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Utah's Pagan Community Grows

Good for them. AoF 11. We claim the privilege of worshiping Almighty God according to the dictates of our own conscience, and allow all men the same privilege, let them worship how, where, or what they may.
 
GoJazz said:
Good for them. AoF 11. We claim the privilege of worshiping Almighty God according to the dictates of our own conscience, and allow all men the same privilege, let them worship how, where, or what they may.
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I couldn't agree more that it's their right (or is it rite?) to worship/believe however they choose. However, as a believer in God myself, I find this trend worrisome. I see more and more people (especially women) getting into this stuff and what they're doing is insanely strange/bizarre. Yes, I know these are all just my opinions.
 
PKM said:
I see more and more people (especially women) getting into this stuff and what they're doing is insanely strange/bizarre. Yes, I know these are all just my opinions.
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Religions are always bizarre to the people who don't believe them, and there are reasons the neo-pagan religions have more appeal to women.
 
I think it is weird but so is voodoo and bunch of other stuff. No doubt they think mormonism is weird.
 
One Brow said:
Religions are always bizarre to the people who don't believe them, and there are reasons the neo-pagan religions have more appeal to women.
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I understand, especially here in Utah.

As I said, I appreciate our freedoms, but I am being honest about my feelings. If I didn't deeply believe in God, I wouldn't find it worrisome at all .. though I would still find it bizarre (for example, women getting together on full moons to go get on all fours and howl at the moon).

*Wes would be way into that, I suspect (not doing it, just watching).
 
addictionary said:
What reasons? Is it about the social value of women in society?
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I am not mormon, so I hope this doesn't ruffle feathers (not intended);

- women cannot hold any of the highest positions within the church
- women's access to 'heaven' is via their husband or father (rather than on their own)

I'll stop there. I have spoken to many LDS women (that are devout, btw) that claim to be over-worked and under-appreciated. They seem to need an outlet to be themselves and to find a way to be a stand alone human being.

Disclaimer: I know that MOST LDS women do not feel this way, I was only answering the question from the perspective of a non-mormon in Utah.
 
addictionary said:
What reasons? Is it about the social value of women in society?
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From what I can tell, PKM is right, but incomplete. Most major religions in this world are patriarchal, putting men in a superior position and woman in a submissive position. If I were religious, female, and was tired of hearing how my sexuality was a temptation to do evil, I'd certainly find some of the neo-pagan religions an attractive option.
 
One Brow said:
From what I can tell, PKM is right, but incomplete. Most major religions in this world are patriarchal, putting men in a superior position and woman in a submissive position. If I were religious, female, and was tired of hearing how my sexuality was a temptation to do evil, I'd certainly find some of the neo-pagan religions an attractive option.
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I agree here. Also, they are channeling strength, power, and energy that their religion isn't promising them.

(Obviously that was written from their perspective, not my own.)
 
Thanks for the infos. I know paganistic belief is really bounded tight with matriarchal patterns and ontology. That's why I was wondering if it was opposing the ideals of Mormonism that comprehends women as smth different.
 
Duck Rodgers said:
That's not accurate.
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Just sharing what I've been told. No disrespect.

Let me give an example; One of my partners (all are LDS) recently divorced his wife after 35 years. As I understand it, she is no longer to go to the place of her husband in the afterlife, but to the place of her father.

Now that I type out that example, I see she was not necessarily dependent upon a man to have eternal life, but rather tethered to one in determining where it will be spent.

These conversations always make me uneasy because I don't want to be disrespectful .. and I always end up over-apologizing .. lol.
 
You don't have to. When a person talks about a belief that he/she does not believe in, the believers that hear his words will realize he's not believing any of it sooner or later, and because beliefs and religions are destined to cover everything a person perceives in life, that realization will feel offensive for them, no matter how civilized they try to act. A debate is based on formal logic. Or some other measurable condition you can call whatever you want. But religions are not based on logic or mind. They're based on beliefs, common sense, conscience. So you can't prove what feels right for you to another person who feeds another kind of understanding of what's right. However, if your intention is not offensive, they will show the same good intentions to you, if they are fanatical or something.
 
PKM said:
- women's access to 'heaven' is via their husband or father (rather than on their own)
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Ditto Duck Rogers. I've never understood this to be the case. In my lifelong association with the church, I've always gotten the impression - from countless conference talks and firesides - that God actually holds women in higher regard than men.


Oh, and if pagans want to do their thing, and they aren't hurting anyone else, more power to 'em.
 
PKM said:
I couldn't agree more that it's their right (or is it rite?) to worship/believe however they choose. However, as a believer in God myself, I find this trend worrisome. I see more and more people (especially women) getting into this stuff and what they're doing is insanely strange/bizarre. Yes, I know these are all just my opinions.
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Like drinking the symbolized blood and eating the symbolized body of their savior?
 
As someone who's puzzled by all religion, I find Pagans more bizarre than Mormons. I find Catholics far stranger than both. Run of the mill liberal Protestant Christians are the least weird, ritually.
 
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