{"id":500,"date":"2010-02-21T17:20:28","date_gmt":"2010-02-21T17:20:28","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/apagansblog\/2010\/02\/christians-and-pagans-a-positive-story.html"},"modified":"2010-02-21T17:20:28","modified_gmt":"2010-02-21T17:20:28","slug":"christians-and-pagans-a-positive-story","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/apagansblog\/2010\/02\/christians-and-pagans-a-positive-story.html","title":{"rendered":"Christians and Pagans: a Positive Story"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

The wonderful Pagan singer, Celia<\/a>,
\ncame to Sonoma County yesterday. 
\n<\/span>While readers of this blog know I admire her work, we had never
\nmet.  <\/span>However she had emailed me she
\nwould be singing at a meeting of Catholics concerned with social justice
\nissue.  <\/span>Perhaps I might want to
\ncome?<\/p>\n

I did.  <\/span>I was not disappointed by Celia’s singing.  <\/span>She has a wonderful voice that does not
\nreceive anything close to justice when I listen to the song “Symbol” on my
\ncomputer.  <\/span>And she is a warm and genuine human
\nbeing as well.<\/p>\n

But other than this enthusiastic
\nplug, my post is not about Celia. 
\n<\/span>It is about the lay Catholics associated with the Spiritual Enrichment Center<\/a> whom I met, some of whom later treated the two of us
\nto lunch. (I was a last minute add-on, but that did not bother them a bit.)<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n


\n<\/p>\n

The morning meeting was broken up
\ninto presentations on poverty and what Christians could do about it by people
\nwho had long walked their talk at a very personal level.  <\/span>Some made their living this way until
\nthey retired, and then continued to do so at a reduced intensity.  <\/span>I was impressed.  <\/span>Celia sang during breaks between
\nsessions.  <\/span><\/p>\n

As the morning progressed I was
\nstruck with the difference between what this Catholic group and what most Pagan
\ngroups would have done in holding a series of sessions on the issue of justice.<\/p>\n

We would probably have focused on
\nenvironmental justice towards humans and our other-than-human neighbors and, as
\nbefits a minority religion, likely have emphasized issues of interfaith and
\nreligious justice.  <\/span>The Catholics
\nemphasized the poor.  <\/span><\/p>\n

They were no more
\nanti-environmental than I was anti-the poor, and spoke kindly of the Wiccans
\nthey had encountered in various contexts. One woman said she would likely be a
\nPagan were she not first a Catholic. 
\n<\/span>At no time did I hear a word of criticism or concern about the character
\nof our beliefs.  <\/span>What “theological”
\ndiscussion that emerged did so as a by-product of our conversations.  <\/span>Particularly enjoyable was a
\ncelebration by us all of the advantages ritual brought to sacred work.  <\/span>We were simply a group of people with
\ndifferent religions talking about mutual concerns, from justice for children
\nliving in poverty to where the best mushroom pizza could be found in Santa
\nRosa.<\/p>\n

The entire morning through early
\nafternoon was delightful and I learned more about the situation facing the poor
\nthan I had ever imagined I would.<\/p>\n

The sessions and following lunch left me with two
\nthoughts I want to share.  <\/span>The
\nfirst is important given the extreme nastiness we often encounter from some
\nother Christians, a nastiness I think we cannot afford to ignore.  <\/span>I think there is a world of difference
\nbetween people, largely centered in the laity, who want to serve the Sacred and the world
\nthrough a religious context that appeals to them, whatever it might be, and
\nthose who are deeply concerned with the details of doctrine and organization,
\nand are stimulated by personal ambition. The second group gets the headlines
\nbut the first does most of the work that counts.  <\/span>The second is parasitic on the first, probably in all groups
\nwhere enough people exist to have organizations and money to attract the
\nambitious.<\/p>\n

My second thought was that it
\ntakes a diversity of spiritual traditions to ever hope to honor all of the
\nsacred insofar as it touches on human experience.  <\/span>We are all limited beings with limited time and limited resources,
\nand we can probably of best service to our Gods and our ideals by focusing our
\nenergies.  <\/span>But the world calling
\nout for that focus is far bigger with more deserving causes than ten lifetimes
\ncould serve.  <\/span>A spiritual division
\nof labor might best address this problem.<\/p>\n

Years ago I organized an
\ninterfaith tree planting in Berkeley, and people of many faiths came and
\nplanted trees.  <\/span>Now lay Catholics
\nhad organized a conference about the poor and social justice, and a couple of
\nPagans showed up, learned, and probably both of us left enriched spiritually
\nand with a greater concern for our society’s most abused members.<\/p>\n

If our society has a good future
\nahead of us regarding interfaith relations, I had a nourishing taste of it
\nyesterday.  <\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The wonderful Pagan singer, Celia, came to Sonoma County yesterday.  While readers of this blog know I admire her work, we had never met.  However she had emailed me she would be singing at a meeting of Catholics concerned with social justice issue.  Perhaps I might want to come? I did.  I was not disappointed…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20,108],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-500","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-interfaith","category-spirituality"],"yoast_head":"\nChristians and Pagans: a Positive Story - A Pagan's Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/apagansblog\/2010\/02\/christians-and-pagans-a-positive-story.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Christians and Pagans: a Positive Story - A Pagan's Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The wonderful Pagan singer, Celia, came to Sonoma County yesterday.  While readers of this blog know I admire her work, we had never met.  However she had emailed me she would be singing at a meeting of Catholics concerned with social justice issue.  Perhaps I might want to come? 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