Green Pagans
Re: Green pagans find way to White House funding and Dancing Druids
Regarding Judi McLeod’s article, I feel it is important to point out a few factual errors in her arguments. First, Earth Day was organized by Gaylord Nelson and organized by Denis Hayes in 1970. As someone who has indeed hosted and organized Earth Day events in my own community fro three years, I can tell you that McLeod has a rather poor understanding of the mission of the organization. Earth Day is not a religious organization, but it is supported by may interfaith organizations including many evangelicals.
I can also tell you that there is not one legitimate Pagan organization so far who has received a single penny from GWs so-called faith based initiatives. All G.W. did was try to make it legal for groups receiving money to discriminate. Federal money has always been available to religious groups like the Salvation Army but with strings attached which many conservative organizations disliked. Since most Pagan groups don’t discriminate to begin with, nothing really changed for these organizations with the passing of this rule.
People like Jose Arguelles do not represent either the Pagan movement or Earth day in any significant way whatsoever. To make that claim would be like saying that Jerry Falwell represents all of Christianity. There are generally recognized and respected leaders of the Pagan community but he is not one of them. Besides, Paganism is divided into many different denominations or “paths” and not all of them agree on matters of politics or theology. Even if you could interview a leader of the Pagan community, any conclusions would only represent the path that person represents. Otherwise it would be like trying to draw conclusions about what Mennonites believe by interviewing a Catholic.
After all, neither Jose Arguelles nor the Pagan community invented the Gaia theory; it was created by James Lovelock , a NASA Scientist, and Lynn Margulis, a microbiologist. If this is the idea McLeod wishes to attack, then she should try the arguments of Richard Dawkins or another scientist who is respected in the scientific community. That said, I suspect McLeod will dislike his conclusions far more than those of Lovelock. Speaking of such things, it seems as if McLeod has an animosity towards science itself. This seems to be quite common among conservatives and paradoxical at the same time. After all, I’ve never heard a conservative challenge the validity of the Doppler effect when pulled over by a police officer, yet somehow the same theory when applied to the Universe is somehow controversial. Likewise, McLeod’s insinuations that theories are invalid because a specific religious group believes them too, is ridiculous. That would be similar to me rejecting the theory of combustion because Pat Robertson drives a car. Once again, don’t insult your readers. If McLeod wishes to attack global warming then try quoting a current article from a relevant and respected Scientific journal (but you may find few opinions to support your view…)
In short, instead of doing real research an publishing an intelligent and informed opinion, McLeod has resorted to attacking environmentalism and an entire faith group based on nothing more than association. Looking at McLeod’s publication list, I doubt her claim as an “award winning journalist”merits much respect at all. Fox news hardly qualifies as a news source. That would be like calling the NRA a news organization. Besides, I’d expect a minimum of research to be done by any good Journalist, especially before publishing an opinion piece. Frankly, the research for this article is so poorly done that it completely invalidates her conclusions and opinions as simply misinformed and uneducated. As a free bit of advice, there are plenty of things to make fun of the Pagan community for, if that is her intent. There are also plenty of ways to legitimately criticize environmental organizations. How about doing some research and making an intelligent argument for once?
Sincerely,
Lonnie M. Murray
Charlottesville, VA
