Merry Meet

An article on CNN.com posted today reports that many Americans are not losing religion, but changing it. The article implies that many of these changes might be within one belief system–i.e., a Christian protestant moving from one sect of Christianity to another. However, this is something I have also noticed consistently among pagans, including myself.

When I started researching paganism, I thought that I was destined to be a Celtic Reconstructionist, but that just isn’t so. I’m not ashamed to admit that I’m not as interested in reliving exactly what Celts may have done so much as I am in living with that Celtic spirit, or the core of that belief system, in mind–whether you think it’s fluffy or not!

Among my Christian friends in more religious places such as Michigan and Virginia, I’ve watched the struggle many face when wanting to join a community without giving up any of their own beliefs or ethics. I had the opportunity to witness my friend Michelle and her husband Ben explore are more open-minded church community. As straight allies of the gay community, locating a gay-affirming church in conservative Lynchburg, Virginia was important to them.

In my personal experience, it seems that more people are looking for new pagan paths and new Christian churches based on these social values. These values are talked about constantly in the media, so it makes sense that we do (and should) explore how we feel about social values in a spiritual context.

What do you think?

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