Reality vs. The Times of London

Jason Pitzl-Waters chased down the actual conclusions of the study I wrote about yesterday. The Times of London appears to have played fast and loose with the facts. All the researcher wanted was to spur more investigation. He didn't claim that theism leads to social problems.

The opportunity to claim the Times was indulging in America-bashing is almost too obvious. But I've also been hearing about the hurricane coverage in some of the more salacious tabloids over there. The Sun claimed American soldiers were killing Katrina survivors from gunboats. I realize that the Sun is not the Times, but what the former does blatantly, the latter has been known to hint at. And jumping from "we need to investigate whether theism is a related cause" to "America stinks because it's too damned religious" is a very easy way to drop such ideas into what looks on the surface to be a respectable article.

Religion, government, and binary thinking

Wow. I ask the universe for source material, and I get this article popping up on my reading list. Thank you, universe. Have a cookie.

The Times of London has reported a study that claims a direct relationship exists between religious belief and social problems. The author attempts to prove this by showing that the United States, the only industrialized nation where the majority of its citizens believe a lone deity created the universe, is also near or at the bottom on such metrics as teen pregnancy, homicide, and STI rates.

The fact the United States has a piss-poor performance level on those matters is hard to refute, especially ones dealing with the aftereffects of poorly handled sexual behavior. But this study appears to suffer from one of the logical fallacies so many of these do: correlation implies causation. I'd need to look at it more deeply to be sure, as I don't trust newspaper summaries of case studies. But I also have a hard time believing simple comparisons of statistics. The bias of the author is always a risk factor in such situations.

I will note that many people have deluded beliefs about what Christianity as a professed faith does and doesn't mean. It doesn't take away the raging hormones of youth. It doesn't cure insanity. It certainly has only a palliative effect on poverty if taken purely as a belief instead of put into action in the form of charitable work. And regardless of what the voting patterns of the faith's most vocal adherents may demonstrate, it does at least hint at the need for fair taxation and attention paid to the downtrodden. But all faiths share the lack of a magic wand against all ills. I'm hardly faulting the majority in comparison to the rest of us.

The article itself has a very large flaw aside from taking this study at face value. It falls right into the trap of assuming the options are sloppy monotheism or nothing. It pays no attention to whether a nation that truly lived by Christian values, which this country categorically does not, might or might not do better than one that only pays lip service to the notion. And I realize it wasn't in the purview of the study to look at subsets of the American population to see if those who practice non-JudeoChristian belief systems were just as prone to those ills. But the insistence it's one or the other shows a short-sightedness about religion that I recognize all too well from sexual orientation studies that ignore bisexuality. Once again, binary thinking leaves the picture incomplete.

I'm the last person to say that religion is mandatory for a good system of ethics. I must note, however, that ethics are nothing without action. I can believe in the gods of the Celts, but if I do not act on those by living an honorable life and remembering the gods and ancestors in ritual, I may as well drape myself in plastic shamrocks and get drunk on green beer. There are many professed Christians in this country, but far too few actually understand what that means and how to live within its strictures. I don't mean taking the right-wing approach of "go ye into all the world and force the gospel down the throat of every creature." I mean noting where it suggests approaching life with respect. Treating oneself with respect. And any government that claims Christian inspiration needs must remember that "God helps those who help themselves" was said by a Deist, not an apostle.

There are those who will note any government that pays too much attention to religion is a problem. The Taliban is an extreme case, but history is rife with only marginally less toxic examples. I don't know if we have a record of a government that used what many 21st century people would call higher ethics, claiming their religion as the source, and how it went for them. Lack of evidence in this case is not proof it's impossible. Human nature is too diverse. I also know we have clear and recent records of how fanaticism needs no deity to wreak havoc. Neither Stalin nor Saddam Hussein were particularly religious. Religion is a tool. How we use it makes the difference.

Writer's block runaround attempt

I'm wanting to write more for this site, but I find myself hitting a mental roadblock. Topics rise up, start to gel, and then dissolve. So, I ask you, my friendly readership. Are there topics you'd like to see me write about? I may not do all of them, especially if I think I'm underinformed on it and can't get to it, but I'm sure I can think of something based on what's said.

