Pagan Community?

[uncledark]

Over on The Witches Voice, Sia wrote in an excellent article on dysfunctional behavior in the Pagan community:

Ah... but are we a community in the real sense of that word? The definition of a community is a group that involves "friendly association, mutual support, commitment, and dedication to a cause,ideal, or effort." It is not something we "do

Comments

[gothic_oreo]

Pagan community makes about as much sense as Christian community.

If you can get a few hundred sects to play fair and sing kum-bi-ah, good luck.

Seriously though, if you were a Baptist, you would know your beliefs are dissimilar from a Methodist or a Catholic, and you most likely would not have any "community". The only thing they have in common is some core beliefs and the title Christian. Yet Pagans have even less than this in common. All we have in common is "Not mainstream religion", certainly not "dedication to a cause,ideal, or effort".

[lupagreenwolf]

I find this to be a rather unrealistic view. I don't think that more organization will negate common human behaviors like insecurity, shallowness and just plain newbie behavior. Additionally, part of the reason that there's not greater cohesion is that, after a certain point, everyone involved has to come to an agreement on *something*, and paganism is such a diversity of viewpoints that it's pretty well impossible

[lupagreenwolf]

I also disagree with this assessment of more informal organization:

The people who frequent a scene do not support each other as a community does. They do not care for one another in hard times, and they do not build a lasting culture. When they get bored,they leave, and go on to find another scene.

I have people I care about who happen to be pagan. I have friends and adopted family, and acquaintances. However, I'm not going to help someone out just because they're pagan. Yeah, life sucks, and shit happens--but I'm not going to pay someone's rent or bail them out of jail just because they have a pentacle around their neck. If it's someone with a genuine need, then I'll do what I can. My friend Kina recently had a double lung transplant, and I helped her as much as I could--but I did it because of her needs, not because of her religion

Dissenting View

[woolysw]

There will never be a "Pagan Community" because such a thing is a contradiction in terms

Your definition states: The definition of a community is a group that involves "friendly association, mutual support, commitment, and dedication to a cause, ideal, or effort."

And exactly what shared, common, every-agrees-upon cause, ideal, or effort would that be? There are as many disparate Trads and beliefs as there are Pagans; many of these belief systems and personal philosophies contradict each other. There is no common, shared cause or ideal or effort around which a community could be defined ("we're all be persecuted" does not make a shared cause or ideal); therefore, such a community does not and cannot exist

Re: SUBculture

[uncledark]

Interesting. I hadn't thought in terms of a Pagan subculture, though (in retrospect) it seems obvious. I'll have to go back and think about this.

Re: SUBculture

[uncledark]

Oh, good. I always feel better when I can bring a little random pain into the world. :)

[grimms_creed]

I think that is accurate.

Most of the people replying are saying that "pagan community" makes as much sense as "christian community", in as much as there are a wide variety of sects. But the thing is, Methodists, Catholics, and Mormons do not *need* to agree with each other, because they have enough others of their own sect with whom they can build a community. Pagans, at least the vast majority of us, do not. Thus, I do not think it is an apt comparison. On the other hand, I do recognize that the vast, and often irreconcilable, differences between varieties of pagans present a problem.

Perhaps a pan-Pagan community is not needed (or possible), but I would argue that smaller, niche group communities are both needed *and* possible.

[uncledark]

Perhaps a pan-Pagan community is not needed (or possible), but I would argue that smaller, niche group communities are both needed *and* possible.

I suppose that's the sort of thing that I actually see forming in the larger scene/subculture around me. Personally, I'd love to see better communication and connectivity between the smaller communities.

[lastwaykeeper]

I would tend to agree with you on that point. We, of the pagan identity, have, as mzwyndi mentioned are, and have been for some time, too large to be a single community. However, within subcultures, there are usually smaller, more focused groups of commonality, something that by and large, Pagans lack.