Christians and me
This is just a look at current relations without going back over the whole history of my experience with Christianity.
By choosing a focus on interfaith work (why not--I'm a one-woman interfaith group myself) in the USA, obviously I have chosen to get involved with Christians a lot. We may have had our differences, but the level of dialogue and cooperation I'm engaging in through the Network of Spritual Progressives precludes any adversarial attitudes between us. Which is a relief because I don't like fighting over this stuff.
As an Italian feminist Pagan with a penchant for ancient history, two incidents stand out for me from the time when Christianity consolidated its power over the Roman Empire and violently crushed out the heritage of Paganism all over the Mediterranean.
391 - The Theodosian edict which resulted in the abolition of Cybele's religion, the massacres of Her transsexual priestesses the Gallae and forced conversions of their followers, the conversion of their home into the Vatican City, the devotion for the Mother Goddess shifted to Mary--resulting in the eternal question of how do you subordinate a Mother Goddess when Her religion is encapsulated within a patriarchal system ("hyperdulia" and such), when the Church Fathers want Her subordinate but She continues to hold first place in the people's hearts. If you know Sicilians, you know what I mean. All of Cybele's temples were destroyed, with orders that they should never be built upon (in contrast to the usual practice of converting non-Christian religious sites). The religion of Cybele was targeted in particular for obliteration, it had been the principal religion of Rome with Her temple right on the Palatine Hill (the most prestigious real estate in all Rome)--but who remembers nowadays the central importance She once held?
415 - The murder of Hypatia in Alexandria.
That said, when I get together to dialogue and cooperate with Christians today in a civilized way, for the purpose of helping our nation's politics to care more for people, more for the environment-- one thing becomes immediately obvious: We all have far more in common with each other than any of us has with those ancient people.
The progressive Christians who I work with today are nothing like Bishops Ambrose of Milan and Cyril of Alexandria who instigated pogroms against the Pagans of their day to seize power over the Roman Empire. Not by a long stretch! They're the heirs of the German Protestants who made the Declaration of Barmen in a heroic act of resistance to Fascism. For that matter, honestly, I scarcely resemble ancient pagans. Witches today don't even sacrifice chickens let alone humans. (There's more human sacrifice to be found in Christianity, heh, just teasing you guys.) Witches I admire like Starhawk and T. Thorn Coyle (yezida), in their resistance to the Fascist developments of our day, are just as much the spiritual heirs of Barmen. When I blog against theocracy, guess who's right alongside me--a church pastor.
When I look around at Christians and me in dialogue, all I see is people of Modern Western Civilization. And what is that? The result of synthesizing both Pagan and Christian sources into one thing. My people (the Italians) invented this too, in the Renaissance. Let's face it, folks, today's American Christians and American Pagans are born joined at the hip, so let's get hip to one another.
By choosing a focus on interfaith work (why not--I'm a one-woman interfaith group myself) in the USA, obviously I have chosen to get involved with Christians a lot. We may have had our differences, but the level of dialogue and cooperation I'm engaging in through the Network of Spritual Progressives precludes any adversarial attitudes between us. Which is a relief because I don't like fighting over this stuff.
As an Italian feminist Pagan with a penchant for ancient history, two incidents stand out for me from the time when Christianity consolidated its power over the Roman Empire and violently crushed out the heritage of Paganism all over the Mediterranean.
391 - The Theodosian edict which resulted in the abolition of Cybele's religion, the massacres of Her transsexual priestesses the Gallae and forced conversions of their followers, the conversion of their home into the Vatican City, the devotion for the Mother Goddess shifted to Mary--resulting in the eternal question of how do you subordinate a Mother Goddess when Her religion is encapsulated within a patriarchal system ("hyperdulia" and such), when the Church Fathers want Her subordinate but She continues to hold first place in the people's hearts. If you know Sicilians, you know what I mean. All of Cybele's temples were destroyed, with orders that they should never be built upon (in contrast to the usual practice of converting non-Christian religious sites). The religion of Cybele was targeted in particular for obliteration, it had been the principal religion of Rome with Her temple right on the Palatine Hill (the most prestigious real estate in all Rome)--but who remembers nowadays the central importance She once held?
415 - The murder of Hypatia in Alexandria.
That said, when I get together to dialogue and cooperate with Christians today in a civilized way, for the purpose of helping our nation's politics to care more for people, more for the environment-- one thing becomes immediately obvious: We all have far more in common with each other than any of us has with those ancient people.
The progressive Christians who I work with today are nothing like Bishops Ambrose of Milan and Cyril of Alexandria who instigated pogroms against the Pagans of their day to seize power over the Roman Empire. Not by a long stretch! They're the heirs of the German Protestants who made the Declaration of Barmen in a heroic act of resistance to Fascism. For that matter, honestly, I scarcely resemble ancient pagans. Witches today don't even sacrifice chickens let alone humans. (There's more human sacrifice to be found in Christianity, heh, just teasing you guys.) Witches I admire like Starhawk and T. Thorn Coyle (yezida), in their resistance to the Fascist developments of our day, are just as much the spiritual heirs of Barmen. When I blog against theocracy, guess who's right alongside me--a church pastor.
When I look around at Christians and me in dialogue, all I see is people of Modern Western Civilization. And what is that? The result of synthesizing both Pagan and Christian sources into one thing. My people (the Italians) invented this too, in the Renaissance. Let's face it, folks, today's American Christians and American Pagans are born joined at the hip, so let's get hip to one another.