I feel a bit like a cheater for doing it this way, but I have no idea when I'd be inspired if I didn't get myself some kind of kick in the rear. Of course, I could just grab my book on Celtic sex magic when I get home and use it for the Books I've Read So You Don't Have To idea I had when I started this but haven't done anything with. Still, I'd appreciate the feedback if any of you have suggestions.

It's that time again

The Pagan Carnival is up.

In honor of the day

As today is a national day of prayer and remembrance for the victims and survivors of Hurricane Katrina, I wanted to contribute mine. I wouldn't call it brilliant, but I mean every word.

Hail to all the gods, ancestors and spirits. May you help us here in this world to bring relief to the suffering and affliction to those who would profit from exploiting this tragedy to selfish and profane ends.

Hail to you, the honored dead, victims of the hurricane. May you be safe and secure in the Otherworld with your ancestors and gods. Please watch over your descendants and help them toward better lives.

Hail to you, Lugh, bringer of storms. Your terrible might and majesty revealed to the world the truth about the hidden corners of America. May the good such a sight can lead to far outweigh the tragedy that led to the revelation.

Hail to you, Dian Cecht, first of all physicians. May your skillful hand guide the hands of those who work to heal the wounds inflicted by this cataclysm, both physical and mental.

Hail to you, Brighid, guardian of fair judgements. May there be an accounting on all levels for the failures and poor decision-making that preceded and followed landfall. May the guilty face their just retribution.

Hail to you, Nuada, fair and honest king. May you keep our leaders honest and forthright. Let their promises of today be their actions of tomorrow.

And may those who have opened their homes and hearts to the refugees receive three times the blessings they give, in this life and the next.

When Two Tribes Go to Four

In my blog wanderings the other day, I came across William White's Eject! Eject! Eject! discussing the concept of two tribes of people. He dubs the emotion-led tribe Pinks and the logic-led one Grays. This springs from what he sees as conflicting reactions to such events as Hurricane Katrina and the 9/11 attacks.

Setting aside the pop culture significance of those terms, it's the binary thinking it shows that I find to be a larger problem in this society. The idea that everything should conform to perfect ratios and either-or arrangements did humanity no favors, even if the Greeks came out of it with some damn fine architecture. It has its place; it's misapplied outside of it.

I'm not denying such people exist, mind. I've seen examples of both in my daily life, and depending on the day in question, I could be seen to swap allegiances. This is where I start having issues with the whole notion of two tribes that are dedicatedly opposed to each other in approach. It's possible to see when it's time to play it gentle vs. knuckle down and work. If it's not possible to cross the line, there's a problem.

This leads me to Maggie Macary at Myth and Culture speaking of the need to restore imagination to a higher priority in Western culture. It is primarily considered the bailiwick of creative artists these days. In disaster planning, however, a lack of imagination gets us results such as the debacle in New Orleans. It contributed a great deal to the intelligence failures surrounding 9/11 as well. The commission report on those events made that blisteringly clear.

This led to my concept of a third tribe, one led by imagination. Drawing from logic and emotion to build a synthesis of the two, seeing where beauty and joy can lead as well as pragmatic simplicity. Making sure facts are the basis instead of mere dreams, but not letting binary logic control how they see either what-is or what-if. I can only dub this tribe Fluorescents. That might open a different can of worms, but it's the best word I can think of right now.

As I'm sure we've all seen, there seems to be a fourth sort in the human condition. They have emotionally driven behaviors springing from misapplied logic and a fantasy life that shows imagination, but not one based on facts. I think, to contrast with the third tribe, they could be called Burntouts. It sounds sadly final, but when their opposite is a longlife bulb, I'm not sure what else to use.

Analogies to Dumezil's four functions don't quite work past a certain point. Unless you want to talk about the benefits and risks of each sort of tribe member being in a first function job, anyway.

