Back in 2005, I lived in Cambridge, Massachusetts for about six months while my wife spent her sabbatical at MIT. At that time, the Bush Regime was at the peak of its primacy, attempting to change America into its sick and sordid vision of uniformity, comformity and violence. I became fascinated and more than a little concerned with the growing and eventually unhealthy relationship between a dominant and aggressive organized religion- in this case, fundamental, right-wing Christianity.
I did lots of research (living with Harvard all around you is conducive to that sort of activity) and shot hours of video for a documentary about the subject. I even visited Salem and made contacts in the Wiccan and witchcraft community (are they a community?). I became more interested in paganism and Earth-worship as I became more involved in environmental issues. I contacted leading environmentalist and writer Bill McKibben (who was from nearby Lexington originally and lived in Vermont) and interviewed him about the relationship between fundamental Christianity and the current government. He was terrific and I remain a huge devotee. I used a clip from that interview in my documentary “Our Other Neighbors” about the spiritual and economic relationship between humans and wildlife.
But in the middle of the religion project, my father died which added to my increasing existential anxiety, we returned to Champaign, Illinois and I stopped production. But I never forgot the history, science and lessons in spirituality I learned from the pagan, Gaiacentric world I had entered, albeit briefly. Pagans, Wiccans, witches and other “scary” and “spooky” people live in both the mainstream and fringes of American society. They are almost all simple, peace-loving naturists whose ancestors and spiritual choices have been demonized by centuries of right-wing Christian propaganda ranging from the “Wizard of Oz” to any one of 10,000 horror films. Like Christians, they REALLY believe all their stuff but UNLIKE Christians they don’t ram their dogma down anyone else’s throats or engage in an ongoing campaign of lies, hate and violence.
Curiously, Christians and pagans do have one thing in common: they were both burned, crucified, stoned and otherwise murdered for their beliefs. You’d think that would provide them common ground. But as time goes on, it appears the Christians deserved it more than the Godless pagans. Today, the Radical Right-Wing Christian Party of America (you know who I’m talking about) demonizes the environmental movement by linking them with “Earth” or “Gaia” worship, Wiccans, witches and other pagan groups.
As more proof of the effectiveness of this Christian propaganda, to this day Americans are more afraid of witches, pagans, ghosts and boogeymen than they are of Christians even though Chrisitianity has ACTUALLY MURDERED more people than any coven did and continually haunt and invade our homes and brains with horrifying images of torture, death, and eternal damnation.
The success of right-wing Christian propaganda to demonize paganism and, by association, Earth-worship, the environmental movement, Native Americans, Muslims and other non-Christian groups- is undeniable. It’s understandable that as an expansionist philosophical entity and multi-national corporation, fundamental Christianity would mount elaborate, costly and even violent efforts to discredit their competition for financial if not existential purposes. What is not understandable is what this has to do with America, government and, most important, freedom.
Happy Halloween. Boo.
