Our own party

April 7, 2006

!http://static.flickr.com/24/43702994_01f424700f_m.jpg! Let me direct your attention again to the Wildhunt weblog, where Jason is discussing how pagans disappear in the statistics-gathering:

bq. Isn’t it all demographic crystal-gazing? It matters because when terms like “religious left” (and “religious right”) become defined as “lefty Jesus vs. righty Jesus” or even “lefty patriarchal sky father vs. righty patriarchal sky father,” then the voices of the faithful who don’t hold those views are shoved out of the big tent. Eventually we will gravitate towards the candidates who will give us the time of day. [ "Pagan Square Pegs, Religious Liberal Round Holes":http://www.wildhunt.org/2006/04/pagan-square-pegs-religious-liberal.html ]

Two things about this.

Firstly, pagans are not being “pushed out of the big tent.” Pagans are trying to push their way into the big tent. This is certainly appropriate, but I’m not sure the way to do this is to start making noise like Conservative Christians. I seriously doubt that we represent enough people for any of the major parties to notice: either if we just leave or if join the Greens. I mean, the Greens might notice, but a) I have a feeling there are a lot of pagans there already and b) it still wouldn’t be enough to cause the Democrats heartburn.

Secondly, hearing pagans come up in the demographics — or being addressed in political speeches — does not mean that pagan issues are being addressed (as Conservative Christians keep relearning). By the same token, _not_ being addressed does not necessarily mean pagan issues are not being addressed. Whether they know it or not, everyone who stands up for religious tolerance is standing up for pagans. The same goes for environmental concerns.

Pagans already share many values with our representatives — even if they aren’t aware we exist — and having our representatives be responsive to our _needs_ is much more important to me than getting a Hail-Eris shoutout.

One of the great tragedies of liberalism is how often we turn our backs on people _who are on our side_ just because _they_ don’t identify with an issue as strongly as we do.

I agree with Jason: the movement is growing, and someday people are going to need to respond to us as a group. But I would _hope_ that, when we express our concerns in the political arena, we can do it without the religious brow-beating that has so characterized right-wing politics. Instead of demanding that our party (or parties) kow-tow to us, we should be helping them help us.

??Green Man photo by “Kathryn Petro Harper”:http://www.flickr.com/photos/mindfulone/. Used under Creative Commons license.??

Posted in Religion