The bumper sticker is meant to be antagonistic, but it tells an unintended truth. “Born Again Pagan” is a statement of faith in non-faith, an affirmation of freedom from religious influence, and a bold confrontation with all things Christian. It’s a declaration of freedom from Christianity that strikes at the heart of Christian experience. If you are a born again pagan, then, by definition, you were at one time a person of faith. One is left to wonder what it was that didn’t work, that disappointed, that left the pagan so disillusioned that they not only left the faith but decided to make fun of faith on the way out the door.
Honestly, I don’t think bumper stickers like this are that thought out. I don’t think people actually leave the faith and then intentionally declare themselves to be born again pagans. I just don’t think it’s that intentional. I think born again pagans are people who don’t want any part of the Christian faith based on a bad personal experience, a rumor, or any list of other reasons or perspectives both real and unreal. Pagan, beyond its technical meaning (those outside a certain faith system), is more loosely recognized in modern America as the power to make independent moral choices outside of religious (especially Christian) influence. Paganism is a way of life more influenced by the pursuit of personal pleasure than religious devotion, civic duty, or the common good. If not mere pleasure then one would characterize themselves as a born again humanist or atheist or philanthropist or something like that. Paganism is more closely related to moral than ideological behavior. “Pagan” is supposed to be a sophisticated independent way of life that gives a person the ability to enjoy the pursuit of personal pleasure without accountability to anything supernatural, spiritual, or Christian. Paganism then allows for guilt free personal expression, sexual experimentation, speech, and pleasure seeking through almost any means (art, money, things, people, hobbies, sex, politics, practices, health, drugs, etc.).
A born again Christian, unlike the pagan, is one who has surrendered the core of his/her life to a greater cause than personal freedom. A born again Christian is one who has given up the pursuit of momentary pleasure for a full and abundant life. They have placed their faith in a God and a book that tells the story of that God, a risen Savior, and the people who claim to know and follow that risen Savior, a savior who promised grace, rest, and peace to all who would surrender, a Savior who asks us to be born again so we can leave our ways behind and adopt His ways into our daily lives, a Savior who is sacrificial, generous, and has our best interests in mind.
“Amazing grace, how sweet the sound that saved a wretch like me; I once was lost but now I’m found; was blind, but now I see.” These are the words of a famous hymn and the personal story of millions of people who would call themselves born again Christians. I can see how one outside the faith might be offended by the lyrics. The lyrics may lead an outsider to think, “Hey wait, I’m not a wretch. I’m not lost or blind. I am an independent, capable adult who can make my own choices and am actually a really good person.”
When Christians say that they are born again, that they were a wretch, lost, and blind, they are telling a personal story. They (at least not the vast majority) are not pointing a finger at others but at themselves. They are telling their own story and expressing thankfulness for God’s sweet, amazing grace. They once made sophisticated, independent, adult choices, free from outside accountability and religious influence, but now they have surrendered to a sweet, amazing influence beyond their own ability to navigate the demands of life. They have surrendered to the grace of God found in the One who sacrificed for them. They are born again. Their life is not their own. Amazing grace, how sweet the sound: not accusing, not beating down but freeing us to live outside ourselves so we can find the best of ourselves along the way . . . freeing us to live a life closer to the ideal life planned by the One who created life it in the first place.
It’s a free county. The constitution, and I believe the God who created us, gives us the right to be a pagan if we want to. But being born again away from paganism into the sweet life Jesus has in mind is an even better pursuit than mere personal freedom.
Neopaganism in the United States accounts for roughly a third of all contemporary Pagans worldwide, and for some 0.2% of US population, figuring as the sixth largest non-Christian denomination in the US, after Judaism (1.4%), Islam (0.6%), Buddhism (0.5%), Hinduism (0.3%) and Unitarian Universalism (0.3%). ------ Forgive some us for not better understanding your beliefs... it's obviously not very well understood by many people. I think instead of attacking people because they lack the knowledge of your faith, an attempt to educate and explain to others what it's all about might be more helpful. And you all do understand, you can write your own story here instead of replying to this same post, maybe that would go a long way toward helping others understand your beliefs, especially to those that know nothing about them.
"Forgive some us for not better understanding your beliefs... it's obviously not very well understood by many people. I think instead of attacking people because they lack the knowledge of your faith, an attempt to educate and explain to others what it's all about might be more helpful. " OR maybe if one "lacks knowledge" one shouldnt write a column about something he knows nothing about?
I honestly CAN understand how someone of a different faith would misunderstand what Paganism is if they really haven't come across it and haven't done any research on it. We all make mistakes...and really, it's ok to say you don't know. But to write an article based on a misconception, and when told repeatedly that a mistake has been made, one would think the person (in this case, Ben) would acknowledge that mistake/misconception and correct it...not continuously back-peddle and apologize for what he believes to be OUR misunderstanding of what was written. The ONLY misunderstanding here is what Ben thinks of pagan vs. Pagan. And unfortunately, until he acknowledges that he indeed made a mistake, this conversation is just going to go in circles. And all of this over a few words on a bumper sticker...lol. It did open up a dialogue...but again, until Ben acknowledges what we are all trying to say, the dialogue is kind of pointless...other than Pagans getting to know other Pagans.
