I went to do premarital counseling with a couple of senior citizens who have chosen me as their wedding officiant last night. Not that unusual. But the thing is, they are both divorced and both had been devout Christians at one time.
Now you all should know our religion doesn't typically proselytize. We don't have to. Our numbers grow every year. And this couple and I had a talk about why all of us had left the Christian church.
Now the man was non-religious, and we agreed that the verbiage in the ceremony was that I would bless them "in the spirit of the God and Goddess" because he doesn't believe in either. This is not a problem for me, and we're going to cast a circle and call the quarters before the guests arrive because she wants a more traditional pagan wedding.
Now since she was going on about "traditional handfastings" and "ancient words" (and these were educated people) I did make sure that she was aware that there ARE no really "ancient words" associated with pagan ceremonies and that at best it's probably an attempt at the recreation of what went on before. She was okay with that. He, on the other hand was suddenly struck with the idea of the earth as being alive and a goddess. He said he needed to think about that. (I have the feeling I may be marrying them in Gaia's name at the end of it all.) This is something that many pagans believe at some level, and during our discussion, I realized that this is something that provides a strong attachment to life, nature, and the earth itself.
Between talking to them and to other pagans, I think that what they are feeling about the Christian church is that it doesn't feel alive to them. The Christian church concentrates on the afterlife with Jesus, and is very detached from nature. All the importance is attached to "being good" so that you can "be with Jesus" when you die. Laudable, but this life is where we are right now, and if you can't relate your religion to your life in a palatable way, it's going to become rote and meaningless. A lot of the most vociferous believers are really trying to convince themselves that they believe.
I'm not sure that I'm going to be able to explain this well, but pagan religions typically teach reverence for the earth, recycling is seen (at least in California) as practically a religious duty, and charity like feeding the homeless, or whatever is seen as a religious duty. And it's true that I meet very few Republican pagans. Even those of us who care to a point about money don't care enough to make amassing wealth a big thing. Pagan religions tend to be much more "be kind to the earth, your children will inherit it."
You know that most pagan holidays are tied in to the cycle of planting and harvesting. This connection to really basic cycles may have something profound to do with the attraction of paganism to people today. You celebrate Lammas as the first harvest celebration. Ostara is spring with preparations for planting. All the other pagan holidays are concerned with the cycle of crops or movements of the sun. (Or both.) Very earth centered and very basic. The Christian religions is more abstract based. Even with the holidays falling on the same or similar dates, the Christian relgion has made a more abstract relationship out of more mundain and seasonal based festivals.
All three of us had reasons for leaving Christianity that included intolerance, but also had a large dollop of alienation and the feeling that Christianity was not really relevent to US as persons. It was "one size fits all" and you were just a generic member. And all of the "I'm not worthy" stuff does not do much for growing a healthy ego. On the drive home, I realized that I'd heard this over and over from other ex-Christians. Some had just become more or less estranged from religion, but others had joined pagan groups or become solitary pagans because that religion seemed more concerned with life and certainly celebrated the individual AS an important person.
The other thing I thought about was that a number of Christian churches seem to be obsessed with "praying for the pagans" or "praying for the heathens" and certainly separating themselves from whatever "godless" or "sinful" customs are going on around them. I need to tell you right now that we don't need or want your prayers. And meanwhile, you're boring those of your parishioners who don't find a lot of self congratulatory oratory on how superior it is to be a Christian as edifying as you might. This is especially true for those who paint a really colorful picture of what those "godless heathens" are probably doing in celebration. If it sounds like much more fun than sitting in a hardwood pew praying, eventually someone is going to wonder why he/she is missing all this fun.
And for those of you who keep your children out of mainstream secular life without offering any alternative forms of joy, your setting those kids up to leave your church as soon as they reach adulthood. And if you've preached on how sinful we pagans are, they'll probably run straight to us.
Maybe I'm wrong, but there does seem to be some evidence that Christians very often drive away their own members.
I"m not trying to start a war with this, but you might just want to consider it.
