Pagan's Greatest Challenges

Courtesy of Wren's Nest

What Are The Greatest Challenges That Pagans Face Today?

ƒ         Misunderstanding

ƒ         Fear

ƒ         Hate

We've come a long way, babies, but we still have far to go. What do you see as the greatest EXTERNAL challenges that Pagans face today? Intolerance? Lack of exposure? (No skyclad jokes, please!) Lack of a public Voice in politics or society?

ƒ         It would be so wonderful to be represented… either in politics or simply society. Just a campaign of awareness and understanding would do a great thing for pagans. When there is exposure, it is negative, and if it IS positive, it’s back page news. It just would make so much of a difference, I believe, to have a positive voice that could be heard world wide, on radio, television and the net. The net would be easiest, and there is progress here, but it is too easy to delete or ignore information here, on the web. We need a voice that can be heard everywhere.

That said, what do you think are the biggest INTERNAL challenges to Paganism? The search for identity? Lack of leadership or training? Interpath squabbles? Questionable or tenuous religious history?

ƒ         Internally, yes, there are definitely challenges here as well. One voice, speaking for us pagans, still would not work, because of the unique individuality each of us have. There are still squabbling, sadly, and searches for identity. The young come searching for something either light or dark, and they are not always welcomed with open arms. Groups do not always accept individuals, and often there is prejudice even within our paths. Perhaps we shouldn’t fix the external until the internal challenges are resolved.

Is there a serious lack of consensus as to the definition of Pagan/ Wiccan/ Witch/ Heathen throughout the Pagan communities which has us mired down in semantics--or is there simply a lack of tolerance amongst ourselves for the differences that we do have? Have we "met the enemy and he/she is us"? 

ƒ         Yes. Even amongst ourselves, or perhaps especially amongst ourselves. We often speak and even pride ourselves on our open-mindedness of other religions. When we say this, we mean Christian religions. Okay, I can not speak for all, but I’ve seen enough closed mindedness to know that this is often the case. Not always and not everywhere, but enough that it is still a shadow on us which dims future possibilities of ever actually being accepted by others. Perhaps this is something all of us need to think and meditate upon.

Blessed Be!!!