Thursday, August 18, 2011

Hooray for Vanderbilt! But we have work to do...

The good news: Vanderbilt University is acknowledging Pagan holidays, and informing their professors that it’s a valid reason to miss class.

This is such fantastic progress! Pagans will begin to feel safer talking about their faith and having time to celebrate the holidays. I applaud Vanderbilt’s forward thinking and inclusiveness. Hopefully, this will also bring up conversations amongst students and faculty, and a greater awareness of what Paganism and Wicca really is, instead of the misconceptions that are out in the media every day.

The bad news: a man by the name of Roy Exum wrote an opinion piece for the Chattanoogan, entitled ”Vanderbilt’s Pagan Holidays” and in it, he disparages Pagans, equating us with crazies in an insane asylum. There are a few points in which I take issue.

He makes mention that the school tuition is about $50,000 per year, and infers that due to the amount of money that is paid to go there, Pagans and Witches have no right to ask for holidays off. He states he’s for Freedom of Religion, yet his words clearly mock the notion.

Mr. Exum continues on, mocking Beltane. He concedes that Yom Kippur for the Jewish and Eid al Fitr for Muslims are actual holidays, but pokes fun at a tradition of dancing around a Maypole, calling the celebration “to symbolize the mystery of the Sacred Marriage of Goddess and God” as “a little over the top”. He goes on to further desecrate the sacred Maypole by inferring that people will get drunk and use it as a stripper’s pole.

Do Pagans or Wiccans mock the Catholics celebration of May Day, where they honor Mary, whom many see as a Goddess? They pick flowers to lay at her feet, have processionals, and sometimes even dance around a Maypole! Personally, I can’t see how this is much different than some of our celebrations.

Samhain is also in Mr. Exum’s crosshairs, as he slams our Feast of the Dead, and compares it to football games played by the Vanderbilt team late in the season. He doesn’t understand why someone would honor their ancestors who have long been dead. I’d venture to bet he doesn’t know who his are or why history is an important thing to know about.

I think the most horrific and uneducated comment in his entire opinion piece is this: “from what I have read, there isn’t any honor if you are a witch or a pagan”. This statement hurt me to my core. I have seen so-called Christians walk past people that needed help. I have heard them lie. I have seen them cheat on their spouse. And while I’m sure there are Witches, Wiccans, and Pagans that do those things, we, by far try to do what is right in all situations. The Witches, Wiccans, and Pagans that I know are by far more honorable than many of the self-described Christians I know.

Mr. Exum closed his opinion piece with this: “But it is also sad. For a revered institution like Vanderbilt to officially recognize pagans and wiccans shows the Apocalypse should probably be included too.” I have no response as to how much an insult that statement truly is.

To his credit, Mr. Exum explained that he doesn’t know much about Pagans. My questions to him are if he didn’t know much about hadron colliders, would he try to write about the technical manuals for it? (My thought is he would say no.) Then why are you writing about a faith you have no idea what it’s about?

Some more good news: Mr. Exum nicely added his email address at the end of the above linked article. Please, if you feel the need, take a moment and drop Mr. Exum a line. Let him know what we are truly about.