earth and the unfruitful sea. She received honor also in starry heaven, and is honored exceedingly by the deathless gods." Hekate alone heard the rape of Persephone and did not come to her aid, then ten days after Persephone was missing, Hekate finally told Demeter. She was the consort of Underworld Hermes, and both were leaders of ghosts and the springtime return of Persephone. She was highly regarded, powerful, and dark, not some fluff-and-bunnies kind of Goddess. Many other Deities are getting personality lifts nowadays, and it seems like the trend is towards righteous, loving, all powerful, and caring gods.

Lastly, there "has to be more"? Why? What if all of this is just in our heads, an idea that has persisted and only lasts for our short, troubled life? What is so wrong about saying there might not be an afterlife for our consciousness and the neural synapses that make "me" up will stop and decompose into the Earth? What if this is an elaborate lie to keep the masses in line? What if this world isn't real and only in our dreams we are alive? What are you scared of, that all of your hard work and dedication and rituals and spells and beliefs are empty and meaningless?

So, what do you do? If there really is nothing after this, what do you do? You do whatever it is that you were doing. What will you leave behind? The leaders in our community have done so much in their lives to further our causes, and they will forever be remembered; Selena Fox, Patrick McCollum, Starhawk, Jason Pitzl-Waters, Star Foster, and even Silver Ravenwolf. Even if you don't think you can do the extraordinary feats like these people have, you can do "small" things like volunteer somewhere, donate, or help someone.

Anyway, Paganism isn't Christianity and shouldn't be made into just another flavor of it. For many, it was the doctrine of Christianity that made us leave in the first place. I just hope that this trend ceases before I grow old.

As always, the Pagan Disclaimer: everyone has the right to their own beliefs and can choose what they want to do and how they practice without harassment or prejudice. Do as you wish, so long as it doesn't trample on the toes of others and deny their rights.

Interestingly, the Lola Witch picture comes with a pretty cool article on Fluff Bunnies and (a new term for me) Diet Wiccans. Pagans, Fluff Bunnies may be newbies or movie witches or whatever you want to call them, but they are still our brothers and sisters in spirituality. They are still our relatives. We can't discredit them or call them less of a Pagan because of what they believe, and that goes for the pagans I talked about above. Even Christo-Wiccans are still our relatives, despite how I feel about them. I firmly believe we are a family, and we should treat each other as such. Yeah, there is the crazy Uncle Ted who sucks his toes, and Grandma Silky who bakes weed brownies, and Brother Lambert who showers less than a French peasant did (history lesson, French peasants were known to shower only once a year), but they are still family. We should totally chastise and argue and even throw fits, but we should remember that we should spend just as much time congratulating, playing around, and having a merry time with each other. So, all in all, have a good time.

Paganism and Suicide

 So, you know I have been reading my sociology stuff lately for class, and I came across the research that was done on suicides and who was more likely to take their life than others. A French sociology named Emile Durkheim examined official records of suicides and found that

 "[M]en, Protestants, wealthy people, and the unmarried each had much higher suicide rates than women, Catholics and Jews, the poor, and married people. Durkheim explained these differences in terms of social integration: Categories of people with strong social ties had low suicide rates, and more individualistic people had high suicide rates."

It was said that those who had more freedom were the ones who committed suicide the most. In the late 1800s, early 1900s, men has a greater range of freedom than the house bound women did. However, freedom weakens social ties and thus the feelings of dependance, the "but they need me" feeling. Of course, this also ties well with unmarried, since the man doesn't feel tied to anything.

Of course, women were allowed out to have jobs, but only specific jobs, like sewing. (source)

A century later, Durkheim’s analysis still holds true. In 2009, there were 13.5 recorded suicides for every 100,000  white people,0 which is more than twice the rate for African Americans (5.1). For both races, suicide was more common among men than among women. White men (19.2) are almost four times as likely as white women (5) to take their own lives. Among African Americans, the rate for men (9.1) was more than five times that for women (1.6). (source) Soooo.......

"Applying Durkheim’s logic, the higher suicide rate among white people and men reflects their greater wealth and freedom, just as the lower rate among women and people of color reflects their limited social choices."

Factors that would decrease the likelihood of suicide was connection to a community (such as the close knit community of Catholics and Jews), strong family ties and dependency (like being married), and having a strong support system. Women tend to "process their experiences with friends. They discuss their feelings, seek feedback and take advice," Humans are social creatures and must have social interaction to stay sane, or alive in this case.

How does this apply to Paganism? A big part of Paganism, specifically Wicca, is about the freedom of being able to do what feels right. Solitaries dominate our community, and we have been compared to cats more than once. The Pagans I know tend to be very well off financially (or are in college to become financially well off) and typically aren't married. And I would bet dollars to donuts that the majority of Pagans are white (at least in the US). Individuality, white, "rich", unmarried. The up side is that most of the Pagans I have met tend to be women. .......

But, do Pagans commit suicide? The only suicide that I recall would be Tempest Smith, 11 years ago. Pagans don't have a stance on suicide because there is no central guideline. Pattie says it well:

"Because there is no Central Pagan Doctrine, or Big Book o’ Pagan Rules, it’s hard to say specifically what the “Pagan perspective” on suicide – or much of anything else – is. There’s not any sort of doctrinal perspective that is universal to all Pagans."

There is the Wiccan Harm None rule, which Pattie explains. But not everyone follows the Rede, nor are Wiccan. So why then do we not hear about suicides? Is it simply because A) we don't hear about the people who aren't relatively big in our community, B) there is a low suicide rate within our community, C) the families who do suffer from the tragedy do not want their child known as a pagan, D) something I can't think of, or E) all of the above?

Let's say that B is true. I believe that one of the best qualities of our community is the ability to strongly identify with others and to help them out as best we can. Even online, Pagans are still connected by forums, support groups, social media sites, email, etc. I remember when I was just starting out; the Pagan forums were my life line, my regular connection with like-minded individuals to share beliefs, opinions, troubles and basically my life. Sappy, yes. But without that support, I probably would have slipped back into depression. One of the topics that would always fire up the forum boards was suicide, but the turnout wasn't so much about the topic of suicide itself as it was about supporting the potentially suicidal poster.

It's like a cyber group hug!!! (Sorry, I can't help it.) ;P

Another probable reason why might lie in our beliefs of the family. Belief in a Divine family, a spiritual family, and our personal families is a good chunk of what is taught. The Goddess - our Mother, the God - our Father, and our general "sisters and brothers." The coven family, the High Priestess and High Priest (our "parents"), the higher initiated as our "older siblings" and the newcomers as our "younger siblings." Our relationship with the two spiritual and Divine families are just as complex as our blood families, and harbor just as much emotions (if not more). The kind of "responsibilities" are deep and truly personal. I would do anything for my coven mates, and they would (and have!) as well.

And even being a community of solitaries, we are still a community of one. We help our own, from housing to community projects to contributing to our spiritual relatives. Please, I beg everyone who reads this -- keep it up. Keep reaching out to people, keep offering them your help no matter what their creed or color or gender, keep being the kind of person you want to be every single day. Keep making a difference.




If you are thinking about suicide, please reach out to someone. Actually tell someone "I am considering suicide." Don't assume that people will understand vague allusions. People can be dense (Hi, I'm dense) and slow on the uptake, but there are people here to help you. If you want to talk to a suicide councilor, call the Nation Suicide Prevention hotline toll free at 1-800-273-TALK (8255). If you don't want to do that, you can always talk to me. You aren't alone. There is always someone there for you, no matter what. And there will always be someone who is afflicted by your death, so don't think you won't be missed. At the very least, I will miss you. <3