March 15, 2009
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The Pagan Clergy Debate
The big discussion among Pagan media and scholars right now is whether Pagans should have clergy or not. I'm of two minds on the subject.
Pro: It's not a bad thing to have someone official to speak for us and represent us in interfaith discussions beyond whatever pop culture author Llewellyn books is upselling this month.
Con: "We" are not an organized religion and there are in fact many religions huddling under the umbrella of Paganism. It would be impossible, and also less than desirable, to create a clergy which fully represents the diversity which is existent in the Pagan family of religions.
Pro: It's no bad thing to have clergy which would make us more "official" in the eyes of other less respectful religions (they know who they are).
Con: It's easy for clergy, especially clergy with no accountability, to abuse the power given them (or assumed by them) and subvert the trust placed in them by others to their own ends. Even in religions which have had clergy for centuries, there is the possibility of abuse. (Yes, I'm referring to the Catholic priesthood.) Having clergy might elevate those who are unworthy to the status of leader in the community. Much of Paganism is based on equality. Someone who is designated as Pagan clergy based on a fee paid and a paper signed might not necessarily be better trained or knowledgeable than someone like me who has studied for over twenty-four years.
Pro: Creating clergy could allow us to develop accountability and criteria leading to the assignment of such titles. Personally, in addition to some kind of "calling," I'd like any Pagan clergy to be required to seek psychology and sociology degrees even if it is not their intent to counsel.
Con: Clergy for the sake of performing marriages is a nice idea, but it's just as easy to go to your nearest city hall or justice of the peace and get your little certificate signed and fees paid, then go find someone of your faith to perform the ceremony. The whole institution of marriage is based on a monetary agreement anyway. The ceremony, if you must have one, is just for nice. It's a sentiment shared by the newlyweds and their family and friends. The title of clergy is somewhat misleading, especially if the only criteria for the label is that they've submitted the proper paperwork.
What do you think??
Tattoo
the webnovel so far...
Since the chapters are accumulating, I figured it was about time to compress some of them. So from now on, only the current chapter will have links to all the pages. The former chapters will only have a link to the first page.Chapter 5: Of Mice and Men and Other ThingsChapter 5.1 in which money can't buy happiness
Chapter 5.2 in which Glory makes herself at home
Chapter 5.3 in which Glory indulges her passion
Chapter 5.4 in which Gozala speaks of things stolen
Chapter 5.5 in which there is a fungus among us
Chapter 5.6 in which an artifact is examined
Chapter 5.7 in which the good professor is knocked off his high horse
Chapter 5.8 in which Glory resolves to guard her property more carefully
Chapter 5.9 in which magical theory is not so unreasonable
Chapter 5.10 in which Gozala knows one thing and that is that she hates the people of Miskatonic
March 15th
This is a holy day of Rhea, Greek goddess of the earth and mother to Zeus and of Cybele. River sprites and nymphs are also honored today.
In Egypt on the 30th day of Parmutit, offerings are given to Ra, Asar, Horus, Osiris, Ptah, Sokar and Atum.
Anna Perenna is a Roman goddess whose festival falls on 15th March (originally the first full moon of the year as the New Year once began in March). The goddess apparently had a fruiting grove between the Flaminian and the Salarian roads, where it was customary to have picnics, public prayers, and general revelry in order to bring a healthy year. The nature of the holiday is very similar to May Day and Midsummer Eve celebrations in many parts of Europe.
The "reed bearers" enter the temple of Cybele and a six year old bull is sacrificed.
Comments (11)
I'm definitely against the idea of Pagan clergy. Like you said, the span of beliefs within Paganism is way too wide, and it would be impossible to justly represent that within clergy. Plus, I feel like clergy goes hand in hand with corruption. I just don't think it's necessary at all.
Great post! I think the main argument for/against Pagan clergy is whether or not Pagans want their religion to be more organized. Once you have official clergy, you basically do have to set up a system of accountability, training, etc., pretty much in the same vein as the Catholic church (whose system is based on the old Pagan Roman religious system).
While I don't think having clergy automatically goes hand-in-hand with corruption (being related to a few pastors myself), I do think that Paganism as an organized religion is not what most modern Pagans want. Most Pagans these days were raised in an organized religious system and consciously chose to reject it, turning to Paganism which at this is very much based on self-study. No one lays down a set of dogmas in modern Paganism, which I think is something that would probably happen if it became more organized.
