Having returned from my trip to Northern Ireland positively overwhelmed with thoughts on activism, religious dialogue and the peace process, I find myself still working to organize and articulate my reflections into an interesting, half-way coherent post. But bear with me — a post is on its way!

In the meantime, however, I thought I would direct folks’ attention to an insightful article by Will Wilkinson, a liberal libertarian, who explores the concept of American identity along lines very similar to those I discussed back in July (although he tackles the issue far more concisely and adeptly than I did!):

Americans certainly aren’t “a people” in the sense that the Japanese, the Kurds, or the Jews are a people. There is no American ethnicity; the U.S. is a resolutely multicultural (and multilingual) country. The usual idea is that American identity is creedal, or organized around a distinctively American set of ideas and values.

The trouble is that even when there is widespread agreement on nominally common values, conceptions of those values vary wildly.

Wilkinson goes on to examine specific examples of just how certain values — for instance, “individual freedom” — have widely variant conceptions among modern politicians and political theorists, and how often these modern conceptions do not accurately reflect the intentions of the Founders, who themselves were often in disagreement.

Some of them took the ideal of individual freedom to be consistent with chattel slavery while others correctly found human bondage obviously at odds with liberty. Some defended a robust conception of freedom of conscience while others wished to ban the practice of certain religions for freedom’s sake. And so on.

These reflections echo my own thoughts on the matter. Even when we can agree on what to call these “common values,” our ideas about what exactly such values mean in detail or what they might look like in practice are often so different and diverse, it would be difficult to argue for a set of “American values” as in any way distinct from human or universal values more generally.

This issue comes up powerfully in Cara’s recent post on Glenn Beck’s promotion of “honor” at his rally last week. Few of us are willing to argue against “honor” as a valuable character trait. However, I do think many Americans, myself included, find such talk of honor couched in overtly religio-conservative-militaristic terms to be disconcerting to say the least. The “affirmation of middle-class, white Christians” as exemplars of honor as Beck conceives it gives us some indication of precisely how we might expect such a value to be upheld and put into practice.

Further complicating the matter is the fact that so much of U.S. politics these days revolves around issues of identity and cultural values, much more than around particular policy decisions and matters of governance. What we are experiencing in the United States right now is quite explicitly a kind of “culture war” in which the American identity itself is up for grabs. Personally, I suspect this focus on values and identity is a deliberate attempt to obscure or distract from the particulars of policy-making. Matters of governance are rarely evaluated in practical terms of merit or consequence, but are immediately placed into the context of competing cultural values. Political leaders make policy decisions based on how it will effect their “image” in the public eye and whether it will help or hinder their chances in future elections, not on a realistic analysis of the pros and cons of putting given policies into practice. As Wilkinson explains,

That’s why movements to glorify, elevate, and honor a particular conception of American identity based on a particular conception of the American creed necessarily  marginalize equally or more historically plausible conceptions and therefore tend to suggest that citizens who favor those conceptions are less or even un-American.

It is hard to imagine a common ground or process of compromise in such a situation, in part because it is often hard to pin down precisely what the similarities and differences in governance actually are. As long as the debate remains focused on whether honor or compassion, self-reliance or social justice rest at the heart of “real American identity,” we will continue to find ourselves stuck in a war of values that demeans or dismisses our political opponents, instead of seeking ways to compromise and work with them.

My suggestion? Let’s set aside this talk of “American identity” and accept instead that such an identity, if it exists at all, is far too diverse and complex to give effective guidance to the specifics of political process. Let us return to discussions of the policies themselves, and allow each citizen to determine for her- or himself how best to embody “honor” or “justice” or “self-reliance” in their political and personal lives. Let’s expect more from our political leaders (and, dare I say it?, talk-show hosts) than the non-stop pandering to group-identity conflict and the inevitable fear-mongering that results. When Glenn Beck and the Tea Party can promote practical suggestions for effective governance, instead of populist unrest and self-congratulation — even if I don’t agree with those suggestions when they come, I’ll be more than ready to engage them in debate.

There are a few things I’ve been wondering about.  Either because they make no sense to me or because I’m pondering a connection between two seemingly unrelated things.  I won’t load them all on you at once, I’ll do them one at a time.

