As a Christo-Pagan, I, the group organizer, would never for a second have imagined that I could make do without Jesus. As the organizer of a Hellenic Pagan group, I would never have granted that we could leave out this Olympian, or that one, simply because somebody found him "icky". Each of the gods represents an essential aspect of life, and to try to leave even one out, is the end of balance, and thus, of moderation. Yet, somehow, I managed to embrace the contradiction, and imagine that this group, as conceived, could make due without Jesus - that somehow, with this god, it would be different.

How foolish I was.

Late antiquity, across much of the world, brought new gods, or at least, new prophets, who, on an immediate interpersonal level, brought it a level of calm that earlier antiquity had never seen. True, freedom was lost. Madmen rose, and found themselves unchallenged. Something valuable was lost. But that shouldn't blind us to the fact that something was gained, as well. A sense of restraint. A chance for individual conflict to be soothed away, instead of merely being contained by force. A chance for each of us to do a little soul searching, and see for ourselves when we've been a little unreasonable, or unfair. A gentle cushioning of the soul.

I found myself forced to ask a forbidden question. I had met a good many pure Pagans, ones whose religion was devoid of any trace of Christianity, Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Taoism, or any of the other modern religions. How many of them had I ever seen do any real soul searching? The answer? Not one. Not even the nice ones. That had to give me a little pause.

There is a style of conflict resolution I saw, time and time again. People would simply decide who to side with, based on who had the most clout. It wasn't even subtle. People would go so far as to literally refuse to see things that were right in front of them, when they weren't favorable to the individual with 'higher status' (in that setting). They would literally be so crude as to come out and make reference to the "elder's" position, in defense of this action. This is the ONLY style of conflict resolution I ever saw. No other issue was ever even listened to.

A question that kept getting circulated in the Wiccan community, was why the "Witch Wars", as the unending chain of conflicts came to be called, were so out of control. Well, what do they expect? When you have people getting violated over and over, without getting so much as a sympathetic listen, the only reaction one should expect is rage, the only thing that the pure Pagan community has produced in abundance.

Violation is something that has a way of feeding on itself in such a setting. A sort of chain reaction will occur. Person A asks for something she doesn't deserve from one, and is turned down. In a fit of pique, she complains to person B, who does something obnoxious to one in response. In a Christian setting, that would incline person B to be apologetic to one, later, but we're dealing with people who feel that they are above justice. Consequently, person B will act more aggressively toward one in the future, not less, because of his misdeeds today. Person B does a further injustice to one in the presence of person C, who notes that person B is of higher status than one, just like person B noticed the same of person A. The chain reaction continues.

The point, here, is that the process doesn't run down. Support is offered to, and expect by, the higher status individual, not even as a matter of degree, but as an absolute. "You're either with me, or against me". Because if somebody holds back at all, the higher status individual will be annoyed, and a new chain reaction starts for the one who held back.

There is no way for the wars to cease on these terms. Even walking away from the conflict will do little good, because, as we see, all that happens is that the petulant elder will follow one, and continue to seek revenge, indefinitely. It's all or nothing. At each point, because one has not given her everything she wants, the conflict starts all over again. There is no buffer between her rage and her reason.

Now picture what happens, in a relatively small community, when one has an endless string of these eternal conflicts, that can only be ended by the victim of somebody else's aggression submitting to a mass violation, and humiliation, and acquiring an abundance of rage in the process, seeking an outlet? What can one possibly expect to see, but a battlefield?

An orthodox Christian would say that such a place is the Devil's playground. We're inclined to agree. When people literally find themselves longing to bludgeon the lives out of each other, because they've thrown away the ability to talk things out, and examine their own failings, the results are Satanic, in the Christian sense, whether the parties in question wish to acknowledge the existence of the Devil or not.

Here is one place where Jesus makes the difference. A Christian will openly question the misdeeds of his elder, because the elder will be expected to eventually get over it, as long as a reasonable effort at Justice has been made. Hostilities do not become a form of perpetual motion. This, as much as anything else, is the embodiment of the Christian message, and the blessings that the Modern Age brought to us, before they were foolishly cast away.

When I originally conceived this Shrine, it was as a place for the adoration of a deity who has been long neglected : Aphrodite. Personally, I could not imagine her worship, without the worship of Jesus as well, but I didn't want to put barriers in the way of those who would come to adore our goddess. After all, the worship of Jesus is already flourishing (and thank the Almighty for that!). But, in the mad rush to get people in here, I missed the point.

One may speak of Prometheus as being an early precursor to Christ, but modern Westerners are not going to have as strong a connection to that earlier incarnation of the Lord of Peace, as they will to the richer conception of the one that they grew up with. If we try, on an institutional level, to make do without Him, we follow in the footsteps of these foolish Neo-Pagans we have spoken of, and create an environment in which hostilities won't run down, of their own accord.

For us, Christ is the one that brings us that soothing presence. He is the one we believe in, and a religion can not be all things to all people, if it is to stand for anything at all. So, we must insist on His presence here, and bid farewell to those who are uncomfortable with this. The price of keeping them is just too high.

Others will find peace in the Buddha, or Kwan Yin, or ... and, we respect that. Buddhism and the Chinese religions are honorable paths, that, like Christianity and Judaism bring out the best in their worshippers. But, you'd better make sure that somewhere, that moderating, calming influence is present somewhere in the faith you're practicing. Otherwise, Justice will never be seen in your group's presence. Neither will free and open discussion, and that can lead to some bizarre results ...

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