6) We share with most other Neopagans a distaste for monolith- ic religious organizations and would-be messiahs and gurus. Ob- viously, this places the founders of Neopagan religious tradi- tions in a complex position: they need enough religious authority to focus the organizations they're founding, but not so much as to allow them (or their successors) to become oppressive. Since the pluralistic approach denies the existence of any One True Right and Only Way, and since Neopagans insist upon their own human fallibility, we expect to be able to steer between the Scylla of tyranny and the Charybdis of anarchy. 7) In keeping with this, we believe that healthy religions should have a minimum amount of dogma and a maximum amount of eclectism and flexibility. Neopagans tend to be reluctant to accept any idea without personally investigating both its practi- cality and its long-range consequences. They are also likely to take useful ideas from almost any source that doesn't run too fast to get away. We intend to be a "reconstructionist" tradition of Druidism, but we know that eventually concepts from nonDruidic sources will be grafted on to our trees. There's no harm in this, as long as we stay aware of what we are doing at every step of the way, and make a legitimate effort to find authentic (and therefore spiritually and esthetically congruent) parallels in genuine Indo-European sources first. As for flexi- bility, Neopagan Druidism is an organic religion, and like all other organisms it can be expected to grow, change and produce offshoots as the years go by. 8) We believe that ethics and morality should be based upon joy, self-love and respect; the avoidance of actual harm to others; and the increase of public benefit. We try to balance out people's needs for personal autonomy and growth, with the neces- sity of paying attention to the impact of each individual's actions on the lives and welfare of others. The commonest Neo- pagan ethical expression is "If it doesn't hurt anyone, do what you like." Most Neopagans believe in some variant or another of the principle of karma, and state that the results of their actions will always return to them. It's difficult for ordinary humans to successfully commit "offenses against the Gods," short of major crimes such as ecocide or genocide, and our deities are perfectly capable of defending their own honor without any help from mortal busybodies. We see the traditional monotheistic con- cepts of sin, guilt and divine retribution for thought-crimes as sad misunderstandings of natural growth experiences. 9) We believe that human beings were meant to lead lives filled with joy, love, pleasure, beauty and humor. Most Neopagans are fond of food, drink, music, sex and bad puns, and consider all of these (except possibly the puns) to be sacraments. Al- though the ancient Druids appear to have had ascetics within their ranks, they also had a sensualist tradition, and the common folk have always preferred the latter. Neopagan Druids try to keep these two approaches in balance and harmony with each other by avoiding dualistic extremes. But the bedrock question is, "If your religion doesn't enable you to enjoy life more, why bother?" 10) We believe that with proper training, art, discipline and intent, human minds and hearts are fully capable of performing most of the magic and miracles they are ever likely to need. This is done through the use of what we perceive as natural, divinely granted psychic powers. As with many other Neopagan traditions, the conscious practice of magic is a central part of most of our religious rituals. Unlike monotheists, we see no clearcut division between magic and prayer. Neither, however, do we assume an automatic connection between a person's ability to perform "miracles" and either (a) their personal spirituality or (b) the accuracy of their poly/theological opinions.