Pissing in Other People's Beer

While Celtic reconstructionst paganism/Senistrognata tries to get a self-definition that focuses more on what we are and do over what we aren't, we have growing pains. One of them is when people get fixed on what we are not to the point of insulting other traditions. It leads to the trait I titled this post with. "You're doing something I disagree with, so you're stupid and wrong and believe in a lie," in any of three dozen configurations, gets uttered far too often. I've likely been guilty of it myself as I've matured in my faith. But I have worked on letting go of it. After all, I've been the recipient of such accusations as a Senistrognatan from people who claimed to have a lock on the One True Celtic Way(tm).

Does it matter that Wicca, while having borrowed elements of Celtic tradition, is not in and of itself an ancient Celtic system of belief? Only if you want a genuinely Celtic tradition and think Wicca is it. But if you like Wicca for what it really is, I don't think it's appropriate for people to accuse you of buying into a lie. And I will act accordingly if someone tries to force that sort of opinion in a space where it isn't welcome. Like, say, any mailing list I happen to run. I may be a bit pushy about how I enforce it where I have control. But if there's one thing I want clear, it's that the spaces I run are bigoted against one thing: bigotry. If that means my butt cheeks can break coal, so be it.

I know it may be somewhat tacky to take the mailing list laundry to this forum, but I also know how rumors spread. I think this is sufficiently important for me to make it public off-list. I've been misquoted enough in the kerfuffle as it stands. But being accused of claiming Senistrognata arose from Asatrú gave me a laugh, at least.

The barker's calling

Jason Pitzl-Waters has brought us round two of the Pagan Carnival.

Noted with hopes I'll really do it

Before March 17 of next year, I really want to set down an essay detailing where people have been getting the legend of St. Patrick and the conversion of Ireland wrong. The more I look at it, the more I realize that pagans have been buying into church-generated propaganda in their quest for a whipping boy. I have no love for evangelism per se. I also have no love for swallowing a fraud as if it were valid history. I'm a big fan of disliking what someone really did, not what people have been misled into believing happened.

My sources look to include Barry Raftery, modern writings on the history of Celtic Christianity, and a fascinating set of penitentials written by Irish monks in the 6th-8th centuries. I may pull in bits about Christian conversion efforts that make his look like leaving a Chick tract behind in a public restroom, just for the sake of perspective.

And just for the record, I was inspired by a History Channel attempt at discussing Celtic history that swallowed the same propaganda without the bloodshed that gets assigned to him. I also freely admit that the hatred spewed every March 17 in pagan circles has been getting to me more and more every year. It sometimes has hints of anti-Irish bigotry attached, only making matters worse from where I sit.

Quick check-in

I'm still around, but this is production week for Equus and thus a lot of my time and brain cells are otherwise occupied.

I do want to note we got a rather lovely review. And you can just spot me in the background of one of the pictures.

The Carnival has put up its tents

Jason Pitzl-Waters has initiated a Pagan Carnival on his blog, The Wild Hunt. My thanks to Chas Clifton for submitting an article of mine when I was too horsed out from Equus to think straight about sending one in myself.

Legal contemplations

First, I want to note for the record that I am a complete sap for Extreme Makeover: Home Edition. I always make sure I know where my Kleenex are when it comes on, as I'm almost guaranteed to lose it before it's over. I've been known to need one during the introductory segment. And Ty Pennington is second only to Queer Eye for the Straight Guy's Thom Filicia in my mental list of interior designers I would hire if price were no object.

This lawsuit that has been brought against ABC TV and EM:HE has got me thinking on a few levels, not all of which have to do with whether or not I should worry about EM:HE's integrity. I'm handing them a large chunk of benefit of the doubt right now. They get told a story, they check it out, and move forward on the belief it's legitimate. If they were lied to, which is essential to the argument the Higginses are making in their suit against the Leomitis, they're victims as much as anyone else. They're the ones who paid to turn a three-bed one-bath into a nine-bed six-bath. I wouldn't be surprised to see a parallel suit for fraud.

Now let's assume that the Higginses aren't lying. Under American law, they'll get a cash settlement that they may never see, as the Leomitis could turn around and file for bankruptcy even with the changes Bush signed into law. If ABC is held liable, they may use it as a PR opportunity or lock it up in appeals for years. The losers might sell the house to pay it off instead, leaving neither with the fruits of the makeover crew's labors. I am left wondering how a brehon would have judged the case.

