"My Opinion Of Society and Political Issues"


The Following is an e-mail I recieved on December 18, 2000. It depicts, 
in my opinion, the reason I no longer consider myself Wiccan. My 
comments follow the text of the e-mail.


 Based on many comments by Pagans and my personal beliefs, here are some 
ideas about Pagans and the Bush presidency:
   
 1) Many Pagans believe that George W. Bush will abuse his power as 
President to harass, intimidate, and discriminate against them and other 
religious minorities.

 2) Many Pagans also believe that George W. Bush is not really competent 
to serve as President, for a variety of reasons including but not limited 
to his past performance record, family history, apparent learning 
disability, avowed positions on assorted issues such as abortion, and 
behavior during and after the election. 

 3). Pagans are offended by George W. Bush's previous comments to the 
effect that Wicca is not a real religion; they  feel this indicates his 
willingness to trample on other people's  beliefs and rights, his 
ignorance of U.S. law and legal precedents, and his ignorance of or 
disdain for the "separation of church and  state" rule.

    4) Consequently, Pagans believe we are about to see four pretty 
unpleasant years during which the climate of religious tolerance will 
sour, and we will either lose a lot of the ground we've gained or have 
to expend a massive amount of energy defending it.

Aside from this, I found a very interesting split on one point: 

About half the Pagans seemed to feel that the battle was over, while 
the other half seemed to feel it had just begun. That is, some Pagans 
think that because George W. Bush will be (presumably) President, he 
*will* be able to do serious damage to our interests, so there is no 
point in fighting and everyone should just lay low.

 Other Pagans think that the extremely close election indicates that 
George W. Bush does not really enjoy cohesive support, so the expected 
harmful policies should be fought at every opportunity.For the record, 
I'm firmly in the second camp and believe that I can both educate and 
criticize expected harmful policies against Pagans and other minority 
religions. Multiply this by the millions of Pagan voters and I think 
we can have a serous impact ... and bring about needed changes. While 
there are some Pagan regional and denominational variations, on the 
whole I'm hearing that Pagans are intimidated and/or outraged by the 
election of George W. Bush as President, and most of them are digging 
in -- either to hide, or to fight an ongoing guerilla  battle of wits 
in the court of public opinion.

The above observations and opinions are my own, and not in the Voice 
of any organization with which I work.

Let's start at the beginning of this e-mail :  Many Pagans believe 
that George W. Bush will abuse his power as President to harass, 
intimidate, and discriminate against them and other religious 
minorities.

Oh Really? And what do you base this on? He never did that as Governor 
of Texas. I should know, I lived there while he was in office.

 Many Pagans also believe that George W. Bush is not really competent 
to serve as President, for a variety of reasons including but not 
limited to his past performance record, family history, apparent 
learning disability, avowed positions on assorted issues such as 
abortion, and behavior during and after the election. 

Past perfomence record? In what, being governor? He is one of the
most popular governors Texas has had. Family history? What if I 
held you responsible for all the mistakes your parents made? 
Position on abortions? I guess you look forward to killing your 
child right? Behavior after the election? I thought Al Gore was the 
one who couldn't admit defeat.

 Pagans are offended by George W. Bush's previous comments to the 
effect that Wicca is not a real religion; they  feel this indicates 
his willingness to trample on other people's  believes and rights, 
his ignorance of U.S. law and legal precedents, and his ignorance 
of or disdain for the "separation of church and  state" rule.

Do you have any idea how many Pagans I know that have said 
Christianity is not a real religion?Ignorance of U.S. law? I thought 
that was why EVERY president has had advisors. Disdain for the 
"seperation of church and state"? In what capacity? The right-winged 
conservatives fear he is not "Christian" enough, people.

 Consequently, Pagans believe we are about to see four pretty 
unpleasant years during which the climate of religious tolerance 
will sour, and we will either lose a lot of the ground we've gained 
or have to expend a massive amount of energy defending it.

If any ground has really been gained, then one president's term is 
not going "sour" it. 

As for the rest of this letter, if you are intimidated by George W. 
Bush winning this election, ask yourself this, "Would Al Gore have 
been any better"?  What is the position of Al Gore on the 
environment? Most Pagans are environmentalists, Al Gore has been out 
spoken on his issues concerning this. Why then does he own a 
considerable amount of stock in an oil company? He says he is for 
union workers, is he really? He took money from Auto Workers Unions 
at the same time he was making speaches about banning SUV's. He 
took money from teachers unions at the same time he advocated "social 
promotion" in our schools. The Clinton/Gore Campaign promised 
homosexuals that they would be accepted in our millitary. Would you 
feel comfortable as a gay person in our military today? If you dont 
think Al Gore is at the very least a hypocrite, ask yourself this:  
Why then does he take money from our entertainers, musicians and 
actors after his own wife created the PMRC. The very organization 
who filed suit against Judas Priest, Ozzy Osbourne and Motley Crue 
in the 1980's. They forced the glam/metal group Poison to sensor 
the cover of their second album and accused many others of promoting 
Satanism through thir music. There is religious acceptance for you. 
Before you open your mouth and accuse someone of hatred and 
ignorance, take a real look at the alternative. The only real way 
to make a differance is through educating yourself. Don't let the 
media or organizations make up your mind for you. You have to take 
an objective look at the world one issue at a time and decide how 
you feel about each and every one. That is the only way you will 
know where to stand.

~Shadow~