Glenn Beck Rally and Modern Heathens:  The Glenn Beck rally, presented in the media as a political event, was nothing of the sort and was never billed that way.  In fact, it was promoted as apolitical and people were told to keep the signs and t-shirts at home, thankyouverymuch.  What it was was a patriotic tent revival fundraiser.  Respect was shown to our nation’s warriors and 5 million dollars were raised to help the families of the fallen.  They were lauded, thanked, and the warrior path was talked about as an honorable one.  The entire audience was there to recommit themselves to a concept of “personal honor” (acting with honor and integrity) and to do so by recommitting yourself to your faith and your God.  To “hasten to retrace our steps” back to the Great American Experiment.

“These principles form the bright constellation which has gone before us and guided our steps through an age of revolution and reformation. The wisdom of our sages and blood of our heroes have been devoted to their attainment. They should be the creed of our political faith, the text of civil instruction, the touchstone by which to try the services of those we trust; and should we wander from them in moments of error or of alarm, let us hasten to retrace our steps and to regain the road which alone leads to peace, liberty, and safety.”  Thomas Jefferson

The rally was a huge success.  Not only was attendance larger than I think anyone expected, the crowd was extremely receptive to the concepts of personal (and community) honor, turning back to God, showing respect for our military and their families, and pride in your community and our country.  This is hitting such a chord and I think it is a mistake to ignore it, as some of our political leaders are doing.

Which brings me to American Heathens.  You may not have noticed it, since Heathens don’t interact as much with other contemporary Pagans, but their numbers are growing.  I don’t have hard figures, heck we don’t have hard figures on anything to do with Paganism, but I’m observing the Heathen community gaining in numbers.  I’m seeing more festivals with higher attendance.  Heathens are getting married to other Heathens and raising their children in the faith.  They join and they seem to stay.  Wicca is no longer the gateway drug on the path to hardcore Asatru, seekers are starting and staying with Odin and Thor.  How soon until Heathens are the majority portion of Pagans?

Part of that, I believe, has to do with the religion itself and shares much with the reasons for success of Glenn Beck’s rally.

More than any other form of Paganism, the warrior path is respected and honored in Heathenry.  Police and military members are not called crypto-fascists and told that their career is incompatible with their religion.  Family members aren’t shamed by co-religionists.  You can be a pacifistic or a Navy Seal and you are welcomed into the Heathen community.

Honor, both your own and how your actions reflect on and impact your community, are important in Heathenry.  Acting with integrity, especially when it is hard and offers you no tangible benefit, is highly regarded.  Taking pride in yourself, your abilities, and your community is not seen as a danger, but reinforces spending your time, money and energy on things that positively benefit all three.

And turning back to the Gods.  Honoring them, praying to them.  Living your life as an offering to them.  Finding value in religious traditions and comfort in knowing that others have tread this path for thousands of years.  Feeling connection to those in the past and those around you through shared rituals.

Looking to the past for community values that you believe in and bringing those back into your life.  A combination of self-reliance and independence while understanding that bonds of family and friendship have to be maintained and nurtured for mutual survival.

All of that is also striking a chord, a very similar chord, amongst those who are or become American Heathens.  Like the persons who attended the Glenn Beck rally, they do so in face of cries of racism, bigotry, and misrepresentations by the Press.  And like the rally, this message is resonating within people’s souls and it is a mistake for contemporary Pagans to ignore this.

I am neither a Glenn Beck listener nor am I a Heathen.  These are just my thoughts from the outside looking in.  From talking to those who went to the rally and those who are Heathen (although not both, I haven’t yet found a Heathen who also went to the Beck rally).  I just see some parallels between the two and I find neither one, as long as they are focused internally, frightening, hateful, or worthy of my scorn.

[The following is a guest-post from Kathy Nance. Kathy is a freelance writer, green entrepreneur and lifelong Cardinals Baseball fan from St. Louis, Missouri. She also is the first Pagan to write for the St. Louis Post-Dispatch's Civil Religion blog.]

Oh, Albert.

Say it isn’t so.

Say it was just a horrible mass hallucination, that you didn’t really accept an award from GLENN BECK and share the stage with SARAH PALIN at that rally dishonoring the memory of Dr. Martin Luther King Saturday, August 28.

Because if it really was you—then Cardinals Baseball, the one thing that united St. Louisans, is now tainted for me.