Oh lets be fair, Pagans can do that as well. How many Wiccans assume that all Pagans have a Wicca Rede, A Rule of Three and believe in Harm none. As I deal with Heathens, Druid,and other reconstruction Pagans, it is one of their chief complaints about Wiccans. That and the fact that they can't imagine who Wiccans can mix and match gods and goddesses of different Pantheon and then not study those gods be use generalities, even claiming they are all the same. So if thee can be that level of misunderstand among pagans it is not hard to realized how hard it is for none Pagans to come to any conclusions about Pagans as a whole. Meanwhile can you even begin to imagine what older Pagan groups must think of us new Pagans. Take Hindus that have been around for over five thousand years. Can you even imagine what us new Pagans must like like, ignorant children playing with the gods. Of course most of them do not accept the Pagan label, as that is a Christian, jewish and perhaps Islamic label and those are newer religions.They were the original religions in their part of the world. Note that I say that Hindu is a group of religions not a single religion.Few of us really understand that, and mistakenly thing they are all one religion.
Also remember the old idea in Wicca that somehow we could trace our linage back to goddess worshiping religions going back 40,000 years, to the cave people. Such a romantic idea,but we have no idea what the religions were like that far back. We don't even know if those early people had gone beyond ancestor worship. We know nothing about how they saw the world around them so we begin in applying our world view to them. Highly unlikely. Take those famous Venus's, the obviously pregnant to the extreme figurines. what are they,we really don't know. But we have had Wiccan jump to the conclusion that those are goddess figures. Maybe, but maybe not. something that even existed in modern tribal people is sympathetic magic.If you can do a ceremony to represent a successful hunt and affect the hunt, why not do a ceremony for fertility using a poppet to increase the chances of becoming pregnant? It is just as likely as that being a goddess figurine.
And I'm not surprised at all by the misconceptions Christians have. I did say I can understand the misconceptions if the Pagan beliefs haven't been studied. What irritates me is when the misconceptions (of any person of any faith) are brought to light and facts presented...and the person/s STILL wants to hold to their ignorance. There's learning what one didn't know when confronted, then there's being stubborn and refusing to see those facts.
We believe what we want to believe ,not even facts change most of our minds. A midwestern university tried out an idea. If people were presented with facts showing that their beliefs were wrong would they change their beliefs. They had a varied group, different levels of IQ, different economic levels and different ages, different levels of education. Regardless of the differences 98% of the people when shown that their beliefs were demonstratively wrong dived deeper into their beliefs.
I guess I just cannot understand why facts are swept under the rug in favor of belief. I understand that by being living, thinking beings, who do not know everything, we must rely on some sort of faith at least some of the time. I can live with both facts and belief with neither taking away from the other...but it's hard for me to grasp the idea that not everybody...well, I guess just about nobody, if that study is correct...can live with both. It simply boggles my mind...lol.
Then there is the whole thing about whether we are "Pagan" or "Polytheists"... and whether we should go by "Neo-Pagan" or simply "Pagan"... I'm in the latter camp.
Now in the early 70s I did live in Little Tokyo downtown, know that the small groups of young Japanese American Communists used to throw pamphlets off the roof of then Sumitomo Banks building once a year, their once a year demonstration. I can tell you what it was like to be part of Nichiren Shoshu an evangelical Japanese Buddhist group of the time. That was when book "Nisei, the quiet American", first gave us stories of the Japanese interment camps of World War Two here in the United States. I used to walk through East L.A. twice each night 4PM to 6PM and 2 AM to 4 AM. and never had any hassled doing but will it ever show on the history channel. But history for a person is always personal.
That said, I find his clinging to the archaic definition disturbing, much like someone who defends the use of "colored" when referring to African Americans, then tries to justify it by using old reference books. More to the point, I sincerely doubt that he had anything so quaint as hedonism in mind when he read that bumper sticker. It's my belief he was purposely intending this as an evangelical rallying cry, and had no idea that there was such a large and well-networked pagan presence to notice.
As soon as you compare and contrast Christianity with "paganism," or "Paganism", (it makes no difference,) the implication is that you are comparing religions. The definition of pagan as a hedonist has nothing to do with Christianity, Paganism, or any religion whatsoever. If you are using the definition for pagan of "hedonist," then it's logical that the person could be a Christian because in that context it is not a religious term. I have met Christian hedonists, and if you stop to think about it, you will admit that you have too. If you are using the religious definition of Pagan, then hedonism does not apply. Being a hedonist is not necessarily a characteristic of a Pagan.
And people who are of any Pagan religion don't just up and leave Christianity because they had a bad experience. Not only were many born into their religion, as Christians are, but they actually believe in their religions, as Christians do. Or they are people that simply don't believe the Bible is some 2000 year old holy book. And they do good in the community and have morals. That's something you could have Googled as well. I mean really now, did you even think before you wrote this? You may not have meant to offend, but you did a pretty good job at doing so. Why would a Christian write an article about non-Christians anyway? Was your rant trying to discredit Pagans? And what about all those antagonistic Christian bumper stickers that are out there? Why not tell your people to stop being so hateful instead of worry about someone else's beliefs!
have they "left" some other belief, or paganism, to become born again in christianity? that has not been my understanding. they are reaffirming their connections, from the "earlier" "birth". So why is it so DIFFICULT for you to grasp the born again pagan process? Perhaps you need to be sent back for regrooving?