{"id":2897,"date":"2013-11-24T17:38:59","date_gmt":"2013-11-25T00:38:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/panmankey\/?p=2897"},"modified":"2015-08-17T10:41:30","modified_gmt":"2015-08-17T16:41:30","slug":"water-under-the-pagan-bridge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/panmankey\/2013\/11\/water-under-the-pagan-bridge\/","title":{"rendered":"Water Under the Pagan Bridge"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

On Friday I found myself unable to escape from the New York Times article An Ex-Mouseketeer\u2019s Journey Back to Christianity From Paganism<\/a><\/em> about Teo Bishop. I saw the article pop up on Facebook and Twitter, and even some of my non-blogosphere-following friends shared the link. Where the link was shared, there were comments too; even when I tried to leave the conversation I got pushed back into it a few times. <\/p>\n

As people gave my comments both the old \u201cthumbs up\u201d and \u201cJason, you are completely wrong\u201d treatment I began turning those comments into a piece for Raise the Horns<\/em>. I worked on it for a few hours, trying to find just the right tone. I like Teo, but I didn\u2019t completely like the article, and I struggled to balance those two factors. Eventually I set everything down and went to bed, figuring I\u2019d finish it up on Saturday. After a long morning and afternoon of college football I picked up my thoughts on Teo and the New York Times again, but something had changed. I found myself not really caring so much anymore, and no one else seemed to care either.<\/p>\n

Facebook, Twitter, my friends on the phone, the whole article was basically water under the bridge already. No one was talking about it, Jason didn\u2019t write anything up about it at The Wild Hunt<\/a>. It was done, and while it\u2019s a little weird every time Teo\u2019s capped head looks up at me on the cover of Witches and Pagans<\/a><\/em> magazine, it seems we\u2019ve realized pretty quickly that this isn\u2019t really an issue.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>When Teo began writing about going to church again and hearing the call of Jesus I had some friends who were upset. They were people who read Bishop in the Grove<\/a><\/em> and liked Teo. Whatever you think about Mr. Bishop there\u2019s no denying that he has a great online voice. (Which to be honest, pisses me off. He can sing, compose songs, and write!?! I can\u2019t do the two former things and can barely do the latter.) I always thought his writing came across as that of a seeker, but we\u2019re all seekers at least once right? That kind of \u201cearly enthusiasm for Paganism\u201d is hard to find in the Pagan Blogosphere. That it was all so elegantly and competently written made it even better. People liked Teo as a writer long before we knew the ex-Mouseketeer thing, and when someone you like leaves Paganism it stings. But the great thing about most stings is that the pain doesn\u2019t linger, it happens and then it\u2019s gone.<\/p>\n

I liked a few things about the New York Times Teo article. It was nice to see Jason Pitzl-Waters and T. Thorn Coyle quoted (though it might have been nice if they, the Times, had interviewed a Druid, or commented on Christo-Paganism), and Paganism was portrayed pretty positively. This little bit at the end of the article was especially nice:<\/p>\n

\u201cThere were Pagans who felt like maybe I was turning into one of the Christians who alienated them, like I joined the other team,\u201d Mr. Bishop said. \u201cThere were also Christians who said things like, \u2018Oh, finally you\u2019re back \u2014 we won one for the team.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cNeither of those rings true to me.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

But what I liked most about the article is that we weren\u2019t really talking about it on Saturday, because ultimately it\u2019s a non-story and doesn\u2019t change anything in the short or long term.<\/p>\n

Someone coming or going from Modern Paganism has no bearing on the Paganism of you, me, or anyone else, and if someone thinks it matters, then they probably weren\u2019t fully Pagan anyway. Yeah, it\u2019s kind of goofy that Paganism makes the New York Times because someone is in the process of walking away from it, but no one is going to read that article and think \u201cwell maybe I shouldn\u2019t do this Pagan thing.\u201d Teo\u2019s religious awakenings have made for an odd November for some of us online (and shame on anyone who sent him a threatening email, we aren\u2019t those other religions), but ultimately it\u2019s just a bump in the road that most of us will either forget or be laughing about in a couple of years.<\/p>\n

Social media has made Paganism far more \u201cimmediate\u201d the last half dozen or so years. That\u2019s been both a blessing and a curse. A blessing because it\u2019s easier than ever to spread news and opinion and to find other Pagans. It\u2019s been kind of a curse because all of those opinions often lead to hurt feelings and controversies. <\/p>\n

One thing I\u2019ve noticed in a year full of slings and arrows is how quickly we get back up off the ground. Yeah, we argue, and we sometimes cross lines that we shouldn\u2019t, but we\u2019ve also proven that we are a community than can sometimes just let it go. The big fights are about things like Pagan symbols on military grave markers<\/a> and equal rites for Pagan institutions<\/a>. It\u2019s not about someone leaving the fold or even Christo-Paganism<\/a>. Those are distractions on the journey not defining moments, they\u2019re just water under the Pagan bridge. <\/p>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This week someone leaving Paganism made the New York Times. Is that an important development or a bump in the road? Will we be talking about this moment four years or even four weeks from now? Maybe by then it will simply be water under the Pagan bridge. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":493,"featured_media":2899,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[788,792,276],"class_list":["post-2897","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-pagan","tag-paganism","tag-teo-bishop"],"yoast_head":"\nWater Under the Pagan Bridge<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"This week someone leaving Paganism made the New York Times. Is that an important development or a bump in the road? Will we be talking about this moment four years or even four weeks from now? 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