At the end of November 2018 there appeared online and I believe in
print, a somewhat controversial article by Julie Burchill. There was to be fair
to Burchill, rather a knee jerk reaction to her writing and one can wonder how
many read the entire piece. I noted that many allegedly attacking her work were
actually attacking her as a person, her life choices and her politics. I have
no interest in either. I know her name, I may have read some of her work but I
have no interest in her life as such. The article however, is of a different
ilk and the content of that needs to be addressed.
Burchill begins by voicing the opinion that 2018 has been quite an
eventful year for the Pagan Community, noting that there is a demand by the
said community for Prison Chaplains, a slot on 'Thought for the Day' and that a
support group has been formed for Pagans in the armed forces. There appears
here to be a degree of misinformation or perhaps misunderstanding. Prison
Chaplaincy, school liaison services, Hospital chaplaincy and visiting have all
been in existence for over a decade. Here Burchill or perhaps her sources,
appear to be behind the times; none of this is in any way new.
The issue of the armed forces raises another question, since there
is already a support network within the Police Service, why should defence or
any other profession be any different? Military service personal put their
lives on the line for the good of this country, why should their religious or
spiritual needs be neglected? Most Christian denominations are represented by
chaplains and so are other faiths such as Judaism. I see no reason why any
minority should face discrimination in this matter.
The next few points raised by Burchill are rather less easy to
dismiss and it is somewhat unsavoury, as I admit she may have a point. The
bigger public festivals do bring out the more publicity seeking wing of the
Pagan community and I personally find the velvet cloaks of the Goth Witch
brigade, an embarrassment. They do not represent me or my path, so I avoid
their YouTube channels deliberately. They lack a knowledge of history,
genuinely believe in a lost matriarchal culture despite the lack of
archaeological evidence, confuse matrilineal for the previous word and as Burchill
points out, attack Christianity and Capitalism.
Both Christianity and Capitalism are justifiable targets for
criticism but the manner of criticism I accept is questionable. Not everyone
within the Pagan community is a left-wing Labour voting vegan and it is an
error to presume so. Politics is obviously a controversial and contentious area. It may even surprise the
reader to learn that due to the more extreme methods of certain elements, not
all women now consider themselves to be feminists. As for Pagan attacks upon
Christianity, here I can support in principle Burchill's criticism. In our
multicultural and post multi-faith society, criticism of a faith for being a
faith is not acceptable. Pagans cannot expect equality if the same Pagans
withhold equality.
Her claim however, that Pagans are perverts caused justifiable
consternation with the Pagan environment. It displayed a misunderstanding of
Polymory, skyclad worship and the less shameful approach to the act of
generation, than that found in the Abrahamic faiths. It also appears to imply
that Polymory and naked rites are the norm for all, they are not. Indeed on
this point her argument is quite weak and although I do not wish to fall into
the trap of criticising another faith, children are safer at a Pagan festival
than a Christian prayer meeting.
The remainder of the article is a rather meandering and chaotic
mess, in which Burchill attacks reincarnation, Pagan Festivals and equates
Paganism with National Socialism. I
am a Pagan, I have been for many years now. Yet I can honestly say that increasingly
over recent years, I have found myself asking within the broader context of our
community; what does this mean? I have come to realise that although I call
myself Pagan, one of the few commonalities I have with others also self
identifying as Pagan, is that I also call myself Pagan. My shared spiritual
experience with that greater Pagan environment no longer exists and I often
wonder if it ever did. Because of this detachment, I am able to regard Burchill
with a less biased perspective. It is important
to understand that Burchill has a job to do, she is a writer and she is paid to
be controversial. Some of her observations are on target but others miss that
target wildly.
On target is her dismissal of reincarnation, as she points out
that everyone who comes forward was famous in a previous life. Certainly a true
observation if you read certain newspapers and magazines. Sensationalist TV
shows appear to focus on the publicity seekers claiming to be Julius Caesar or
Cleopatra. These attention seekers are an embarrassment but it also shows
something of a flaw in Burchill's approach. A confusion between serious
Paganism, the study of the occult and that shallow pool we call the New Age.
Here I perhaps display as much prejudice as Burchill, having coined terms such
as New Age Garbage (NAG) and Mindless Bull-Shit (as in MBS fairs), I am obviously
not well disposed towards such philosophies.
Although Burchill makes a valid observation in praising Martin
Luther-King and his interpretation of an inclusive Christianity, in leading the
way in the civil rights movement. Her dismissal of Paganism as having little
impact upon Western Culture is a serious error. She fails to appreciate that although
the legacy of many pre-Christian cultures may lie hidden in archaeology, it is the
influence upon art and education via the cultures of Greece and Rome that are
the basis of our Western Civilisation.
The dismissal of her association of Paganism with National
Socialism is more difficult to deal with. The perceptions of that movement and
its appropriation of pre-Christian symbolism remains to this day, a highly
contentious area of study. The matter is also far more complex than Burchill
would suggest. The majority of the German population, including members of the Party
were Christian. The competition between party and church was based on power and
politics, not on belief.
Philosophies like the symbols tainted by the National Socialist
movement, remain difficult to integrate within our society but that is no
reason to dismiss them. The swastika and the runes, all symbols misused by Hitler,
predate his use by thousands of years. Even
that difficult concept of Blood and Soil (dating from the nineteenth century if
not before), has some validity within occult thought; representing as it does traditionalist
ideas of heritage, ancestors and the land. Concepts that most on the outside of
our community cannot begin to grasp.
I do not expect all reading this to agree with me, least of all Burchill
herself but for me the significance of her article lies in its prejudice and its
ignorance. It shows that after decades of hard work and I write here as a retired
Pagan Federation officer, an organisation that she quotes; that there is still
much work to be done, much misinformation to be addressed and a great deal of ignorance
to be overcome.
Read the original article by Julie Burchill here:
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