![\"\"](\"https:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/_5BV_YADVD7o\/SMrmHQwTdzI\/AAAAAAAAB04\/nPKZkQEeLHY\/s1600-h\/women+priests.jpg\")
<\/a>\u201cAre women priests\u00a0necessarily\u00a0pagans?\u201d asks a reader. Yes and no.\u00a0<\/p>\n
<\/div>\n
No, of course they\u2019re not necessarily conscious<\/span>\u00a0pagans. Many of the women priests I knew in the Anglican Church were just nice, good, pious Christian ladies who wanted to serve Jesus and his church. They were not all bra burning feminists, men haters or wacky eco-femi-nazis. Their theology was mainstream and a fairly orthodox version of Protestantism. In saying this, it should be noted that a survey amongst Anglican clergy did find that women priests were far more likely to hold very liberal theological positions.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
But were they pagans? Were they worshipping the Mother Goddess, casting spells, mixing potions, rolling in the earth and dancing naked around campfires? No, of course not.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
I said, \u2018Yes and No\u2019 because while most of the nice Anglican ladies like the ones pictured here, were not blatant card-carrying members of Wicca, they were still influenced by, and usually sympathetic to, an implicit paganism that goes along with feminism. Here are the main tenets:<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
1. Antipathy to patriarchy<\/span> \u2013 feminists dislike the whole patriarchal system and see a male only priesthood as the last bastion of the male dominated power systems. This means they find it very hard to really like the entire Judeo-Christian story\u2013which is inescapably patriarchal. As a result, there is a constant theme within Christian feminism that is simply un-Christian.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
2. Antipathy to the \u2018Sky Father\u2019 \u2013 <\/span>along with the antipathy to patriarchy goes an antipathy of the Sky Father God. They don\u2019t like patriarchs here below or there above. Their dislike of patriarchy therefore requires a deconstruction of the \u2018Sky Father God\u2019 myth. In its place they wish to have the Earth Mother. This is simply not part of the Judeo-Christian salvation story, and it has always been an integral part of paganism.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
3. Enthusiasm for Earth Religion <\/span>a religious type of ecological movement goes along with feminism because of the desire for an Earth Mother religion. Intimacy with the earth and the natural forces is desired and encouraged. Reverence for the Earth Mother and a desire to tap into the Earth powers is all part of \u2018Christian\u2019 feminism. It is also an integral part of paganism.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
4. Enthusiasm for Revisionist Christianity \u2013 <\/span>the feminists are not content to simply be \u2018lady priests\u2019. The leaders of the movement are very active in revising the liturgy, providing revisionist Biblical interpretation and creating new canticles, \u2018psalms\u2019 and even alternative \u2018gospels\u2019 all done from a feminist perspective. What they wish to create within the historic churches is nothing less than a new form of Christianity. Unfortunately this new form of Christianity is neither new nor Christianity. It is simply old paganism dressed up.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
5. Antipathy to the Traditional Family \u2013 <\/span>the traditional Christian family, for the feminist, is irredeemably patriarchal. Therefore all forms of \u2018alternative\u2019 family methods are to be encouraged. Homosexual unions, lesbian unions, single mothers, communal \u2018tribal\u2019 living\u2013all this is to be accepted and encouraged for it undermines patriarchy. We see this happening not only within Anglicanism worldwide, but within the other mainstream Protestant churches too. This is not just \u2018modern immorality\u2019 but it is part of a consistent agenda based on an anti-Christian worldview and theology.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
6. Enthusiasm for \u2018Reproductive Freedom\u2019 <\/span>This seems like it might be something new; something that only came along with the invention of artificial contraception. However it is not new at all. The modern feminist who does not want to be \u2018barefoot and pregnant and in the kitchen\u2019 insists that the reproductive powers she has should be controlled by her and her only. Of course, \u2018reproductive freedom\u2019 is actually code for \u2018sexual freedom\u2019. What the feminist really wants is unrestrained sexual activity. They want to have sex with whom and when and how they want it. This is not new at all, and it has always been a very major component of paganism. Unrestrained sexual activity is seen as liberating people from patriarchal control. It also helps one to transcend the patriarchal inhibitions and fuse more intimately with \u2018creation.\u2019<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
7. \u00a0Enthusiasm for Abortion and Infanticide<\/span>\u00a0\u2013 what follows \u2018reproductive freedom\u2019 is the need to dispose of the results of sexual freedom blamelessly. The feminist movement has endorsed abortion on demand from the beginning. Once again, this is nothing new. The pagans routinely practiced abortion and infanticide. The infants were often offered to the pagan gods in return for prosperity and protection.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
Are all women priests and all supporters of women\u2019s ordination signed up to the seven points above? Not consciously, but if they stopped to examine their first principles and look seriously at the writings of feminist theologians and the agenda of feminist clergy they will soon realize that it is pretty difficult to be gung ho about women\u2019s ordination and avoid all these things.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
I\u2019ve had a fair bit of experience with women priests in the Anglican Church and I can honestly say that I do not know any who would openly eschew all of the things I have outlined above. While they may not be ardent campaigners, neither are they ardent defenders of historic Christian orthodoxy.\u00a0<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
On the other hand, every woman I\u2019ve known who is a joyful, robust and ardent defender of the historic Christian faith wouldn\u2019t touch any of the stuff above with a barge pole.<\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
