Yes, I have spent the last year or so on the Earth Element. Mainly because of what I had set myself as a task for Gwers 18. But now I’m ready to move on, hopefully somewhat faster.
Gwers 19 asks you to do something practical for the protection of the Earth. I decided that we humans are killing ourselves by polluting the Earth. So I joined Friends of the Earth. So far so boring.
But I also believe that we are killing ourselves, at this moment in history but not for the first time, by paying more attention to what divides us as a human family than what we have in common. On a daily basis the media bring us messages that present difference as a threat. And we often willfully maintain prejudices and misunderstandings between people.
Religion is only one field in which we do this, but at it is a very important one. I would like to do something positive in the direction of fostering friendship and understanding across religious borders. I would very much like to do some interfaith work.
I have done some research on the web, and there are a number of organisations that do that kind of thing, although hardly any of them mention pagans. I especially like the International Interfaith Center . People get together and discuss things from the points of view of their faiths and that way hope to gain mutual trust and friendship. I would very much like to get involved. But I don’t particularly relish the idea of being the only pagan in a group of priests and immams.
So here’s a question: is anyone else interested in that kind of thing? If so we could perhaps do something together. Or it would be good just to hear what other people in the Grove think about this.
The only Interfaith organisation I know is the one in Norwich, which I think is quite active, and actually has quite
a determined Pagan input. The convenor of the local Pagan Moot is the representative. I don’t think it’s easy, as he
has had some aggro with the Christian components, some of whom I gather don’t think much of Pagans being involved, but I think it’s the kind of thing that’s worth doing all the same. It terrifies me divisive religion can be. I was wondering about going along to an Interfaith Meeting in Norwich as they sometimes have them on Wednesdays, as I really don’t know much about the whole thing in general. I’ll follow that internet link you mention and find out a bit more. It can only be
a good thing to try to understand about others’ beliefs.
I had a run-in with Norfolk County Council’s chaplain once, who attended some course I went on about Council services.
In conversation, he told me he was a member of the Interfaith group, but that unfortunately it was full of the ‘lunatic
fringe’, like ‘witches and pagans’. I said, ‘well, I’m one of those, so don’t say any more if you don’t mind’. I don’t
know what other faiths think of us, but I think we have a bit of an uphill struggle with many Christians. I suppose Interfaith could be quite valuable there (in some cases anyway) as many Christians just have an unthinking reaction, based.
on ignorance. More education can only be good.
Comment by francesca — 23/2/2005 @ 2:54 pm
I think your comment is really interesting, Francesca. The attitude of that chaplain is both the reason why I would like to get involved and why I’m nervous about it.
For the chaplain you mention, and possibly quite a lot of people involved in interfaith, there seems to be a limit to the amount of difference they can cope with. There’s no way of telling how many pagans there are in his interfaith group, or what the quality of their contribution is, but I doubt the group is ‘full’ of them. And the ‘lunatic’ comment shows the limit of his willingness to listen for the value in their contribution. The only way people like that are going to change their attitude is by meeting more of us who are actually taking our path seriously.
Because of the potential difficulty I wouldn’t like to be the only pagan in a group like that. I would want to go with a buddy, so we can back each other up and field some of the inevitable uncomfortable comments. Anyone interested?
Comment by hilde — 27/2/2005 @ 6:43 pm
Julie is the Pagan Chaplain at Holloway and Belmarsh prisons and is having some interesting interactions - have a chat with her at the next ceremony.
Anna
Comment by anna — 13/4/2005 @ 11:49 am