St. Louis is a baseball town. Football teams have come and gone with just a change of fan jerseys. We’ve yawned when professional basketball foundered, barely rallied to keep professional hockey, and hardly noticed the demise of two soccer leagues. Or maybe three.

But Cardinals baseball is sacred. We forgave Mark McGwire the steroid allegations, extended dispensation to Tony LaRussa for being a California vegetarian, gave alms to the millionaire owners for a new stadium. But most of all, we have worshipped Albert of Pujols, the second coming of Stan “The Man” Musial. St. Albert. El Hombre.

I’ve admired him for his charity work among people with Down Syndrome. I respect that he points upwards after every home run, thanking his own God in his own way. He certainly deserves awards and recognition for leading an exemplary life off the field.

But did he have to accept it from Glenn Beck and his gang of racist theocrats?

I have to wonder whether Albert thought about how that might read to his non-white, non-Christian fans. Michael Jordan famously observed that Republicans buy shoes, too. Well, African-Americans, Hispanics, Jews, Muslims, and Pagans all buy baseball tickets, Albert. But I don’t think any of us would have been welcome at Glenn Beck’s rally. Or wanted to be. Shudder.

Think about this, Albert. If you weren’t El Hombre—if you were just a regular hombre scratching for work, how welcome would you have been at that rally? Glenn Beck, supporter of Arizona’s anti-immigration laws would have been among the first wanting you booted back where you came from. And he wouldn’t mean St. Louis.

As for me, well, if I’d known about the rally Saturday at the Stan Musial statue protesting your appearance at the BeckFest, Albert, I would have been there. Instead, I was at the International Festival at Tower Grove Park. Food, music, dances honoring people and religions from every inhabited continent. It was beautiful.

Too bad you missed it. It was St. Louis at its most diverse and its most unified, right down to the Cardinals baseball hats.

Islamophobia has been on the rise since 2001. The latest cause célèbre of conservative opponents of Islam is the Park 51 Islamic Cultural Center. The extent of this opposition is shown by the intentional mislabeling of this project as the “Ground Zero Mosque” despite the by now well known facts – that it is not at Ground Zero but two blocks away (it is not even visible from Ground Zero) and it is not a mosque, cut a community center with a prayer area. Imagine a hospital with a chapel. Do we call that a church?

I don’t. I go into a hospital quite frequently which has not only a chapel but pictures of Jesus on a little table by the door.

Things have gotten so out of control that it is being suggested by some on the right that great Americans “give up their rights” and that Muslims ought to forfeit their Constitutional guarantee of free exercise and go somewhere else, or that Islam is not really a religion at all but a cult, and is therefore not protected by the Constitution. Qur’an burnings have even been announced; an act of violence by Christians somehow meant to demonstrate “once and for all” that Islam is a violent religion.

What is a Pagan to think about this feeding frenzy of angry monotheists? One possible response would be to say, “Well, it’s between them; it doesn’t concern me.” I am here to argue that such a response would be mistaken. It does concern us. It concerns everyone because it concerns a Constitutional guarantee that is under attack by the dominant culture.

Conservative Christians have constructed a new narrative for America, a Mythic America that was founded by and for Christians, an America in which free exercise applies only to Christians, and in which the wall of separation is a myth. The First Amendment ensures that all Americans can practice their religion of choice – or none at all. When the dominant culture – in this case Christianity – takes it upon itself to decide to whom Constitutional guarantees apply, it is time to worry.

Naturally, anyone who defends Islamic rights is accused at worst of being a terrorist, or of being somebody who is “soft” on terrorism. Islam has become the communism of the new millennium, and we should all be searching under our beds for Islamofascists, one of the wonder new terms the right has gifted us. I have been attacked myself, and just recently, for defending Islamic rights in this country. For it is not just conservative Christians who are up in arms and misinformed, but Pagans too. The hysteria is widespread.

But I am not here to defend Islam. My own views on monotheism are hardly a secret to anyone who has read my pieces over the past few years. But my views on monotheism in general or Islam in particular are hardly applicable to this case, for this case is not about Islam but about the Constitution. And the Constitution says that a Muslim group can build a community center wherever they want. There is nothing illegal about it. They did not steal the land. They made a deal with a developer and they are using the site of an old coat factory in the same way that some Christian-oriented group might.