Irish law before the imposition of Anglo-Norman jurisprudence was based on compensation for injustices rendered. There was a complex system based on the gender and social standing of the offender, the offended, and the nature of the crime. And you had to pony up. This is why the penalties were based on your rank. It's hardly fair to force an apprentice blacksmith to pay a landowner's penalty.

In this case, a lower-class person offered the hospitality of a middle-class landowner was used by the latter to obtain a false elevation in rank, then ejected when the cameras went away. Under hospitality law, the landowner went above and beyond the minimums required. But at the same time, they presented themselves publicly as a united household, not merely making the other family honored guests. This could be seen as linking their ranks and elevating the poorer family accordingly.

I should note that under brehon law, all of the orphans are legal adults (age of majority in pre-Anglo Ireland was 14 for women, 17 for men, and the youngest of the five is 14). This turns the suit into adult vs. adult, making each of the orphans eligible for compensation according to their genders.

Returning to the presumption of liability (the case isn't settled, so I'm not saying the Leomitis did anything wrong), there's also the matter of ABC being defrauded. There were no corporations in brehon times, so the closest parallel I can see is they yanked the chain of the local nobility. Who would be within their rights to press for compensatory justice.

So, you have a landowner who, assuming guilt, is indebted to five lower-class adults and an upper-class individual. I think you'd call it theft under that code. With a return of the stolen property plus additional compensation for the time and trouble, the Leomitis would probably lose the house.The neighbors who pitched in (parallel to the crew ABC hired) would probably enact some amateur justice of their own, and they'd never let that family come back to that section of Ireland again. And I think that if the nobleman had studied Cormac's philosophy on rulership, he'd give the now-abandoned house to the Higginses.

You know, there are times when I like the idea of a system based on compensation with no way to file paperwork to get out of it.

The data's changed. So, now what?

One of the questions that has been asked of Celtic pagans from people of multiple persuasions is "what do you do if the scholarship changes?" Celtic studies is prone to fads, fancies and the more solid reasons for alterations in approach. Many documents lie untranslated. New discoveries shape analysis of older ones. And even etymologies get the occasional revisit.

Take the Gaulish god Belenos. For decades, people translated his name as "bright one" and the Victorian presumption that all shiny male gods are sun gods carried into modern times. Recent work has discovered that its definition is closer to "strong one" and may also be related to a Gaulish word for henbane in an echo of how one Latin name for it is apollinaris.

Now, Apollo is a sun god, but he is also a god of healing. And in all of the times Apollo was conflated with gods in Gaul by the Romans, none of them were ever stated as being solar deities in the extant descriptions. It was always Apollo's other aspects, such as healer, that led them to merge the two. Thus, Apollini Beleno was a healing god with no solar aspects.

There are modern pagans who class Belenos as a solar deity, using prior scholarship as their guide. The new data contradicts this approach. And the news leads to examples of how different pagans treat such changes. I know of some who look at the information as the god's way of letting us know we're getting him wrong. Others refuse to change, whether because it works for them or they'd prefer more direct input from the god in question before they change their approach. While I'm all for that kind of spiritual inspiration, I can't help but remember the old joke about the man who said "Jehovah will provide" when rescuers came by to fetch him off the roof of his house before the waters rose too high and he drowned. I can't help but picture Belenos looking at the people who insist he's a solar god in the face of the new data and saying, "I sent you three Celtic scholars and a dictionary! What more did you want?"

Some would argue that innovation shouldn't be treated too cavalierly. A tradition must be allowed to change. I agree with that. But the best, most appropriate and respectful changes come from a base of true understanding. The Victorians shaped the data to fit their assumptions. This is not understanding, it is appropriation. Their presumptions work for some people, I know. And if you're aware that you're using their material instead of more attested ancient lore and admit as much, it's not that big a deal. But honest eclecticism shouldn't get anyone too annoyed, I think.

Burnout, dysfunction, and your friendly neighborhood pagans

I ran across this essay on Dysfunctional Behavior and the Pagan Scene in the Full Circle Events newsletter thanks to Blackthornglade's LiveJournal. As the leader of a pagan organization that is suffering from burnout and has seen its share of the walking wounded, it resonated extremely deeply with me. No religion is a sure cure for mental illness, nor should it be an excuse for same. And tolerating the dysfunction in our groups in the name of a false unity only drives the saner people out.

