Pagan friendly/Christian friendly
Sherry Hagen
Hi Folks,
We live in a heavily Baptist community of about 20,000 people total. I
have to always tell my son if these folks are Pagan friendly so he knows
what he can or cannot say. I say that we are Christian friendly. I am
mostly a Pagan though I attend the United Methodist Church largely
because of the Pastor, people who are at the church and the new focus on
Celtic Christianity (about as Pagan as a Christian church can get).
Sometimes I think of myself as a Christian Witch because I enjoy the
teachings of Jesus. Most of my friends seem to be Catholic and United
Methodist. Of course most of them think that we are Methodist. If
someone asks my son if he goes to church he could answer he goes to the
Methodist church, which he has a few times. Of course there are only a
couple of families that we could tell we celebrated New Moon last night
and danced around a circle with candles lit on it while we welcomed
positive energy into our lives.
By the way, my house is always a mess, it looks like it's actually lived
in rather than being a museum.
Blessings and Never Thirst,
Sherry (Cloud)
We live in a heavily Baptist community of about 20,000 people total. I
have to always tell my son if these folks are Pagan friendly so he knows
what he can or cannot say. I say that we are Christian friendly. I am
mostly a Pagan though I attend the United Methodist Church largely
because of the Pastor, people who are at the church and the new focus on
Celtic Christianity (about as Pagan as a Christian church can get).
Sometimes I think of myself as a Christian Witch because I enjoy the
teachings of Jesus. Most of my friends seem to be Catholic and United
Methodist. Of course most of them think that we are Methodist. If
someone asks my son if he goes to church he could answer he goes to the
Methodist church, which he has a few times. Of course there are only a
couple of families that we could tell we celebrated New Moon last night
and danced around a circle with candles lit on it while we welcomed
positive energy into our lives.
By the way, my house is always a mess, it looks like it's actually lived
in rather than being a museum.
Blessings and Never Thirst,
Sherry (Cloud)
Laura M
Hi Sherri,
We are United Methodists also and feel pretty much the same way that you do.
I haven't heard about a new focus on Celtic Christianity in the Methodist
Church. Is this something in your local church only or UM wide. Lately I
have been struggling with how to raise my 2 children. I am confused in my
own beliefs and find it hard to decide what to teach them. I was raised in
a United Methodist/Catholic home and sent to an Assemble of God private
school from 6-12 grades so you can see how I would be a little confused. I
consider myself a christian, but not a fundamentalist. In fact, I am
personally turned off by anything remotely fundamentalist because of my
background. I have stuck with United Methodism because of their laid back
atmosphere. I would be interested in knowing what they think of Celtic
Christianity/Paganism. I have never broached this subject with my current
pastor and guess that I could. I felt that he as a pastor would have to
support christian teachings and disagree with paganism. If there is some
recent movement within the United Methodist Church as a whole I would really
like to know. I would then feel more comfortable discussing these issues
with my pastor.
Laura
Michel(12) and Becca(4)
Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com
We are United Methodists also and feel pretty much the same way that you do.
I haven't heard about a new focus on Celtic Christianity in the Methodist
Church. Is this something in your local church only or UM wide. Lately I
have been struggling with how to raise my 2 children. I am confused in my
own beliefs and find it hard to decide what to teach them. I was raised in
a United Methodist/Catholic home and sent to an Assemble of God private
school from 6-12 grades so you can see how I would be a little confused. I
consider myself a christian, but not a fundamentalist. In fact, I am
personally turned off by anything remotely fundamentalist because of my
background. I have stuck with United Methodism because of their laid back
atmosphere. I would be interested in knowing what they think of Celtic
Christianity/Paganism. I have never broached this subject with my current
pastor and guess that I could. I felt that he as a pastor would have to
support christian teachings and disagree with paganism. If there is some
recent movement within the United Methodist Church as a whole I would really
like to know. I would then feel more comfortable discussing these issues
with my pastor.