The only difference is that they are Muslims.

And it was Muslim terrorists who attacked the World Trade Center on 9/11.

The thing is, it wasn’t THESE Muslims. And mis-characterizations of Imam Feisal Abdul Rauf, a man with a reputation as a progressive interfaith leader, as an agent of America’s destruction are simply character attacks aimed at creating at atmosphere of fear and resentment. Fear is the coinage of Republican politics and has been since 2001. Fear of minorities, fear of immigrants, fear of non-Christians, fear of feminists, secular humanists, atheists, the LGBT community – and fear of Islam. It is easy to rally people around fear-inspiring causes – Irish immigrants, Germans in WWI, Japanese in WWII, communists in the 50s, Muslims today.

The situation gets very confused – as it’s meant to – fear mongering inspires neither calmness nor rational thought. Fear demands that people respond on a visceral, atavistic level, from the gut, in the same way that George W. Bush ran the country for eight years, from the gut. It is an anti-intellectual stimulant, fear is, and it brooks no argument.

For a Pagan, to get back to my original point, such attacks should resonate on a level invisible to most monotheists, who have a long history of being the persecutors rather than the persecuted. Once upon a time it was the witches who were being sometimes literally fed to the fires of hate. It isn’t all that long ago that being a Pagan was against the law, or that being a Pagan could cost you your job or your home. Rather than jumping up and joining those who would tear down freedom of religion, we ought to be defending those whose rights are under attack. Because next time, it could be us.

Can anyone forget the words of Jerry Falwell or the agreement of Pat Robertson in the aftermath of 9/11 on the 700 Club?:

JERRY FALWELL: And I agree totally with you that the Lord has protected us so wonderfully these 225 years. And since 1812, this is the first time that we’ve been attacked on our soil and by far the worst results. And I fear, as Donald Rumsfeld, the Secretary of Defense, said yesterday, that this is only the beginning. And with biological warfare available to these monsters — the Husseins, the Bin Ladens, the Arafats — what we saw on Tuesday, as terrible as it is, could be miniscule if, in fact — if, in fact — God continues to lift the curtain and allow the enemies of America to give us probably what we deserve.

PAT ROBERTSON: Jerry, that’s my feeling. I think we’ve just seen the antechamber to terror. We haven’t even begun to see what they can do to the major population.

JERRY FALWELL: The ACLU’s got to take a lot of blame for this.

PAT ROBERTSON: Well yes.

JERRY FALWELL: And, I know that I’ll hear from them for this. But, throwing God out successfully with the help of the federal court system, throwing God out of the public square, out of the schools. The abortionists have got to bear some burden for this because God will not be mocked. And when we destroy 40 million little innocent babies, we make God mad. I really believe that the pagans, and the abortionists, and the feminists, and the gays and the lesbians who are actively trying to make that an alternative lifestyle, the ACLU, People For the American Way — all of them who have tried to secularize America — I point the finger in their face and say “you helped this happen.”

PAT ROBERTSON: Well, I totally concur, and the problem is we have adopted that agenda at the highest levels of our government. And so we’re responsible as a free society for what the top people do. And, the top people, of course, is the court system.

Can we so easily forget that it was Pagans Falwell blamed first, and not Islam? Does anyone seriously think that if they succeed in depriving the world’s second largest religion of their Constitutional rights that they will hesitate to do the same to Pagans?

The threat to the Constitution is very real. Conservative Christians, religious zealots known as dominionists, wield a degree of power in this country far out of proportion to their numbers. Study right-wing Christian theocracy; study the New Apostolic Reformation (NAR). Study Sarah Palin and her witch-hunting pastor. People like to scoff, but then, people scoffed at Hitler too.

And look where they ended up.

No, I don’t have to think twice to know where I stand. With religious freedom and with the Constitutional guarantees I was born with, and not just for me, but for everyone.

[The following is a guest-post from Peter Dybing. Peter identifies himself as a human activist who happens to be Pagan rather than a Pagan activist. His activism has included direct action on environmental issues, civil rights issues and freedom of religion. His first activist role was a meeting with the Governor of Colorado concerning school integration in 1969 at eight years of age.]

