More and more often we are going to see courts of law making decisions based on religious principles. I'm not talking about a general set of religious principles, but rather about specifically Christian principles. However, these judicial decisions will hinge on "religious rights."
This happens because of the assumption that most religions are descendants of the jealous God, and if they're not, they're philosophical paths like Buddhism. Have you ever been to an "all faith" service in the wake of some tragedy? Did you ever see them call up a Pagan to pray? Me neither.
Isn't it about time we Pagans demand our religious rights? I'm asking for friends. Friends who might need birth control or doctor-performed abortion services.
All of this protesting, using the Constitution and politics to protect women's rights, would only work if all women got on board. But lots of Christian women -- and I mean tons and tons of them -- oppose abortion on religious grounds. This is how we get draconian laws like the ones hitting the books right now in so many states.
It's time for "My Body My Faith."
Pagans see the world differently, or at least I do. I believe that the health of the planet is more important than the birth of more humans. We are an invasive species. We are literally destroying the only Earth we have, and the more of us there are, the worse it gets. Therefore, a tenet of my faith is that bodily autonomy protects the planet.
Bodily autonomy protects the planet.
That's a simple enough precept that everyone should be able to memorize it pretty quickly. Now, let's say that this statement is a central tenet of Pagan faiths. If it is codified as such, then Pagan women could request safe abortions on religious grounds. To deny a Pagan woman an abortion would be trampling on her religious rights.
Does this make sense to any of you? I want to get a conversation going in our Faith Community about abortion and its place in the health of planet Earth. we need to have some sort of "faith statement" that codifies bodily autonomy as a central tenet of Paganism. We need another statement that codifies the sanctity of the Earth and the sensible stewardship of the planet.
And then we need women who will demand abortions based upon their closely-held religious beliefs.
The only way to fight a politics that uses thinly-veiled religious tenets is to offer a challenge to those tenets using another religion. The only outfit that has done this is the Church of Satan, which is not founded on doctrine, but rather on philosophy.
You would think that after centuries of religious persecution, Pagan women would get up, stand up. Now is the time! You need an abortion? It's against your religion not to have one!
Anybody out there want to pursue this line of thinking with me?
7 comments:
That's very clever, Anne!
I like where you are going with this.
at 65, I am well past the baby-making age AND I lost all my baby-making parts 30 years ago to cancer.
no one NEEDS to have a kid.
aaah, you nailed it.
Hi Anne. I just ran across your blog here while visiting Carolina Parrothead blog. But a good read here you have. Yes, I believe that the religious card is being played so much now, because of the newest neoliberalism economics model (everything in the U.S. is about money, mainstream religion is no exception. I myself know several Pagans, even my mom considered herself Pagan, way back in the 1960's. I myself joined the Church of Satan back in the 1980's (and other organizations), by late 1980's, I co- founded an order, with my partner who was Pagan originally (Greg), it was called "Order of Contemporary Universal Duality" (I decided the name, partly was inspired by the writings of Crowley), and made it a non- denomination sort of order, we even invited Setians, which were very different than CoS, of course, that order went from 1989 to 1998, we decided to dissolve it ... but alot of fun back in the day, and we had several musicians and indie artists that participated (I myself played music, which is why I knew so many musicians). I rarely ever write about things like satanism, because it's a word that is misunderstood and disliked by many, and I have quite a diverse group of people that I associate with, at the same time. Yes, satanism is philosophical, at least for me (some are old school traditional) ... and it's good to challenge the status quo of our mainstream neoliberal programme, too long a story to get into here. I just recently done a posting concerning the reason why religion is being used to justify the new neoliberalism model, I linked below. Yhanx ... Have a good one ... or "Blessed Be" {:-)
https://ranchchimpjournal.blogspot.com/2019/07/neoliberal-nazarene-machine-2019-gospel.html
But Yes, denying a Pagan woman her right to abortion is a violation of her religious rights
I would call my wife a pagan witch, but to her it is not a religion but a way of living. Religions depend on a following. I like people as individuals; but I am uncomfortable with cults, be they religious or political. And once a group of people join together with a doctrine - you have a cult.
It is enough for me to just go my own way.
the Ol'Buzzard
I don't call what I see "respect" for religion. I find increasing numbers of people picking verses from the Bible that suit their personal beliefs.
Love,
Janie
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