CelticRavenwolf
She Who is Lost
I do not want this to be a debate in which we defend ourselves from any of the major organized religions, nor prove ourselves against atheists. Please only post if you consider yourself to be pagan or an eclectic New Age system.
For those of you unfamiliar with the term, 'a la carte' is French for "from the menu". In sociology this terms is applied to religions that generally grant their members the freedom to pick and chose what aspects of their faith they would like to adhere to. So for example, Catholicism is not considered a la carte because of their highly structured belief system and rules of proper behaviour. While it is undisputed that not everyone follows all the rules, the church itself is solid on their standpoints. It is safe to say that most - if not all - pagan pathways are very much a la carte.
But are we too a la carte? Given our freedom of expression, of worship, of beliefs, of gods, of social rules, have we lost any source of direction as a community? No two people in the pagan RF community seem to adhere to the same beliefs - I believe that's what makes trying to organize anything between us so hard.
So my question is - where do you draw the line for your faith/belief's freedoms? This question originated out of a disagreement I had with someone over Chaos magic,(found here: http://www.religiousforums.com/forum/spell-check/53273-evocation-sephiroth.html) and pulling ritual and spirits to call upon out of the video game/role play/sci-fi universe.
I'll start this debate off with my opinion:
Being a follower of Celtic Reconstruction, I try to keep my faith as close to what we know of the ancient Celts as possible. It's hard, because there really isn't a whole lot of solid knowledge, and what there is was all written down by social and religious conquerers, so one has to keep in mind the skeptical and ignorant twist they undoubtedly put on their writings. So I do not deny that I am forced to pick, choose and interpret as I see fit for an awful lot of my religious beliefs. I do not deny that my chosen religion is very much a la carte.
But I take exception to those of any religion that feel that they can just make up whatever they want and call it faith. I feel that it is insulting and undermines our community as a whole to make up new gods (please stay away from the argument that ALL gods can be considered to be made up, we're not looking to debate philosophy here) or those who were only made up for fictitious writing and entertainment. I feel that this take away from the legitimacy of our beliefs, and is what makes it so hard for the major religions to take us seriously.
In my personal experience, making mention of my beliefs, especially using words such as: Celts, dragon, reincarnation, druids, Otherworld, Epona (or any deity's name, really) all seem to consistently conjure images of Dungeons and Dragons, Lord of the Rings or other fantasy creations for people who are unfamiliar with non-Christian lore. It makes it difficult enough to be taken seriously as it is, without the people who call themselves pagan or New Age praying to Mielikki or Ifrit (the summon in Final Fantasy, not the lesser known Jinn from the Qu'ran). People who think Shiva is an Ice queen goddess, not the male Destruction deity of Hinduism. To call that kind of thing a spiritual belief is ridiculous, and the epitome of commercialism.
Discuss.
For those of you unfamiliar with the term, 'a la carte' is French for "from the menu". In sociology this terms is applied to religions that generally grant their members the freedom to pick and chose what aspects of their faith they would like to adhere to. So for example, Catholicism is not considered a la carte because of their highly structured belief system and rules of proper behaviour. While it is undisputed that not everyone follows all the rules, the church itself is solid on their standpoints. It is safe to say that most - if not all - pagan pathways are very much a la carte.
But are we too a la carte? Given our freedom of expression, of worship, of beliefs, of gods, of social rules, have we lost any source of direction as a community? No two people in the pagan RF community seem to adhere to the same beliefs - I believe that's what makes trying to organize anything between us so hard.
So my question is - where do you draw the line for your faith/belief's freedoms? This question originated out of a disagreement I had with someone over Chaos magic,(found here: http://www.religiousforums.com/forum/spell-check/53273-evocation-sephiroth.html) and pulling ritual and spirits to call upon out of the video game/role play/sci-fi universe.
I'll start this debate off with my opinion:
Being a follower of Celtic Reconstruction, I try to keep my faith as close to what we know of the ancient Celts as possible. It's hard, because there really isn't a whole lot of solid knowledge, and what there is was all written down by social and religious conquerers, so one has to keep in mind the skeptical and ignorant twist they undoubtedly put on their writings. So I do not deny that I am forced to pick, choose and interpret as I see fit for an awful lot of my religious beliefs. I do not deny that my chosen religion is very much a la carte.
But I take exception to those of any religion that feel that they can just make up whatever they want and call it faith. I feel that it is insulting and undermines our community as a whole to make up new gods (please stay away from the argument that ALL gods can be considered to be made up, we're not looking to debate philosophy here) or those who were only made up for fictitious writing and entertainment. I feel that this take away from the legitimacy of our beliefs, and is what makes it so hard for the major religions to take us seriously.
In my personal experience, making mention of my beliefs, especially using words such as: Celts, dragon, reincarnation, druids, Otherworld, Epona (or any deity's name, really) all seem to consistently conjure images of Dungeons and Dragons, Lord of the Rings or other fantasy creations for people who are unfamiliar with non-Christian lore. It makes it difficult enough to be taken seriously as it is, without the people who call themselves pagan or New Age praying to Mielikki or Ifrit (the summon in Final Fantasy, not the lesser known Jinn from the Qu'ran). People who think Shiva is an Ice queen goddess, not the male Destruction deity of Hinduism. To call that kind of thing a spiritual belief is ridiculous, and the epitome of commercialism.
Discuss.