One Pagan stands against social justice


Why should your enlightenment require that I sacrifice?
One of those days where I have more things to do than I have time for. One entry for now, and then I have to run.

Starhawk is one of those people that really frustrates me. On the one hand, she has some really good ideas. On the other, she has some really bad ideas. She's also a Big Name Pagan and she has enough visibility to make waves in the major media.

Hey, at least she gets mentioned. That's more than most of us can say.

So then there is her latest. Emphasis added.

While Pagans do not have a set creed or unified code of beliefs, our traditions hold in common the understanding that we are all deeply interconnected, all part of the sacred weave of the world. The Goddess is immanent in this world and in all human beings, and part of our service to the sacred is to honor one another and take care of one another, to fairly share nature's bounty and to succor one another in facing the hardships of life. We must create justice in this world, not wait for redress of grievances in the next.

Starhawk has the unfortunate habit assuming that she speaks for all Pagans. That's sort of like a Baptist presuming to speak for the Church of England. Her own path is very goddess centered and that is fine. But my path is different and honors gods, plural.

Honor one another, well, sort of. There are those I have no wish to honor because they do no honor others.

Take care of one another. That's another big "it depends." There is a saying among some Christians that if you give a man a fish, you feed him for a day, but if you teach him to fish, you feed him for a lifetime. I've a simpler take, I want allies, not servants. I don't want someone depending on me for things in this life, I want someone who chooses to walk alongside me. If someone does depend on me, it's my sacred duty to help them stand on their own as soon as possible. What's more, I should decide who gets my help. And that ties into the next bit.

To fairly share nature's bounty. Who decides? I've found that if you use someone else's wallet, it's far too easy to spend everything and then some. Forced charity is extortion, no matter how you pretty it up. I don't believe that another person or other people have some virtue that gives them the wisdom to make better choices than I do. In the most basic terms, just because I get up early enough to go fishing doesn't give my neighbor who sleeps in a claim on my fish. On the other hand, if I want to trade part of my fish for part of his wine, that benefits both of us.

To succor one another. Well, yes and no. If someone broke their leg, they might deserve my pity and help. Unless they broke their leg by kicking their child. That changes things. I choose who I will help and why.

No one person or group has the right to commandeer nature's resources, which are the underpinnings of all wealth. Generosity, justice and fairness are old Pagan virtues, and Robin Hood is one aspect of our Pagan Gods. In fairy tales, the hero/a wins the aid of fortune when she shares her loaf with a beggar or lays his cloak at the feet of a poor widow. The greedy, hoarding, grasping or jealous person ends up defeated and despised.

Generosity yes. Justice yes. Fairness, not even. Most importantly, in all those old stories, the hero CHOOSES. The choice of who to help, when to help, and even if to help belongs to the hero, not the society that spawned him. Without that choice, there is no virtue.

And yes, that was important enough to rate red.

Starhawk's statistics are incredibly off, largely because she assumes that government is more capable of making that choice than individuals, and that greater good will come from government choice.

I say that the worthy choices are never the easy ones. I say that the individual choice ALWAYS matters more than the institutional.

More importantly, all those evil choices Starhawk cites in the next few paragraphs only happened because in each situation, government favored one group.

Precisely like she is advocating that social justice will do.

If there is justice, if there is generosity, then it comes only from individual choice and individual action.

You can't compel virtue.

— NeoWayland

Posted: Wed - April 14, 2010 at 02:04 PM  Tag


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