Laura
Michel(12) and Becca(4)
>From: Sherry Hagen <oilmagic@...>_________________________________________________________________
>Reply-To: [email protected]
>To: "[email protected]" <[email protected]>
>Subject: [Unschooling-dotcom] Pagan friendly/Christian friendly
>Date: Thu, 25 Jan 2001 08:01:42 -0600
>
>Hi Folks,
>
>We live in a heavily Baptist community of about 20,000 people total. I
>have to always tell my son if these folks are Pagan friendly so he knows
>what he can or cannot say. I say that we are Christian friendly. I am
>mostly a Pagan though I attend the United Methodist Church largely
>because of the Pastor, people who are at the church and the new focus on
>Celtic Christianity (about as Pagan as a Christian church can get).
>Sometimes I think of myself as a Christian Witch because I enjoy the
>teachings of Jesus. Most of my friends seem to be Catholic and United
>Methodist. Of course most of them think that we are Methodist. If
>someone asks my son if he goes to church he could answer he goes to the
>Methodist church, which he has a few times. Of course there are only a
>couple of families that we could tell we celebrated New Moon last night
>and danced around a circle with candles lit on it while we welcomed
>positive energy into our lives.
>
>By the way, my house is always a mess, it looks like it's actually lived
>in rather than being a museum.
>
>Blessings and Never Thirst,
>Sherry (Cloud)
>
Get your FREE download of MSN Explorer at http://explorer.msn.com
[email protected]
I thought I knew the answer years ago, but see things differently now.
And I have been in situations where I hesitated to bring up my views
because some people were bashing those who did not believe as they did.
A friend used to say, "There are many spokes to one wheel". He felt that
there is only one "God/Spirit/Universal Power", but that various
cultures/languages have developed different ways of understanding and
seeking "IT". I personally like that way of looking at the situation.
It means that my beliefs don't have to be false in order for someone
else's to be true. Of course, nobody is obligated to agree with that
view either!
The Unitarian Universalist church is supposedly one that teaches about
some of the many paths of seeking spirituality, versus a single
interpretation.
Mary Ellen
you wrote:
I am confused in my
own beliefs and find it hard to decide what to teach them.
And I have been in situations where I hesitated to bring up my views
because some people were bashing those who did not believe as they did.
A friend used to say, "There are many spokes to one wheel". He felt that
there is only one "God/Spirit/Universal Power", but that various
cultures/languages have developed different ways of understanding and
seeking "IT". I personally like that way of looking at the situation.
It means that my beliefs don't have to be false in order for someone
else's to be true. Of course, nobody is obligated to agree with that
view either!
The Unitarian Universalist church is supposedly one that teaches about
some of the many paths of seeking spirituality, versus a single
interpretation.
Mary Ellen
you wrote:
I am confused in my
own beliefs and find it hard to decide what to teach them.
David Albert
>As Mary Ellen knows, I am a Quaker. Perhaps our best "way of speaking" was
>
> A friend used to say, "There are many spokes to one wheel". He felt that
> there is only one "God/Spirit/Universal Power", but that various
> cultures/languages have developed different ways of understanding and
> seeking "IT". I personally like that way of looking at the situation.
put forth by the 18th century "Quaker Saint of New Jersey" John Woolman, when
he wrote:
. "I...was early convinced in my mind that true religion consisted in an
inward life, wherein the heart doth reverence God the Creator and learns to
exercise true justice and goodness, not only toward all men but also toward
the brute creatures; that as the mind was moved on an inward principle to
love God as an invisible, incomprehensible being, on the same principle it
was moved to love him in all his manifestations in the visible world; that as
by his breath the flame of life was kindled in all animal and sensitive
creatures, to say we love God as unseen and at the same time exercise cruelty
toward the least creature moving by his life, or by life derived from him,
was a contradiction in itself...
There is a principle which is pure, placed in the human mind, which in
different places and ages hath had different names; it is, however, pure, and
proceeds from God. It is deep, and inward, confined to no forms of religion,
nor excluded from any, where the heart stands in perfect sincerity. In
whomsoever this takes root and grows, of what nation soever, they become
brethren."
david
--
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In a message dated 1/25/01 4:43:06 PM Pacific Standard Time, megates@...
writes:
<< I thought I knew the answer years ago, but see things differently now.
