Pagan involvement in the interfaith movement: exclusions, dualities, and contributions

I am a Witch; a Wiccan priestess if you prefer; a Pagan to use a larger religious categorization, with an M.Div. from Harvard. I walk in many social and spiritual realms. I am a feminist. As a young woman, I recognized in the writings of the activist Witch Starhawk my own reverence for nature and felt a homecoming to this tradition that honors my body and self as part of nature. I recognized an honoring of sex and pleasure as sacred, along with a hunger for justice and a need to act politically, and felt myself at home spiritually. In my late twenties, life compelled me towards further spiritual development, and eventually I committed myself as a priestess of the Goddess, consecrated to Her work by the elements of Earth, Air, Fire, and Water. My own participation in a religious minority informs my perspective; my personal interest in interfaith work comes from a desire for full religious freedom.

I take a risk by naming my own particular religious minority, by expressing myself publicly in terms that I often restrict to like-minded community. In a truly pluralistic society--one with full freedom of religion, with vibrant interfaith life that respects the commitments and differences of diverse religious traditions, with accountability to common civic principles--there would be no systematic risk, just the occasional individual prejudice.

In this essay, I will raise issues about exclusion, duality, and pluralism, and highlight particular contributions of Paganism to the interfaith movement. The inclusion of Pagans in interfaith work can be seen as a litmus test for tolerance. Pagans have historically been misunderstood as the quintessential other, the personification of evil (as in devil worshiping--a Christian construct) or of amorality. Years of outreach and educational efforts, along with active participation of Pagans in national and international interfaith efforts, have clarified that Pagans are earth-centered spiritualists who hold all of life as sacred and honor the interconnectedness of all of life. Exclusion implies a dualistic framework that undermines interfaith work. Examination of Pagan inclusion in and exclusion from the interfaith movement highlights the need for tolerance and engagement beyond tolerance, within and among religious traditions.

The stakes are high, ranging from lack of religious freedom for individual Pagans, and notably Pagan youth who are at greater risk for depression and suicide, to critical issues for the entire American community and beyond. Theologian Harvey Cox comments on the American experiment with our phenomenal diversity, "We have people of virtually every religious tradition there is. Whether we are going to make it as a people, with this immense, rich, heterogeneous populations, or whether we're going to burst apart into some kind of fragmentation, is still a question in my mind." (1) The interfaith movement can play a key role in helping Americans make it as a people, or it can reinforce fragmentations.

I work for the Pluralism Project at Harvard University, researching and documenting the new religious diversity of America. As part of this work, I attend numerous interfaith gatherings, such as interfaith clergy breakfasts, interfaith religious services and interfaith political gatherings. I regularly attend the North American Interfaith Network (NAIN) annual conference and the National Conference on Interfaith Youth Work. Often my own religious tradition is not represented in these gatherings; I am there representing the Pluralism Project, not my religion.

I network and collaborate with many people working in the interfaith movement, and hear of different strategies, challenges and successes in interfaith work. I have attended the last two international Parliaments of World Religions, as well as the Goldin Institute for International Partnership and Peace (Fall 2003). I am discrete about sharing my religious tradition in professional settings, as there is social stigma and misunderstanding about Wicca and I do not want that to hinder my work for the Project. During years in divinity school, I answered questions about my "denomination" by saying I practice a feminist earth-based spirituality. The presumption of Christianity in the question is unmistakable. Advice to not mention my own tradition so I won't be pigeonholed with that identity, publishers cutting materials on Paganism, the remaining materials undergoing disproportionate scrutiny in reviews, an advisor with vehemently anti-Pagan views, all these have suggested caution in speaking my truth. Eventually, participating in interfaith settings without bringing my own tradition to the table became too painful and I began to integrate my self and my participation. I work for religious freedom in the largest sense; I want to experience it personally so now I practice it more.

National and International Interfaith Participation by Pagans

Pagans have made substantial efforts to participate in and contribute to the growth of the interfaith movement. The 1993 Parliament of the World's Religions held in Chicago has been described as a "coming out" party for Pagans, as their presence was most notable there. Earthspirit, a Massachusetts-based Pagan community, offered performances by their choral group. MotherTongue. A Full Moon ceremony, planned in anticipation of perhaps 50 participants, drew 500. One conservative Christian group inaccurately described the Pagan participants as godless (many Pagans are polytheistic, many pantheistic or panentheistic, perceiving divinity embodied in nature) to which some Buddhists reportedly replied, "that's what we've been trying to tell you about us!"