The Petition on MySpace

Sunday, April 23, 2006

FIRST ~ Read Mal's juicy snid-bit below before you continue here. THEN read the comments. That way, I can make sure this post will make sense to you.

The following is from my MySpace bulletin:

I received the following petition on my bulletin and found some humor in this. So I'm going to post the original petition as well as my comments regarding it.

PETITION:
"This petition is to request that Tom add "Pagan" as an option for religion in the MySpace profiles. The choice of "Other" is quite demeaning as Paganism is becoming more and more socially acceptable.

Pagan in this sense is considered as, but not limited to, Asatruar, Wiccan, Shaman, Egyptian, et al. Pagan is by definition all religions other than those based in Christianity, Judaism, and/or Islamic beliefs.

Please add your user name (real name if preferred) to the list if you would like to have Pagan added as an option.

Thank you for your time."

[my] RESPONSE:
FYI......

Pagan means literally [when translated from latin] "country dweller" and was coined to be demeaning by the urban Christian faith in the early part of the fifth century to undermine those who live in rural areas for not joining the larger populated area's churches. It was a plot to get more church go'ers and to keep urban followers.

Shaman in Siberian means "he/she who knows" or in Chinese, (sha men) "Buddhist monk". Shamanism isn't just a religion, though. It's a way of life. Shamans are doctors, psychologists, interpreters of spiritual messages and above all else, spirit walkers for their tribes. Their role in their society is far greater then just being "pagan". Besides, you wouldn't call being an ObGyn, Dentist, or Herbologist a religion would you?

The ancient and modern Egyptian religion has several fractions in which case Tom/MySpace would need to add those traditions as well. For instance, someone who is part of the Golden Dawn (which uses parts of the ancient Egyptian pantheon) may not like having to put themselves as a Rosicrucian. Or a person who is a member of the Kemetic Orthodox Church (which uses nothing but the anciant Egyptian scribes for practice) having to put themselves down as Pagan would probably be an absolute insult since they aren't Pagan at all per the Kemetic Orthodox Church.

And another FYI...
Many Asatruers prefer the term "Heathen" to "Neopagan" or "Pagan" and look upon their tradition as "not just a branch on the Neopagan tree" but as a separate tree altogether. The reconstruction of Asatru has been based on the surviving historical records and its followers have maintained it as closely as possible to the original religion of the Norse people.

Further more, Wicca IS on the MySpace list of choices along with the following:
Agnostic
Atheist
Buddhist
Catholic
Christian - Other
Hindu
Jewish
Mormon
Muslim
Protestant
Other
Taoist
Scientology

I'd say that Tom [MySpace] covered a lot of ground when considering religious affiliations for his list. It isn't his fault that anyone feel they do not fit into any of them.

I'm against religious ignorance, prejudice, intolerance, hypocrisy and generalizations. To me, that petition is an insult to MY faith. What if I were a Shiite? What if I'm a Satanist? You can't lump those two into a "Pagan" catagory. What if I'm an Alchemist? What if.....my faith doesn't even have a name? I don't see Evengalists on that list. That would give them the right to petition. Or Baptists. Or the 7th Day Adventists..... and the author of that would throw a damn fit if she saw some Christian group petitioning for a title.

Someone stop me before I throw something.....................