And I have been in situations where I hesitated to bring up my views
because some people were bashing those who did not believe as they did. >>
This is what makes me sad. I have very definite beliefs but I don't get
angry at an expression of someone else's. I find the discussion to be
productive and stimulating when respect and courtesy are practiced. Nothing
in Christianity, IMO, gives us leave to be angry and rude in our treatment of
others.
Kris
writes:
<< I thought I knew the answer years ago, but see things differently now.
And I have been in situations where I hesitated to bring up my views
because some people were bashing those who did not believe as they did. >>
This is what makes me sad. I have very definite beliefs but I don't get
angry at an expression of someone else's. I find the discussion to be
productive and stimulating when respect and courtesy are practiced. Nothing
in Christianity, IMO, gives us leave to be angry and rude in our treatment of
others.
Kris
Nanci and Thomas Kuykendall
>I have very definite beliefs but I don't get angry at an expression >of someone else's. I find the discussion to be productive and >stimulating when respect and courtesy are practiced. Nothing in >Christianity, IMO, gives us leave to be angry and rude in our >treatment of others.This is so refreshing. Believe me, as an openly pagan family who lives in a VERY Mormon community spiced with fundamental Christians, we get our fair share of preaching and condemnation. There are many Christians (as there always have been throughout the history of the religion) who do not practice what they claim to believe in tolerance, acceptance, non-judgemental attitudes, brotherhood, love and friendship, no matter how pleasant and unoffending you try to be.
>Kris
We feel much as you do. While our beliefs are strong and deeply spiritual, we do not believe that they take away the sanctity or reality of the beliefs of others. As someone shared with the wheel of many spokes analogy, Divinity has many faces. God and Goddess to us are the two main representations of the divine entity, representing the male and female, life and death and rebirth, the elements and seasons, light and dark, all within one source. God and Goddess in turn have many faces. Diana, Hecate, Arrionrod, Mary, Holy Mother, Venus, and Gaia are just a few of the names by which Goddess is called upon and revered. God, Holy Father, Jesus, Cernunos, Pan, Zeus, and Odin are just a few of the names by which the male force of the divine is recognized and worshipped.
To us, each of these faces if valid and important, just as each of us is unique and adds to the richness of the whole of any groups we belong to (cultural, religious, racial, national, Professional, familial, etc.) We are complex beings, made in the image of our creators, and just as we present different faces of our inner selves, as appropriate, to different beings in our lives, so too our divine force presents different faces to us, as appropriate for us at any given stage in our development and enlightenment. None is better than any other, as they all have things to teach us and important work for us to do.
Most of the pagans I have known in my life and travels so far have believed in all the same principals and tenets that underpin Christian theology that I mentioned above, brotherhood and love, acceptance and tolerance, non-judgementalism along with the the often uniquely pagan desire to learn and be enriched by the beliefs of others. They also extend this to include all life in our existance, not just human life, but plants, animals and the living energies of the planet. Most ( I cannot say all, as their are always exceptions to everything) pagans feel a deep responsibility and stewardship for the earth and it's inhabitants, in addition to a link and brotherhood with all human life.
I cannot see how any of this should offend or upset Christians just because our prayers and rituals are different and we call divinty by a different name. But, invariably, it does, over and over. To the point that openly pagan families lose jobs, friends, business, and even are forced to move in some cases by harrassment from the Christian community. Sad but True. Just look in your Library archives for articles about it. They are there, they happen all the time in today's judgemental, holier than thou America. Just as San Francisco is a haven for gay people wh owish to live in a community where they are more free to be themselves without fear, so Salem, Mass (ironically) has turned into the same for modern "witches" and pagans. There are very good reasons why there is such a LARGE per capita pagan population there, just as gay people in America still have real things to fear that we see in the headlines all the time.
Nanci K. Pagan mommy and wife.
Hoping to see more tolerance and intelligence in the future of the human race.
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