Fundamentalism in Paganism

I won't lie, one of the reason I left Christianity was because of the fundamentalism in the religion. I didn't like the idea of everyone claiming that they are the only ones who was correctly worshiping the White Christ, and everyone else was going to Hell. However, I've seen the same fundamentalism in Paganism, especially when it comes to Reconstructionism. The popular war cry for the Recons is the “scholar” argument.

Every ritual, every holiday, everything that has to do with lore has to be based on a scholarly article or works. If it's not backed by lore or scholarly work, then it's denounced at Wiccatru, or Wicca. Which brings up another negative point about the sickening infestation of Fundamentalism in Paganism. The division between the people.

It's no secret that Recons do think less of Wiccans. I'm sure there are some Recons and Wiccans that are friends, but by and large there is that division between the two groups. The fact that being called Wiccan is seen as some kind of insult really just boggles the mind. So a group of people don't follow the “Source?” way of thinking, who cares, and I've never heard of any Wiccans who tried to pass their religion off as anything even close to what the Recons are doing.

It's not that I have a problem with Recons, I just have a problem with the fact that they are bringing Christian Fundamentalism into Paganism and re-branding it as Authentic Paganism. It's remarkably similar to the whole “My grandma was a witch” thing that Wiccan use to try to give their practices some legitimacy. Who cares if you're first generation or second? Who cares that it's something the ancient would've or wouldn't have done. In case you haven't noticed the ancients are dead.

Now I do agree that one should do their homework when it comes to the gods and lore, so that you can properly worship the gods, you should get familiar with all aspect of the gods you call to your ritual space, otherwise you're just going to piss them off and insult them. However, I do believe there is room for UPG (Unverified Personal Gnostic) and for bringing in new ritual ideas or new ideas to worship the gods.

Fundamentalist Pagans also seem to forget that in ancient times, there was no universally set ways of doing things like today. Rituals, holidays, Hel even name of the gods varied from tribe to tribe. Hel even the Lore will be forever incomplete, and Hel even the “holy” Lore was (and is) a UPG.

My point is this, stop taking yourself so seriously and have fun with it, I mean c'mon, you're sitting around a fire and drinking Ale.