Lughnasadh

Happy Lughnasadh! As I suspect just about everyone reading this knows, today is the usual day for observing the feast day of Lugh, the Irish god of many skills, as well as a celebration of the first phase of the harvest and the start of autumn. Lugh is described as one of the pan-Celtic gods based on common names and overlapping functions within the set of pre-Christian European tribes commonly called Celts these days. It was originally a two-week festival, but it's rare to find any pagan individual or group nowadays with that kind of time who'd have the money to throw that sort of party.

For an excellent essay on Lugh/Lugus, I recommend Alexei Kondratiev's writeup on the subject.

Brian Walsh has set up an online shrine to the Many-Gifted Lord. If you don't have time to do a full ritual, a visit there wouldn't hurt.

Lugh is one of my patrons, though only since last year after Lughnasadh had already passed. I am grateful to Him for His encouragement, advice, and butt-kicking this year. Hail Lugh!

One nation are we, all pagan and free?

Brendan Cathbad Myers looks to be stretching his bardic wings with this piece, inspired by the the movement to make South Carolina a haven for Christian fundamentalists, with secession a "last resort":

Well, a few enterprising Pagans read in the news that there is a Christian Fundamentalist group that wants to get as many Christians as possible to settle in the state of South Carolina and eventually declare the state an independent Christian theocracy, devolved from the rest of America. This got us thinking, we can do the same! A few months before that, at the death of John Paul II and the inauguration of Benedict XIV, we got to thinking, wouldn’t it be cool to have our own Vatican City, somewhere in the world? It’s been tried before, and never successfully, but our attempt has something no previous attempt at herding Pagans into one mould—I mean uniting them in harmony—has had. People are showing up! Huge crowds are converging on our sovereign territory, a farmer’s field in Greenland, every day. And it can only get better from here.

I rather suspect the attempt in South Carolina will go at least as well.

Whither CR, 79th in a series

The Greeks dubbed my European ancestors keltoi. The secret people. For all their loud shows in battle, learning their ways was not easy for the outside observer. Especially not the intricacies of their faith. I am beginning to wonder if that old approach is permeating modern Celtic paganism.

Misapprehensions about the Celts go down smooth and easy with so many. The truths that we know are only gained with focus and effort. And then they are not so readily shared. Book projects go down the tubes. People who make efforts from their studies are dubbed "overly Wiccan" when they'd never been in a coven in their lives at the point they'd developed what they wrote about. People post web sites that few people find out about. When people ask "what are you doing for X holiday" on a mailing list, replies are few and far between. We're busy doing to the point we don't seem able to talk. Assuming we're doing anything more than gaining a few authors fatter royalty checks.

Celtic reconstructionist paganism has been rightfully accused of being long on academia and short on ritual. I know people are performing rituals in a CR framework. But few of us talk about them. Of course, part of the problem is we have a fairly steady stream of newbies who have to get a grasp of what's behind them more often than not before they can appreciate them. It's one of the hurdles of cultural paganism. If you don't have a good grasp of the culture, the ritual's symbologies could get lost. "Celts liked the number three" doesn't cut it when the real explanation takes a chapter's worth of text to communicate the nuance. Secret, in short, while not being esoteric in the "oathbound to secrecy" sense.

Of course, some of us might be too much in love with the nuance to be able to share the bare bones. But, again, I see the love of the complex over the simple in Celtic art. A love of symbology and detail over realism or minimalism. And we the would-be inheritors of that pattern wind up poring over archaeological dig abstracts to extract useful info for our in-house rituals. And when newcomers arrive wanting to honor the gods, we often as not hand them the same abstract or something like it. I sometimes wonder if it's a knee-jerk hazing ritual. "You must be this intelligent to ride our ride." I vacillate sometimes as to whether I like it that way.

The lack of consistent groups isn't helping with the ease of transmission, either. Those form and die like so many badly plotted games of Life on an Apple ][e. Asatru kindred that maintain coherency are able to support new members and guide their learning. A lot of us Celtic folk are little more than solitaries. But we keep trying, so a solution to that is in progress.