Islamophobia: A Threat to the Pagan Community

From rural Wisconsin to lower Manhattan Americans are mobilizing in opposition to the location of Islamic places of worship in their communities. With images of September 11th etched in it’s collective subconscious, our nation is once again traversing the slippery slope that leads to religious persecution, fear and outright bigotry.

Islam has become the convenient target of defamation, hate, suspicion and direct verbal attacks.  Americans in ever growing numbers freely tell anti Islamic jokes in public places.  If these attacks were aimed at another faith, minority or ethnic group there would surly be a substantial backlash.

So why should the Neo Pagan community become involved in defending the rights of a belief system that holds views so foreign to our earth based community?

Islam, an incredibly diverse group of faiths, is faced with being branded as intolerant and violent due to the actions of radical fringe groups.  We in the Pagan community have experienced attempts to paint us all with the same brush when individuals who claim to be Pagan commit violent acts.  Recent events in New Mexico and Australia make this clear.

To stand by and allow these forms of attack encourages those who believe that our country should not be tolerant of a diversity of beliefs.  If we do not stand in support of inclusion and respect we risk our own fight for Pagan rights through our lack of action.

There are many well-meaning people who have expressed concern with the placement of the Mosque in New York City. There are others, however, who have taken this opportunity to spread fear, hate, and bigotry.  They must be confronted

All threats to religious rights and tolerance are a threat to our community, our nation and our ability to openly worship the divine as we please.

It is not easy to come to the defense of a belief system so different than ours. Nor was it easy for Christian, Jewish and Islamic leaders to support the inclusion of Pagans in the interfaith movement. Yet, these leaders did it because it was the right thing to do. Now comes our opportunity to stand for what we believe.

Pagan Brothers and Sisters, join me in communicating to the Islamic community our support for their right to worship openly, when they want to and where they want to.  Confront those who oppose tolerance, Make our collective intent known.

In Service to the Goddess,
- Peter Dybing

I’d like to thank Peter for his guest post. For more debate and discussion concerning the Park51 community center and mosque in New York City, and Pagan reactions to that controversy, please see today’s post at The Wild Hunt. Also, I know this is a contentious issue, but please remember our comment policy, and keep discussions civil.

Seems an odd question to some. I can tell you the exact price, here in Kansas anyway. It’s $3.92. That’s right, our state legislature just sold out each and every resident of this state to the federal government for $3.92 a person. That is the breakdown of the latest blackmail job from the federal government to return to us our own money for highway funds. All that was required for us to receive our $11.2 million in federal highway funds was to pass a primary seatbelt law. Now the various law enforcement agencies can pull you over for suspicion of not wearing your seatbelt. It is now a primary offense.

Not the first time we sold out, just the latest. Mandatory seat belt laws were awhile back, as was the 21 year old drinking age (that one would have cost us a 10% reduction in highway funding) We are being held hostage by the federal government, the ransom is our very own tax dollars that we dutifully send to the big machine. If we comply with the demands of our omnipotent big brother, we get some of our money back. Some because about 53 cents of every dollar is consumed in the beaucracy, depending on the source perhaps more. Wow! Imagine how that would translate into other transactions for goods or services. How about only getting a half gallon of gas for every gallon purchased?

This is nothing new, the national parks are nearly all a result of theft by the federal government, from the states as well as individuals. Recently, we returned to my father’s Appalacia for our yearly gathering of Ancient Riders. As is my custom, I frequently go for early morning rides. One such morning I stopped at the ranger station in the Great Smoky mountain national park to ask directions to the “road to nowhere”. There happened to be an older gentleman visiting the volunteer who was manning the office and he was a wealth of information. “Red” filled me in on the entire story from his perspective. The TVA, he said had bought all the land and run the families out under imminent domain. They had paid from two to as much as eight dollars an acre, to each of over 1000 families, to acquire the necessary land for the Fontana dam and lake. The TVA promised they would build a road from the other side and a tunnel so the folks could have a way to visit the cemeteries where their family members were buried, over 1000 graves that either were above the lake level or had been moved there. Well, at this point he gave the “gov’ment” a good all around cussing. The TVA had built the road and tunnel all right, but the road ended on the other end of the tunnel so the only access the people had was by horseback. Red said he had made the trip twice a year since 1945. Apparently our leaders deceiving us is nothing new.

