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A Pagan's Blog

I had not planned to do another blog till at Pantheacon, but upon reflection, I am making an exception.  I was one of many who rejoiced when Barack Obama won the presidency, bringing I hoped an end to the lawlessness and Caesarism now endorsed by the Republican Party.  I still rejoice, but not quite so…

Tomorrow I head off to Pantheacon, the largest Pagan gathering on the West Coast.  It is always a treat to go and immerse myself in our larger community, the (statistically) ‘normal’, the granola, the techno, the weird, the geeky, the fey, and every other possible type of human being who can gather together in mutual…

For me, one of the hardest things about being a Pagan is living in a society where nothing has value in itself.  Our world is believed to be made up of things – people occasionally exempted unless they are in the way of a corporation.   Some thing is valuable to the degree it can be…

Rabbi Brad Hirschfield has taken exception to my blog post on the Bible and abortion.  He calls it arrogant, and worse.  I sent him my reply, and am putting it here, below the fold.  He raises some issues that were not in our discussion, although ironically, I had addressed many of them in advance in…

A friend just sent me a WONDERFUL talk by Elizabeth Gilbert at a TED conference.  She describes the creative process as many people have experienced it.  It rings true in my own experience, and I think it is worth every minute you will spend hearing her.

The abortion and the Bible thread has high lighted two issues where I think we Pagans have valuable insights for the spiritual community as a whole.  These are how we determine spiritual authority, and the issue of death.  This post offers some ruminations on the first issue, and another will discuss death. Pagan spirituality long…

I’ve been spending the weekend at a conference on spontaneous orders, also known as complex adaptive, emergent, or self-organizing systems.  In the human world what those terms, and some equivalent ones, point to is how certain kinds of order can arise even though no one is in charge, and as a result the chances for…

I have been working on a book on the 60s and the culture war.  As part of my research, I looked at Biblical criticisms of abortion – not a major theme of the book by any means, but I am touching on it.  The anti-abortion movement has been a critical part of the culture warriors’…

I have been traveling all day.  Flying from the West Coast to the East to a conference is a drag because I have to get up so early – 2 am – to catch the Airporter down to San Francisco in time for the plane.  ‘Course I didn’t have to go, so grousing is a…

The disturbing entry of right wing religion into American politics over the past few decades raises an important question for all of us with a spiritual commitment: how should our spirituality appropriately influence our lives as citizens?  As citizens we are called upon to take some responsibility for our community, a community where most members…
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