My Conversation with the Pagan Unity Campaign

[masque12]

Recently I engaged in a conversation with Storm Bear Williams, who is the "Chief Political Strategist" of the PUC, the Pagan Unity Campaign. The PUC is an organization that purports to be a political action committee for the pagan community at large, in order to let Congress et al know that we exist, basically. Anyway, I'd heard a lot of shit talked about the PUC on the pagan list I moderate, Houston Pagans Online. I decided to check out their website, where I found this entry in their FAQ:

Do you work for the rights of Satanism?
No. Satanism is the worship of Satan characterized by a travesty of the Christian rites. Since it is a Christian sect, it is not a Pagan religion and thus out of the scope of the PUC mission. PUC does not advocate Paganism at the expense of other religions. We only seek equal access to civil rights that are enjoyed by majority religions.

Since I am a Satanist/Setian, I take issue with this rather simplistic definition of Satanism. I had no illusions or desires towards getting the PUC to actually work for the rights of Satanism, but I did want to try to give them a better definition for their FAQ, as they seemed to be misinformed.

I sent Mr. Williams an email (I sent it to the press address with a request for them to forward it to whom it may be concerned, Mr. Williams replied), with a link to Religious Tolerance suggesting that he update the definition of Satanism as given in his FAQ. He replied with an email saying that they used a definition they found in a dictionary; since said dictionary had a satisfactory definition of paganism, they figured it would be all right.

I, of course, laughed at this foolishness. Their level of research integrity being excretory, I offered some pointers, asking how many other dictionaries offered definitions of paganism that he would find unsatisfactory, and why didn't he ask some Satanists for a definition? I'm sure they would have given it gladly.

He blew me off, of course, with a simple remark about agreeing to disagree. Being obviously unable to answer my rather simple question, he seemed to want me to go away. I sent a final email, wishing him luck with the PUC. I also said that Pagans and Satanists DO have some common ground, in my opinion, and while they ARE different religions, they could benefit mutually from helping each other. I commented that the idea that the PUC seeks to dispel the lies told about pagans by Christians while believing the lies told about Satanists was a beautiful hypocrisy. And so ends my PUC tale. What fools these pagans be.

Comments

Hmmm...

[winter911.livejournal.com]

I think that it's not that these people are pagans, but more that they are standard issue herd humans. Instead of finding out the truth of things, they find a "truth" that sits well with their current belief system and stick with it even when all evidence opposes it. Unfortunately, there is nothing that anyone can do to change this as these people have absolutely no desire to blow a hole in their gigantic bubbles by seeking any other truth than the one that's been handed to them.