Now, I would assume, not having read any of Cowan’s works (though I’m not tempted to, thanks to this intriguing interview), that he has encountered pagans in person. I’d just remind him that, overall, we are a collection of individuals following a wide variety of spiritual paths, and there’s really nothing you can say about us other than that we self-identify as “pagan” (among other, more specific terms).

Overall, though, excellent interview. I enjoyed the read, and I think there were some good points raised. The media in general like to play on people’s fears–that sells. The adrenaline, mixed with justification for one’s most irrational terrors, are the perfect pablum for this culture. Less thinking, more fearing–*regardless* of religion.

I’m also very glad Cowan brought up the sociological use of the word “cult”. That’s by far one of the most misunderstood words out there, semantically speaking. I remember sitting in sociology class, learning about the differences between a cult, a sect, and a religion, and thinking “Wow, it would be a lot easier to talk about being pagan if these words were more commonly used in this fashion”.

Finally, regarding minority religions (and various fringe subcultures) in the media in general, a good friend of mine wrote up an excellent blog post about it a couple of years ago: http://heron61.livejournal.com/191533.html . In it he delineates four stages of increasing acceptance as demonstrated by media portrayals of a group in question. I think it fits in nicely with the discussion of neopagan religions and other groups, and it shows the historical pattern that the media has had towards the fringe-moving-inward in general.

Good interview, overall.

I also have a comment about Doug’s comment on orthodoxy. Just because some Pagans might get very upset about including Jesus and Mary in a Pagan pantheon, does that mean they are defending an orthodoxy? The notion that Doug mentions of an “affective and authoritative personal gnosticism” is absolutely not contradictory to his subsequent comments about some Pagans being upset about including Christian ‘deities.’ The fact is, some Pagans do accept Christian deities and some don’t. Perhaps those that don’t and are extremely vocal about it are presenting their own orthodoxy, but it in no way is representative of some overarching Pagan orthodoxy.

In fact, look at the popularity of the novel, Mists of Avalon, where the cult of the Virgin Mary is presented as a version of Goddess worship. I’d venture to say that there are probably a great deal of Pagans who interpret Mary that way. I think it’s always a mistake to assume that the loudest online voices are always representative of the community as a whole.