Tasha has a really good point about there not being a set of strict dogmas, I know certain views and beliefs of mine have changed over time as I've grown up and learned more. One of my main problems with the Catholic church (I'm Catholic, mostly) is the stupid things that the clergy do...
This one is pretty disturbing: Last week I read an article about how there was a 9-year old girl who had been raped by her father, she ended up pregnant with twins. They found out when she went to the doctor with a stomach ache. The mother and doctor arranged to have an abortion for her, since the girl would die if she didn't get one - no room for 1 baby let alone two. The clergy have excommunicated the mother and the doctor for arranging/performing the abortion. The girl wasn't (said she was too young to know, yada yada)... but NOTHING about the father. Why not excommunicate that sick f*cker?? I'm absolutely furious about it.
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@bodhitree - I was actually thinking of you specifically when I made my last argument.
@ImKatWoman - Stories like that are what are turning more and more people from Christianity in general and Catholicism specifically. A study was just done that shows Catholicism in America has dropped about 10% since the 1990s. Not to make light of the situation, but you know they used to believe that if a person were excommunicated and died, they'd come back as vampires. ... I'm just saying, wouldn't it be nice if things like that came back to bite them in the butt....? But seriously, I think mother and daughter are better off excommunicated from such an indifferent religion (no offense to you!), and that the same clergy that cast them out are welcome to the father... may they all contentedly rot together.
@heidenkind & @Jemstone05- I agree. The thing is, Paganism, as it is identified by non Pagans is so broad it would be next to impossible to organize clergy for the whole family of religions. However, specific groups within Paganism do have their own clergy... Druidic orders for instance and technically some Wicca groups (with their degree systems) might be said to have clergy. It's just not official clergy so far as governments are concerned. On the one hand, dogma goes hand in hand with organization... correlation and tabulation of a groups beliefs, all dotted i's and crossed t's... It's just not for me. On the other hand, some kind of official clergy would stop predatory "Pagans" from creating sex cults as has been seen in the past few years. I mean, we know that you don't have to have sex with whoever to be a Pagan, but there have been a number of "Pagans" arrested throughout the world for basically forcing young, gullible women to have sex with them as part of their beliefs. Just playing devil's advocate here, but official clergy might help put a stop to people just declaring themselves clergy and misleading their followers. Not that official clergy can't do the same, but there is some accountability built in once the criteria is set down on paper.
@harmony0stars - Yeahhhh, but at the same time, you'd still have sick people who organize unofficially and get gullible women to have sex with them. For example, all of those polygamist organizations that affiliate themselves with the Mormon church aren't actually recognized by the Mormon church at all - these days you're excommunicated if you practice polygamy. (Just the first example that came to mind) They're not official, but they still get a hell of a lot of people to go along with them.
I really agree with what Tasha said said though - I don't think most Pagans want any kind of official organization. For me at least, the solitary and self-teaching nature of my practice is a big part of what drew me to it in the first place. . .
@heidenkind - I know, clergy doesn't necessarily go hand in hand with corruption - I was just being a brat. There are a lot of good people who are in clergy - my apologies
@Jemstone05 - Eh, but there's sick people all over, clergy or not. The clergy who happen to be sick bastiches are just high profile because of their social standing. There's even more sick people who don't get the press but do just as bad or worse things. I know it's easy to target clergy who are evil because clergy are supposed to be held to a higher moral code than us mere mortals, but the bad ones are just more noticeable. You know what they say, it's one rotten apple that spoils the bunch.
@Jemstone05 - That's okay, I didn't take it personally.
I was thinking the same thing about "Christian" cults... I wouldn't really consider Pagan groups where people are forced to have sex to be truly Pagan any more than I would consider a cult Jim Jones' to be truly Christian (on the other hand, once upon a time Christianity was thought to be just such a cult). I think as long as there are people hungry for power, they're going to use sex--and any other tool available to them--to get it. The problem with any organization is how to weed out people like that, which is definitely something the Catholic church has difficulty with. Or most churches.
@harmony0stars - That's my point - having an established Pagan clergy wouldn't really stop people from doing horrible things in the name of Paganism.
@Jemstone05 - No, probably not, but it would give them deniability if the creep turned out not to be official clergy.
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