In the News: ‘GOP struggles to banish ghost of Jeremiah Wright’

Published 5/17/2012: “GOP struggles to banish ghost of Jeremiah Wright” by The Washington Post.

I don’t usually like to write about political things.  Too much turmoil, too many times of getting yelled at for having a different opinion.  But this story caught my eye when I read it yesterday and I just had to bring it up.  The story is about the Romney campaign and some remarks Romney made regarding President Obama.  Here’s my favorite quote from the story:

Romney responded, in part:

“Without question, the legal code in this country is based upon Judeo-Christian values and teachings, Biblical teachings, and for the president not to understand that a wide array of religions and a conviction that Judeo-Christian philosophy is an integral part of our foundation is really an extraordinary thing. I think again that the president takes his philosophical leanings in this regard, not from those who are ardent believers in various faiths but instead from those who would like America to be more secular. And I’m not sure which is worse, him listening to Reverend Wright or him saying that we must be a less Christian nation.” [emphasis comes from the article, not me]

As you may have guessed, I’m writing about this because I have a little problem with the statement.

How does the idea that the Founders based the Constitution and the country on Christian values and the Bible keep coming back up?  Hasn’t this been disproved and discredited often enough that it should have died by now?  The Founding Fathers were mostly Deists, which, while not necessarily incompatible with Christianity as far as I understand, is not the same as Christianity.  How does the idea that the US is a “Christian nation” still find a way to live?  The US is a nation of many different faiths and beliefs, and clinging to this idea that it is one way and only one way is putting a stranglehold on attempts to move beyond the belief and the politics associated with it.

And I would hope that the legal code in the country is not based on Judeo-Christian values and teachings, but on reason, logic, and common sense morals such as murder is bad no matter what religion you believe in.  If the legal code is based off “Judeo-Christian values and teachings,” then wouldn’t that imply that a lot more of the Biblical teachings would have made their way into the laws?  Like it would be illegal to wear poly-cotton blends, or illegal to eat shellfish, etc. etc.

Anyway, that’s my opinion on this one tiny portion of the current political atmosphere.  I suspect we’ll be seeing more of this kind of thing coming up as we get closer to the election.

Stereotype #8: Pagans Worship Satan

This may be more of a misconception than a stereotype, but I think it can still fall under the “stereotypes” category, especially for some non-Pagan groups who do think that all Pagans (or most Pagans) worship or believe in Satan.

This is simply not true. Most Pagans don’t even believe in Satan or the devil.  In order to worship something, you need to believe that it is true.  If one does not believe in the existence of the devil, then how can one worship him?  The devil/Satan is a Judeo-Christian concept, and while there are dark gods and goddesses in any world mythology a Pagan may choose from, these darker-aspected deities do not automatically equate with Satan.  Satan is a strictly Judeo-Christian personage, and to say that Pagans worship Satan is very much incorrect.

I’m sure by now someone has thought of Satanists.  Yes, there are Satanists, and yes, as far as I can tell (with my very limited knowledge, mind you), they do worship Satan.  However, the majority of Satanists don’t even consider themselves Pagan, and most Pagans do not lump Satanists under the Paganism umbrella.

I’m sure this misunderstanding and stereotype arose over many hundreds of years after cultural and societal beliefs began to connect the darker Pagan gods with the Judeo-Christian Satan, especially those deities who dealt with death.  The image of the devil is actually connected to images of Pan and the Horned One, so it’s not a surprise that if culturally the images were changed to match the idea of Satan, then Pagans of all types would be equated with Satan worshipers.

I do believe it’s less common nowadays to hear “so if you’re Pagan, do you worship Satan?” than it used to be.  I have, however, had that question posed to me on a number of occasions, so I think it still can be counted as a stereotype.  After all, I’m not exactly fully out of the closet, so I can’t be the only one who’s gotten that question!