The allure of paganism
07/09/2023
Over the past week, commenter CN has deftly woven together two of the themes of this site - the corruption of Christianity and the complex personality of Ford Madox Ford.
The discussion of Jewish women indulging in neo-paganism reminded me of a consideration of paganism from a few years ago.
As I said then, paganism offers much that appeals to our contemporary culture. It's bold, transgressive, and it eliminates bothersome boundaries.
The primary weakness is that once one casts aside restraint, why bother with religious ritual at all? I think for the Boomer generation, there was something of a thrill in going to church in a bathrobe and slippers and the Gen X crowd went even farther by getting all tatt'd up and "blessing" same-sex relationships.
But why bother with all that? Why not sleep in on Sunday? The truth is that classical paganism actually had lots of rules and required frequent acts of devotion. All those marble temples were used; they weren't just empty monuments to be admired.
This is why I think it is no accident that much of paganism is concentrated within the global church rather than rising outside of it. This would of course fit in with the Enemy's designs of outright blocking the path to salvation by corrupting Christ's message and misleading His servants.
But even that thrill seems to be fading. In places where Woke Christianity reigns triumphant, church attendance is almost undetectable. It's interesting that the Anglican population of Wales (which needs six bishops (most of them female, of course), could fit into a mid-sized sporting area.
Whether "observant" or not, a frequent recourse is to the display of virtue. The old amulets and shrines have now given way to a bumper sticker or yard sign, hence closing the ring between neo-paganism and Yard Sign Calvinism.
For students of history, there is a dreary familiarity to all of this. Just as the same worn-out heresies keep cropping up in new wrappings by people who think they've just invented the wheel, so the same old sins get repackaged as virtues. Waugh, Chesterton and of course Tolkien all saw it, and it's still going on today.
Something to keep in mind as the latest "new neo-pagan" thing emerges.
Just so you see how they are trying to normalize it and make it "holy": https://forward.com/schmooze/386270/jews-witches-and-sorcery-the-remarkable-tradition-that-is-still-practiced-t/
Now it is a remarkable tradition, despite the fact that it actually shunts aside the real tradition of monotheism. It's big business, too. Meetings with hotel bookings, books, jewelry, clothing, memberships.
Most of the women of my age, who I've seen become involved, seem to be either motivated by anger and loss, or by the new politics of CRT and transgenderism. A local synagogue recently tossed aside a cantor with a long tenure to hire a transgender replacement. Their staff is entirely female.
Posted by: CN | 07/10/2023 at 08:49 PM