On returning home I decided to study this a bit more. Not a whole lot can be found, but it does appear that the TVA took control from ALCOA of the Fontana project around 1935. The dam started producing electricity in January of 1945, about nine months before the war was over. ALCOA would remain the main user of the power from this dam for the next 25 years. Without any of the $70,000,000+ price tag. Finally, in February 2010, the government came through. The department of the interior cut a check to Swain county North Carolina for $52,000,000 in lieu of finishing the road that was promised 65 years ago. Of course, none of the family members of the original displaced residents have seen a dime. They still visit their family plots on horseback.

The cost to the families who were displaced was enormous. Their freedom, their way of life. Here were people who had been independent all their lives, third and forth generation on the same land, handed a check for a few hundred dollars and expected to go find a new home. To assist in the “electrification of rural America”. What a load of crap! How about “to support the corporate interest”? Sound familiar? What was the plus for these simple folks? Education that they didn’t know they were missing? Better living conditions? They never knew they were poor. I contend it was to further empower the government and their corporate interests. People who lived in the hills and raised their own food had little need for the stores and such that were found in the towns, but move them off their land and where are they going to go? The same result of the millions of acres that were taken for national parks. Get the people rounded up and close to towns depending on the government and it’s interests and the power grows.

These people had a price set on their freedom by the federal government, too. Just as we have been doing, and are doing still. $3.92, that is todays price. What will it be tomorrow…less?….more? Or just the best offer.

So I’m aware that I’ve been remiss in my duties here – it’s been well over a month since I posted. The reason for that is kind of my thoughts for this week’s blog. My husband and I had our wedding ceremony on Lughnasadh, and the two months prior ate up all of my free time. I failed to comprehend just how much work goes into planning something like that! I feel like my life hasn’t actually managed to recover yet – work went crazy while I was gone, and my husband and I didn’t have much time to take care of the house during those months, so we’re still recovering from oodles of mess.

My post today is kind of a strange one, I think. Because of my life craziness, I don’t have the time to do a well-researched post, but I want to talk a bit about marriage because of the events in my personal life coinciding with the repeal on Proposition 8. That’s where I’m headed with this post: my thoughts on the institution of marriage. But first, a bit of history for me and my husband.

We decided to get married in May of 2009. We found a beautiful location up in the mountains, close to home, and we put down a deposit. We started making plans and putting down more deposits. And then several months later we realized that we were going to be moving so he could return to finish up his bachelor’s degree. I had always wanted a Lughnasadh wedding. In Ireland, Lughnasadh was the time of year when anything relating to legality was dealt with, and I wanted to say my vows in front of friends, family, and gods on Lughnasadh in honor of that history and tradition.

But we found out that insurance through my husband’s school sucked. It was horrible. So we needed to get him on my insurance several months after open enrollment. Which meant a change of status – and the easiest way was to document marriage. So six months before the wedding we signed our paperwork, I changed my name, and then I had to deal with all the crap from my extended family (“if you’re already married, why have the ceremony?”).

Marriage became split for me, and I had to spend a lot of time thinking about the different aspects of it. The legal bit was very important. But it was only half of the process. The religious side was vital to me, even if our ceremony was only ten minutes long. Standing up there, hearing our officiant invoke our gods, and knowing that we were making our vows before everyone and everything important to us – I can’t express how important that was. As a heathen, the making of an oath is done before friends, family, and gods, and this was the most important oath of my life to date.

Shortly after we got back, I got wind of Prop 8. And I cheered like mad. Then I heard that Mexico City is ordering the entire country to recognize any marriage performed there, hetero- or homo- sexual in nature. And again, I cheered like mad. Iceland has legalized gay marriage, too.

Because what I learned during my marriage fiasco is that marriage is important legally and spiritually. I love the family I was born into, don’t get me wrong, but I want my spouse to be able to make important decisions if I’m incapable of making them. I want him authorizing medical procedures or financial procedures because I have chosen him to trust with those important decisions. Marriage – and love, in my opinion – isn’t bound by gender, nor should it be. It’s about individual people, oathing to take care of each other financially, emotionally, medically, physically, spiritually. And if the state can’t recognize that it’s about the people involved in the relationship, gay or straight, two or three or twenty people, the state is trying to determine for those people what is right and who can take care of you. They’re forcing that decision to be out of the control of the people, and rewarding what they think of as “correct” behavior. And we’re in a much more modern time, where people think for themselves and act for themselves. Let them marry as they will, so long as they uphold the oaths they make to each other.

