Oppression - what struggles to hold us down

   By Axiom

Isolation

This has been an interesting couple of months. I am seeing more and articles about religious opression - the fundies calling out about how their rights are being ignored and their faith insulted; non-Christians screaming about discrimination by the fundies on every matter from here to the sun; and non-fundie Christians coming out to protest the lumping of themselves in with the fundies.

Everyone has a bone to pick. Everyone is suffering.

Now I'm not claiming there isn't oppresion occuring - of any of the groups, or any others for that matter. There is. Part of the problem is that internal oppression is often a subjective matter, as perceived by the oppressed. It's very clear if you oppress me through physical means - you reduce my access to education, free speech, etc, and anyone can see I am being oppressed. But make it a matter of psychological oppression and it becomes a different matter. Then other factors come to play.

To a fundie Christian faith is a matter of black and white. Their religious belief holds that they are right and anything not in agreement with their faith is wrong. Wrong to the "burn in the fiery pits of hell" wrong. They believe completely and utterly that their God should be acknowledged in all matters, and the world should function under fundie attitudes, rules, and understandings. Anyone how protests and insists upon respect for different opinions is demanding something a fundie may not be able to do - respect what s/he sees as inspired by the devil. Surely this is Satan trying to worm his way into their faith? This seemingly harmless insistence upon equality is in reality oppression - in the fundie's eyes - designed to destroy his/her salvation and turn the world away from God.

Of course, to the person protesting the fundie's efforts to turn our world into a fundie heaven, it's no such thing. Indeed, s/he may even believe the fundie is the one removing the world further from God's love.

From the perspective of many Pagans, the fundies are responsible for most of the religious oppresion we face. That oppression bleeds into every facet of our lives, affecting the education of our children, the movies we see, the legal and political environment we live in, and so many other things. Our oppression is a real one, but often it is very hard to isolate to others. A phrase, a look, the cold shoulder - traditional methods of showing and reinforcing the "outcaste" nature - and more obvious methods. The growing drive to bring Intelligent Design into schools as a valid scientific theory along with the attempts to discredit Evolution is a more overt form of oppression. The comments by people in power insulting the patriotism, ethics, or intelligence of non-Christians shows the degree of safety and superiority these oppressors feel - they are striding out into the international public forum.

Yes, we face oppression.

But what about our own self-oppression? How many of us strengthen the case against us through our own actions? Not that I am blaming - it is hard to continually resist the obvious confidence and belief, especially for those who walk alone or in small numbers. Easy indeed to react and "prove" the case, or become flamboyantly different. How many of us, beaten down, take on a "victim mentality" and supress our instincts? Unable to resist or fight, we almost believe what they say about us. Some even give up their path and follow those who refused to accept them as individuals. Drawn into the flock, they often become the more virilent and anti-Pagan for their self-doubt and loss.

And how many of us become trapped in a world of bitter anger at the oppression we face? Unable or willing to release the anger at the injustice we can see that they cannot, we brood and stew. We engage in discrimination - even if it's only verbal, and become prejudiced. We become that which we most fear.

And what does this do to us? To take on the worst of our oppressors and make it so much a part of ourselves so that even if they grow and learn to see past their prejudice we never do is horrifying. This, to me, is the worst oppression. This is where the battle against oppression begins - within ourselves. Only when we can defeat our own oppressive tendencies - towards self and other - can we begin to combat that of those who hate or fear or misunderstand us.

A man told his grandson: "A terrible fight is going on inside me -- a fight between two wolves. One is evil, and represents hate, anger, arrogance, intolerance, and superiority . The other is good, and represents joy, peace, love, tolerance, understanding, humility, kindness, empathy, generosity, and compassion. This same fight is going on inside you, inside every other person too." The grandson then asked: "Which wolf will win?" The old man replied simply: "The one you feed." ~ Anon.

For a humourous look at oppression, Pax Neo-Tech has a wonderful article which, while funny has some good solid points to make.

Religious Tolerance's page, Religious Hatred, Conflict, Intolerance, and Other Unspiritual Topics is also worth a look at.

   

The Spiral Path    By Rebecca SerVoss My cycle this year has been all manner of crazy. I spent the Spring enmeshed in shadow work, looking at all the things in me that I needed to deal with. And while in some ways it makes sense that I should grow and change during a season who's driving force is growth and change, in other ways it made Spring a most confusing time. But then too, I need to get over my inability to look at the Crone with both my eyes and my heart open. Otherwise I'm going to get a huge lump on my head when I get hit with, what I lovingly refer to as, the Goddess' 2x4 of smack-age. One of the main things I discovered about myself in all this internal work, was a need to better define some things I hold as truth. And a big one is karma; and through karma, reincarnation. Ever since I was little (maybe 6 or 7) I have believed in reincarnation, thanks in large part to my father's explanation about the matter/energy cycle. Some might think Newtonian physics a bit thick for a six year old, but I had an intense desire to KNOW when I was young. A thing which has stood me in good stead all my life. He explained to me that, while energy could become matter and matter could become energy, neither could be destroyed. He also explained to me that our bodies were run by energy, and we were made of matter and thus could change form, but never be destroyed. And so I went forth into the world knowing I would always exist. In some form or another. But now...well, I haven changed my mind about reincarnation, but I have been taking a hard look at what I believe exactly. And I find I don't agree wholly with either the Eastern or Western ideology on the subject. In the West, reincarnation holds that the soul becomes impure through living and the only way to become clean is to banish the impurity from the body. And I can't get behind any ideology that holds life to be unclean, impure, and corrupting. I find I think more along Eastern lines here, in that the soul learns through each incarnation and the road to enlightenment is through knowledge. In the East however, they hold that no part of the consiousness of an individual exists after their death and that the soul or body energy does not retain any past life knowledge-- only past life karma. While I definitely think that karmic debt explains a good portion of why people have the lives they are born with (some rich, some poor, some lucky/gifted, others not), karmic justice makes little sense to me if some subconscious sense of one's past lives is not retained. So in this, I suppose, I follow Western ideology. Have I confused anyone yet? Either way, I find that I am thinking more now, and making myself examine some things, and I find I feel stronger in my center. Which is a good thing. Now, if I can just anticipate from which direction She's going to swing at me, I might be able to duck. Beca

The World Around Us: Links of Interest

Potter Books Are 'A Cult'
Religious intolerance turning people off
Druids gather on cursed Tara
Progressive Christians To Announce New Political Organization
Please don't feed the fears
   

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