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<\/a><\/div>\nGodless Paganism: Voices of Non-Theistic Pagans, edited by John Halstead<\/a>.<\/p>\n Even in pagan antiquity, there were those who, while participating in the community\u2019s religious life, did not believe in literal gods. In the centuries that followed the Christian domination of the West, the epithet \u201cgodless pagan\u201d was leveled at a wide variety of people. In the 1960s, there emerged a community of people who sought to reclaim the name \u201cpagan\u201d from its history of opprobrium. These Neo-Pagans were interested in nature spirituality and polytheism, and identified with the misunderstood and persecuted pagans of antiquity. While many Pagans today believe in literal gods, there are a growing number of Pagans who are \u201cgodless.\u201d Today, the diverse assemblage of spiritual paths known as Paganism includes atheist Pagans or Atheopagans, Humanistic and Naturalistic Pagans, Buddho-Pagans, animists, pantheists, Gaians, and other non-theistic Pagans. Here, their voices are gathered together to share what it means to be Pagan and godless. <\/i><\/p>\n Godless Paganism: Voices of Non-Theistic Pagans is true its name, it contains the voices of many non-theistic Pagans of all different types. \u00a0It\u2019s an anthology featuring the opinions, beliefs, views, philosophies etc of many different people. \u00a0It is not the view of just Halstead or his interpretation of other Pagans, it is literally many voices in one book. \u00a0I can\u2019t imagine that anyone is unrepresented in this book (though it\u2019s possible). \u00a0The voices in this books are wide-ranging, Atheopagan, Atheist Pagan, Agnostic Pagan, Pantheistic Pagan, Animist Pagan, Humanistic Pagan, Archetypal\/Jungian Pagan and on and on.<\/p>\n <\/a><\/p>\n I like the way this book is set up, the anthology approach is a great way to present things, especially within Paganism. \u00a0We are a pretty diverse group, and even in the narrower groups within Paganism the diversity can still be vast \u2013 one author writing about a type of Paganism would be, and generally is, full of generalisations and assumptions and personal bias. \u00a0The anthology approach avoids this problem by letting people speak for themselves and their own religions. \u00a0You can know for a fact that everything you read in this book is true to the religions being presented \u2013 because the religions being presented are being shared by those practising those religions. Though of course they are not necessarily representative of every person who also identifies with those religions.<\/p>\n Many of the voices in this book were virtually indistinguishable from general theistic Pagan voices. \u00a0Some so much so that I come away not entirely sure if they believe in the Gods or not. \u00a0They say, in one paragraph, that they do not, but in the next they are talking about the Gods they honour \u2013 even if they don\u2019t do rituals or anything like that. \u00a0Some of the voices do not explain how their Gods are not-Gods in a satisfactory way. \u00a0But some do quite well, yet they are so similar to some theistic Pagans that you can see why some theists like me are adamant that non-theists can indeed be Pagan.<\/p>\n Then you have the voices of those who are so obviously not theistic that it leaves you wondering \u2013 why do they even want to call themselves Pagans or identify as religious anyway? \u00a0Some of these voices are so clearly anti-theistic that you, meaning I, suddenly narrow my earlier position and think, you know what, non-theists can be Pagan \u2013 but that doesn\u2019t mean all non-theists who identify as Pagan should be doing so.<\/p>\n I read the review of this book over on Scholastic Pagan<\/a> and I have to agree with his suggestion: Just because you are participating in a religion, doesn\u2019t mean you are part of that religion or can\/should identify as that religion. \u00a0As he says, he goes to midnight mass sometimes, but that doesn\u2019t make him Catholic.<\/p>\n Thinking of that, then yes, there are some non-theistic Pagans who, while they could possibly truthfully say they are part of the Pagan community, they are not part of the Pagan religion\/s. \u00a0And, considering the fact that the only reason I could find (or understand perhaps) for some of them identifying as Pagan, is that they want to be part of the Pagan community \u2013 I am still left wondering why they want to identify as religious.<\/p>\n This was, at many times, difficult to read as a theist. \u00a0I am fine reading non-theistic stuff, indeed, as a homeschooler, I am generally Secular \u2013 so I have no problem with this sort of thing. \u00a0But I am still a theist, so it was difficult to read those parts by those people who were, well, insulting.