As a side note, here are the vows my husband and I made to each other:

Do you promise to be a good spouse? Do you promise to display courage, truth, honor, frith, discipline, hospitality, self-reliance, industriousness, and perseverance in your marriage? Do you promise to challenge x and help him grow?

We are one when together
We are one when parted
We share all
We will raise warriors*

*These four lines I can attribute to Karen Traviss. They’re the Mandalorian wedding vows, and we felt the need to incorporate them into our wedding. It was partly honoring the ethics we both hold dear and partly playing on our geekish love of Star Wars.

Politicians often use photos or video of themselves with local celebrities as a way to form a positive association in voters minds.  They hope that you will attribute the wonderful deeds and character of the celebrity to them.  Virtue by osmosis.   Or, at the very least, they hope an endorsement from them will help sway your vote.

In our town there is no bigger celebrity than Tazer the police dog.  Tazer has won the National Police Canine Champion 5 times and is a 7-time regional police canine champion.  Last May, when Tazer retired, the city of Austin, MN threw him a very well attended retirement party.  We love Tazer.  He has visited countless school children who collect his baseball style cards and is still a respected member of our community.   His two sons, Ghost and Bosco, are carrying on the family tradition of careers in law enforcement and winning awards in K-9 competitions.  Pride and love are lavished on this dog.

Which is why Deputy Jeff Ellis, who is running for Mower county Sheriff,   features a photo of himself with his former partner Tazer on the front of his campaign brochure and website. I understand why Ellis is doing that.  An endorsement from Tazer is about as good as it gets.

Note:  I will be attending the Sacred Harvest Festival, a lovely family friendly Pagan festival in SE Minnesota, all this week. The PNC-Minnesota Bureau, which I am part of, will be providing coverage of the event.

One of the criticisms of those in Hellenismos is that we like to pick at the details while ignoring the larger themes. That we go round and round, segmenting every issue until the pieces are so small and obscure that they would slip through a mesh sieve.

It’s a fair, if over used, critique. Like all things, though, it is a useful way of looking at the world if used in moderation. It is a skill that I wish the greater public would use when looking at complex and nuanced political issues.

As an example – let’s look at the immigration/border controversy. It’s almost impossible to discuss this topic because our citizens, politicians, special interest groups, and media insist on treating it as a single topic instead of the three (or more) separate, yet related, issues it is.  Below immigration is broken up into three components with a brief description and a few possible questions that we should be debating in our public squares.

Immigration laws and regulations:

Nutshell:  Who gets in, when, in what numbers, and the process they need to follow. Levels of visitor and citizenship visas that can be applied for.

Questions:  Do our immigration policies treat prospective immigrants from various countries fairly? Should persons from some nations be given favorable treatment?  What changes would you make?  Do you know what the policies are?  How do our policies and regulations match up against European (or pick  a region) countries?  Should we even have immigration laws?

Illegal immigrants or Illegal aliens:

Nutshell:  People who are in this country unlawfully. Either because they crossed a border in stealth or because they entered the country legally but have stayed longer than their visa granted.

Questions:  What should we do with people who are in this country illegally?  Is it ethical that we (consumers in the USA) enjoy inexpensive products and services because we allow companies to economically exploit illegal aliens for cheap labor?  What are the pros and cons (economically, culturally, etc) of either deporting or not deporting illegal aliens?  Should we treat expired visas the same as we treat those who gain entry by stealth?  What do we expect of new immigrants to the USA?  What should we offer them to increase their chances of successful adaptation to living in the USA?

Border security:

Nutshell:  Keeping track of who enters and leaves the country. Protecting the US from prohibited goods being smuggled in or out of the country. Not allowing criminals to escape justice by fleeing to another country. Cross border crime and violence.

Questions:  Should we have formal borders?  Should we allow anything or anyone to cross the border as long as it is notated?  What should we do about cross-border crimes like the sex trade, drugs, and weapons smuggling?  Is it possible to maintain our border?  If it isn’t, should we give up or do the best we can?