So does women\u2019s ordination equal paganism? If it doesn\u2019t now it soon will.<\/div>\n<\/body><\/html>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Feminism and Paganism<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\""Are women priests\u00a0necessarily\u00a0pagans?" asks a reader. Yes and no.\u00a0No, of course they're not necessarily conscious\u00a0pagans. Many of the women priests I\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2008\/09\/feminism-and-paganism.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Feminism and Paganism\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\""Are women priests\u00a0necessarily\u00a0pagans?" asks a reader. Yes and no.\u00a0No, of course they're not necessarily conscious\u00a0pagans. Many of the women priests I\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2008\/09\/feminism-and-paganism.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Fr. Dwight Longenecker\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2008-09-12T17:18:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/_5BV_YADVD7o\/SMrmHQwTdzI\/AAAAAAAAB04\/nPKZkQEeLHY\/s320\/women+priests.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Fr. Dwight Longenecker\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Fr. Dwight Longenecker\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2008\/09\/feminism-and-paganism.html\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2008\/09\/feminism-and-paganism.html\",\"name\":\"Feminism and Paganism\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2008-09-12T17:18:00+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2008-09-12T17:18:00+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/#\/schema\/person\/9a47bc6ba9c0a8c532dc90230d7ad3ad\"},\"description\":\"\\\"Are women priests\u00a0necessarily\u00a0pagans?\\\" asks a reader. Yes and no.\u00a0No, of course they're not necessarily conscious\u00a0pagans. Many of the women priests I\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2008\/09\/feminism-and-paganism.html#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2008\/09\/feminism-and-paganism.html\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2008\/09\/feminism-and-paganism.html#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Feminism and Paganism\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/\",\"name\":\"Fr. Dwight Longenecker\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":\"required name=search_term_string\"}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/#\/schema\/person\/9a47bc6ba9c0a8c532dc90230d7ad3ad\",\"name\":\"Fr. Dwight Longenecker\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8dbbfbf5b6d096630322e90bce3f0cec?s=96&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8dbbfbf5b6d096630322e90bce3f0cec?s=96&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Fr. Dwight Longenecker\"},\"sameAs\":[\"http:\/\/dwightlongenecker.com\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/author\/frdwight\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Feminism and Paganism","description":"\"Are women priests\u00a0necessarily\u00a0pagans?\" asks a reader. Yes and no.\u00a0No, of course they're not necessarily conscious\u00a0pagans. Many of the women priests I","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2008\/09\/feminism-and-paganism.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Feminism and Paganism","og_description":"\"Are women priests\u00a0necessarily\u00a0pagans?\" asks a reader. Yes and no.\u00a0No, of course they're not necessarily conscious\u00a0pagans. Many of the women priests I","og_url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2008\/09\/feminism-and-paganism.html","og_site_name":"Fr. Dwight Longenecker","article_published_time":"2008-09-12T17:18:00+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/1.bp.blogspot.com\/_5BV_YADVD7o\/SMrmHQwTdzI\/AAAAAAAAB04\/nPKZkQEeLHY\/s320\/women+priests.jpg"}],"author":"Fr. Dwight Longenecker","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Fr. Dwight Longenecker","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2008\/09\/feminism-and-paganism.html","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2008\/09\/feminism-and-paganism.html","name":"Feminism and Paganism","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/#website"},"datePublished":"2008-09-12T17:18:00+00:00","dateModified":"2008-09-12T17:18:00+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/#\/schema\/person\/9a47bc6ba9c0a8c532dc90230d7ad3ad"},"description":"\"Are women priests\u00a0necessarily\u00a0pagans?\" asks a reader. Yes and no.\u00a0No, of course they're not necessarily conscious\u00a0pagans. Many of the women priests I","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2008\/09\/feminism-and-paganism.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2008\/09\/feminism-and-paganism.html"]}]},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/2008\/09\/feminism-and-paganism.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Feminism and Paganism"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/","name":"Fr. Dwight Longenecker","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":"required name=search_term_string"}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/#\/schema\/person\/9a47bc6ba9c0a8c532dc90230d7ad3ad","name":"Fr. Dwight Longenecker","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8dbbfbf5b6d096630322e90bce3f0cec?s=96&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/8dbbfbf5b6d096630322e90bce3f0cec?s=96&r=g","caption":"Fr. Dwight Longenecker"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/dwightlongenecker.com"],"url":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/author\/frdwight"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2461","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/557"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2461"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2461\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2461"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2461"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/standingonmyhead\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2461"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
\u201cAre women priests\u00a0necessarily\u00a0pagans?\u201d asks a reader. Yes and no.\u00a0 No, of course they\u2019re not necessarily conscious\u00a0pagans. Many of the women priests I knew in the Anglican Church were just nice, good, pious Christian ladies who wanted to serve Jesus and his church. They were not all bra burning feminists, men haters or wacky eco-femi-nazis. Their […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":557,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2461","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"yoast_head":"\n