<\/p>\n Many of the voices were able to discuss their beliefs and such with an internal voice, looking at their beliefs without contrasting to theism. \u00a0Many others however were unable to do this. \u00a0They were sharing their beliefs by drawing contrast to theism. \u00a0Thus, when they would wax eloquent about how their non-theism is rational, based on science, cognitive thinking and evolution \u2013 they are, indirectly, saying that we are the opposite.<\/p>\n Some weren\u2019t even indirect with their comments about theism. \u00a0Non-theism is inherently superior when it comes to ethics. Theists sacrifice their cognitive minds for pretty stories. \u00a0Theists don\u2019t believe in or trust science. \u00a0The ancients didn\u2019t comprehend how the forces of nature work (and by extension modern theists don\u2019t either?).<\/p>\n Yeh, I can suddenly see why some theists have a problem with non-theistic Pagans. \u00a0The bad blood doesn\u2019t all come from our side of the pond.<\/p>\n I had two other problems with this book. \u00a0It was frightfully long for what it was. \u00a0That is probably great for non-theists, but for me, I honestly got to the point where I wanted to just give up completely. \u00a0It\u2019s not that it was horrible to read (though obviously some parts were grrr worthy) it just got a little repetitive after a while.<\/p>\n Oddly, and this is the second other problem, it also got a little, well, preachy in parts. \u00a0That seems, weird, right? \u00a0I still think that is weird, that I felt occasionally preached at. \u00a0But it\u2019s the truth, during some parts I felt like someone was trying to convert me. \u00a0I had to grit my teeth and persevere \u2013 and I admit, in some of these parts I did skip a paragraph or two every now and then.<\/p>\n My favourite part of the book was near the end \u2013 the part that focuses on the history of Atheism within Paganism and religion in general. \u00a0It was nice to read about that, because I do agree that Atheism has been part of religion for a long time, and a part of neoPaganism since the start. \u00a0It was nice to be able to read some cited information on that.<\/p>\n Overall Assessment<\/u><\/p>\n This is a good and valuable book. \u00a0It really shares in depth information about non-theistic Paganism, in its many forms and it really helps theists to understand what is actually going on in non-theistic Paganism. \u00a0It will also hopefully be a great resource for non-theistic Pagans themselves, especially those who do feel unwelcome in the Pagan community, excluded or alone. \u00a0This book will, I think, really help them.<\/p>\n For the theistic Pagan this is a hard <\/i>read. \u00a0On the one hand I think this book has the potential to show us that non-theists can certainly be Pagans and should be welcome in our community and even some of our rituals. \u00a0But, it also has the opposite effect \u2013 it shows us that some non-theistic Pagans really don\u2019t belong in at least certain aspects of our Pagan religion\/s. \u00a0And, as mentioned above, there are some tooth grinding moments to endure.<\/p>\n My unbiased review says this is a good book and I recommend it, especially to non-theists.<\/p>\n My theistic biased review\u2026 I could mostly do without it and I will probably never read it again. \u00a0And I am a prolific re-re-re-re-re-re-reader of all the books.<\/p>\n Recommended For<\/u><\/p>\n Non-Theistic Pagans \u2013 obviously.<\/p>\n Unsure Pagans and Seekers \u2013 There will always be those who come looking into Paganism who just can\u2019t quite make themselves believe in the Gods. \u00a0This book will be of great value to them.<\/p>\n Theistic Pagans \u2013 Who want to understand more about non-theistic Paganism and think they can persevere.<\/p>\n Non-Pagan Atheists \u2013 Who want to understand how non-theists can be religious, and also who think they can persevere.<\/p>\n I bought this book in ebook form from Lulu<\/a>, where it is also available in paperback from there.<\/p>\n You can also get it from<\/p>\n Amazon<\/a>\u00a0in paperback Bekah Evie Bel reviews the book, Godless Paganism: Voices of Non-Theistic Pagans, edited by John Halstead.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2764,"featured_media":126,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,5],"tags":[7,6,24],"class_list":["post-28","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-multimedia","category-resources-and-material","tag-book-review","tag-books","tag-non-theism"],"yoast_head":"\n
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