Pagan Outreach?

[mdehners]

On one of my Heathen lists the subject of Outreach to the Pagan community has been brought up again. My Opinion? It Depends….
What it depends on is the true reason for the Outreach. To make friends? Great. I’ve done it many times and have good friends acquired this way. Other than that? Not really. The thing is,we don’t have that much in common. Heathens have much more in common with Shinto, Hindu or various Indigenous Ways….not to mention other Recons. The truth is that we have as much in common with Pagans and Wiccans as we do with Muslims and/or Hebrews…we’re all NOT Christians and all have had to deal with their Poor behavior when they’re the Majority. Other than that? Nothing much….
For Education purposes? To what purpose? I’ve been around Pagans whose reasons for “Tolerating” Heathens was so that they would realize that their attachment to culture, region and ethnicity was “holding back their Spiritual Growth”…not to mention their Belief that their Gods and Goddesses weren’t simply Aspects of Our God and Goddess. The reverse is true as well…Heathens who are there to Educate Pagans and Wiccans about the real “Old Religion” of N. Europe(one of mine, I admit;>…). Personally, today anyone Feeling a Call to their Ancestral Way mistaking Wicca or Paganism for it is simply too Lazy to BE a Recon. …
“But what about our Common Enemy?”. Which one? To the more Conservative General Heathen population, many of the actions of the Pagan Community IS that of an Enemy. It’s funny how the “Religion of the Vikings” tends to attract peace officer, military and those who consider being “law-abiding” a “Good Thing”. Heathens are more likely to write their Elected Officials and Vote than to make giant puppets and march….or break laws. At one of the last Pagan gatherings I went to I had more culturally in common with the Baptist Church that was sharing the campground…from hygiene to common courtesy. The “Oppression” from the Christians? The complaints about the noise late at night. Not about Chanting. Not about Drumming.Not even about Public Rituals. It was about Drunken yelling, fights and running through their campsites after they’d put their kids to bed. Since I myself was awakened by some of these Eejits tripping over my tent in the middle of the night...I was on their side.
Truth,
Pat