_____________________________________________________________________________________________________

Perhaps breaking such touchy subjects into its components could help us to focus our time and effort discussing the various issues at hand and come to some sort of resolution or compromise on at least some of it.  Would allow us to see that these aren’t simple black or white issue and people can have very graduated ideas and views.  It could allow us to get past the “you think X1(a), therefore you hate all Y and Z which makes you evil so I can now dismiss you as a fellow human being and I don’t have to listen to you.”

If you would like, pick one of the three sections of the larger immigration picture and discuss only that one area.  Those that comment below you, stick to only the one area, as well.  You can start multiple threads, but keep each thread on topic.  If you don’t wish to do this, at least keep this concept in mind – breaking down related but separate issues and examining them individually before you look at how they are connected in a larger context.  Never know what might happen if more people were willing to do this.

When Jason first invited me to write for Pagan+Politics, he asked me to cover news and topics that might be relevant to Pagans who are pacifists, but also news about pacifists in the Pagan community.

The first request was easy. What news isn’t relevant to the present-day Pagan with a persistent predilection for peacemaking? So much of what gets reported today is rife with violence, war and conflict born of obstinacy and ignorance. Even for someone like me, much more comfortable waxing philosophical-poetic than reporting in journalistic-style on national and world events, it was easy to find a plethora of topics to write on.

But news about Pagan pacifists? That request seemed a bit more daunting. One mark of the effective peacemaker, like any artist, is how effortless and natural he can make the work appear, and the dull story of peace-at-work rarely makes the news except in extraordinary circumstances. Plus, I had no “in”s with pacifistic leaders and activists in the Pagan community, and no networking ties that would help me keep track of their various goings-on. Sure, I was a peacemaking Pagan, but my pacifism, like my Paganism, has often been “solitary” and creatively subterfuged to look like, well, everyday kindness and rational living. Of course, I could set up a few Google news alerts to help me out and keep me informed. But Pagans are still only a small minority almost everywhere in the world, and pacifists likewise are for the most part considered a “fringe” political force. I don’t need to draw you a Venn diagram of exactly how big of an overlap two minority groups make in the eyes of the daily news cycle.

And that’s when my whole “active engagement in creative peacemaking” thing kicked into high gear. As a pacifist, you don’t just sit around waiting for war and violence to happen so that you can take to the streets with your cleverly-put signs and sourpuss faces. You get moving, you get active, you get creative and joyful, and you make peace out of whatever you happen to have on hand. So I began to think, “You know, if I can’t find a lot of ‘Pagan pacifist news’ going on out there… why don’t I make some?”

And ‘lo, the Voices of Pagan Pacifism project was born!

From this seed-thought of being a news-maker grew the full-fledged idea of hosting a website to showcase and archive voices from the incredibly broad and diverse Pagan community. Now absolutely anyone walking a Pagan path and engaging in peacemaking work can make the news and have their stories heard. Harold the Heathen, Danielle the Druid, Wesley the Witch — move over, Joe the Plumber, you’ve got some company.

The VoPP project seeks to highlight the voices of ordinary peacemakers in the Pagan community, while also providing resources, well-researched articles, suggestions for peace-centered ritual and practice, and a helpful directory of individual and group contact information for Pagan pacifists from all over the world. The premiere issue of VoPP, launched on Lughnasadh 2010, has already gone international, with essays from Pagans living in both the U.S. and the UK. And there’s more to come! Each month’s issue will feature an interview (check out the Interview Application page, and the next voice on VoPP could be you!), along with a variety of articles on nonviolence, history, ecology, media, and social justice. The VoPP collection of solitary and group rituals, spells and meditative practices will continue to expand, as will its network of movers and shakers in the world of practical peacemaking and activism in the secular and Pagan world communities.

But most of all, my personal hope is that the Voices of Pagan Pacifism project will help Pagans and non-Pagans, pacifists and non-pacifists alike to extend the on-going discussion about peacemaking, justice and creative civic engagement as a vital aspect of the spiritual life. I hope that the presence of VoPP and similar resources help to change the conversation around words like “peace” and “pacifism” in the same way our conversations about “feminism” and “environmentalism” have changed so greatly in the last few decades. I hope for a time when even conservatives, cynics and pragmatists can call themselves pacifists as well as feminists and environmentalists. And I hope that Voices of Pagan Pacifism can help inspire and celebrate that change.