And then there's the arguing. Yet another "why are we doing it this way" debate on a mailing list drove me to post this, in fact. The questions raised are good ones. They tend to be. But it's been a challenge in Celtic circles to keep matters at a civil level. As I was reminded elsewhere, King Cormac had this to say about argument:

"O Cormac, grandson of Conn", said Carbery, "What is the worst pleading and arguing?"
"Not hard to tell", said Cormac.
"Contending against knowledge,
contending without proofs
taking refuge in bad language
a stiff delivery
a muttering speech
hair-splitting
uncertain proofs,
despising books
turning against custom
shifting one's pleading
inciting the mob
blowing one's own trumpet
shouting at the top of one's voice."

If nothing else, if more of us could commit to following that sage advice, we'd at least have our schisms form politely.

Why?

Someone posted a long screed to a pagan mailing list I'm on that he titled, "Why are We Druids?" In it, he proposed to speak for all druids by going on about how we worship nature as if that were the only reason for the concept to even exist.

I realize that the term druid has been ripped from its moorings so long that the original connection points have rotted into uselessness. I'm not annoyed at the nature-boy approach being dubbed druidry per se so much as I am at the claim all who use the term mean the same thing he means by it. I have protested the claim that all pagans practice Earth-based spirituality for a long time. I for one do not. I see conservation and related behaviors as sensible. I also know my ancestors practiced slash-and-burn agriculture and thought midden heaps were just peachy. This is why I see green paganism as a valid modern innovation instead of a return to the way the old ones would have wanted it.

I've also been making my way through Barry Raftery's Pagan Celtic Ireland recently. It contains a drawing that reconstructs the probable look of a pre-Christian temple they know was built on Emain Macha. And where there's a permanent temple, I know there were druids who were happy to be out from the rain leading sacrifices under its roof. Not so much with the communing with trees there unless you consider dead timber to be the same as an oak grove for the sake of argument. And while I can enjoy an outdoor ritual, I have issues with sunscreen and blood sacrifices to mosquitos being mandatory to my pagan experience.

So, I grant that neither the nature lover nor myself can really claim an unbroken line of descent from Cathbad in any realistic form. I was still not represented by his words. I figured my definition of druid is as good as his and posted it. To wit:

"I am a druid because I am a priestess of the Celtic gods and serve a tribe (small and scattered, to be sure) of like-worshipping people."

It's a definition I don't see used too often, truth to tell. But it's mine, and I like it.

Turning on your own kind

I like the idea of putting the internecine squabbling that happens in pagan circles in some sort of perspective. But frankly, people vandalizing and committing arson against a Christian church because its denomination supports same-sex marriage is not the way I want it.

That may be a terribly self-centered way to look at it, but I'm stunned at the whole thing. We've all been aware that the hatred of fundamentalist right-wing Christianity against what they perceive as non-Christians has even led to murder for some time. But now, some of them are turning on their own kind. I knew that sort hated disagreement in the ranks, but that's going beyond the pale.

I've heard noises about liberal and moderate Christians rising up to voice their objections to the fundamentalist fringe that's trying to set itself up as the only Christian voice in the world. I hope and pray this galvanizes them into stronger and faster action. It's wrong when pagans turn against each other over doctrinal or procedural differences. It's heresy bordering on apostasy when members of one sect of a faith physically attack another's house of worship over similar conflicts.

A declaration

Because...

• My ancestors served this country with honor and sometimes shed their blood for it and the ideals upon which it was founded...
• I believe the precepts of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness are compatible with my faith...
• I know the Founding Fathers did not consider polytheism to be a sign of a bad American...
• I know "my country, right or wrong" means "It's my country whether it's behaving itself according to its ideals or not" instead of "love it or leave it"...
• I vote in elections and try to keep myself informed on the issues...
• I raise my voice against would-be tyrants regardless of their political bent...
• I remember that this nation was founded by people on wildly different sides of divisive issues, which means respect for diversity has been part of our ideals all along...

For all those and many other reasons, I call myself a pagan patriot.

Happy Independence Day.