Random Saturday Stuffage

[anahata56]

First and most important, good thoughts and hugs and soup and potable water and electricity to all those in Texas who are in need of it. It's one of those situations where I find myself sitting and wringing my hands and wishing that I could just bring everyone here for the duration

Comments

[anahata56]

I not only believe that the moderate Christian community exists, I also believe that they have far more power than they are prepared to take on. This is tragic, to my way of thinking, not just because of what extremists could do to the likes of us, but also what they are capable of doing to other Christians. One would think that self-preservation would take over at some point (before the crazy uncle in the attic actually gets a hold of a pack of matches and burns the house down--to belabor the metaphor), but it doesn't appear to.

This boggles my mind.

In any case, another point made in the article rings true as well, and that is that the onus is on Christianity if reconciliation is to be achieved. And this isn't because they are at fault for the conflict so much as it is that, for many of us, there is no conflict. Personally, I don't care what they do, and it certainly won't be me attending town hall meetings trying to get the Christians oustered from my community. In fact, I don't know of any pagan who would--and not just because we're a minority, but because we know what it feels like to be on the business end of that kind of prejudice, and are loathe to perpetrate it ourselves. So because we have no real beef with Christians until our toes are stepped on by Christians, then it's up to the Christians to keep from stepping on toes. And this is not a problem for a huge majority of them--most of them are capable of sharing space without conflict. It's only a few that decide that they are the arbiters of spiritual integrity and make trouble for the rest of us....

And I say that, while I am not paranoid, I don't trust any Christian who isn't as prepared to slap down the interloper as I am--or who is not, in fact, more prepared. Because they share a label, and should be motivated not only by the existence of my rights, but also their own integrity and the actual meaning behind that label.

I can't make Christians behave like Christians, and I don't want to. But the fact remains that unless Christians are prepared to extend a hand to the non-hostile Pagan community and keep their nuttier brothers in check, there will be no reconciliation, no matter how badly the Pagan community may want it, and no matter how hard they work.