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Pagan Spring
My friend and I are celebrating the break in the winter weather with a walk together.
The sidewalks, icy no longer, are wet with snowmelt. Talking about religious imperialism and imperialist religion, we pass first a church, then a mosque.
Straight-faced, he begins to chant.
One god to rule them all, one god to find them;
one god to bring them all, and in the darkness bind them:
in the land of Israel, where the shadows lie.
My friend and I were having a conversation the other day. I was relating the story of my journey to South Africa and my trip to Robben Island, but more specifically the powerful effect the artwork on the prison walls had on me. This artwork was significant because the prisoners on Robben Island were overwhelmingly African, yet there was a picture of a white Jesus on the walls. My friend couldn't understand why African prisoners would choose to draw a picture of a white Jesus on the wall until I explained to him the historical significance of the missionary movement in Africa and specifically how white privilege played a part in the conversion of slaves to Christianity.
"That is so sad." He commented, half in shock. And I must agree with him. As a Pagan, I draw strength and comfort from the concept that my deities come in many shapes and sizes. They are not limited by gender or sexual expression, size or natural status. In essence I can find in my deities the diversity of expression that reflects my own humanity and allows me to connect with them on a deeper level. For Christians, this is limited by their monotheistic view of God Himself. Who gets to determine what God looks like? In many cases that question is answered by whoever is in power.
... 
Part I. ended with the observation monotheism seems to have an innate proclivity to violence and it has inspired some of the most noble people in history. It asked “Why?”
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The sad events on Orlando where at least 50 people were slaughtered by a person impelled by murderous hatred at least reinforced by religious zeal will be used by many people, especially on the political right, as more evidence that Muslim Americans cannot be trusted to be peaceable citizens. Unmentioned by these same people will be the similar, if smaller scale, killings in Colorado Springs last November by a Christian who said his deeds were in service to his God.
We take a look at David Bowie's fascination with Buddhism. Progressive Christians argue why they don't want a God who "controls everything." And is Hellboy a Catholic comic? We discuss these issues and more in Faithful Friday, our weekly segment on faiths and religious communities around the world. All this and more for the Pagan News Beagle!
It's a Golden Age of polytheist publishing.
To incisive works such as John Michael Greer's World Full of Gods and Steven Dillon's A Case for Polytheism, we can now add W. D. Wilkerson's Walking with the Gods, in which 24 (counting Wilkerson herself, 25) contemporary polytheists tell their own stories. It's a pioneering, and invaluable, study of Polytheism-as-Lived in the modern world.
Sigh. If only the news were better.
During the Middle Ages, the Christians of western Europe disparagingly referred to Muslims as paynim, “pagans.”
Likewise, Muslims of the day dismissed Christians as mashrikûn, “polytheists.”
Monotheist slagging monotheist with mutual accusations of being us.
Gods.
How sweet is that?
