re pantheism environmentalism by cleveland freenet edu gary v cavano writes does anybody out there see the current emphasis on the environment being turned unintentionally of course into pantheism i ve debated this quite a bit and while i think a legitimate concern for the planet is a great thing i can easily see it being perverted into something dangerous many pagans are involved in environmentalism this is only natural since respect for the earth is a fundamental tenet of all pagan denominations this doesn t mean that environmentalism is wrong any more than supporting peace in the middle east is wrong because jews and muslims also work for it nonetheless paganism is certainly on the rise and we as christians should address this and look at what draws people from paganism to christianity like it or not pagan religions are addressing needs that christianity should be and isn t i believe that paganism has hit upon some major truths that christianity has forgotten this doesn t mean that paganism is right but it does mean that we have something to learn from the pagan movement first paganism respects the feminine christianity has a long history of oppressing women and many if not most male christians are still unable to live in a non sexist manner the idea that god is sexless or that christ could have been a women and still accomplished his mission is met with a great deal of resistance this insistance on a male dominated theology and the male dominated society that goes with it drives away many young women who have had to put up with sexist attitudes in their churches second paganism respects the physical world this is an idea with great ramifications one of these is environmentalism respect for our surroundings and our world another is integration of sexuality christianity has a long tradition of calling all sexual feeelings sinful and urging people to suppress and deny their sexuality this is too much sex is clearly a part of human experience and attempting to remove it is simply not a feasible option christianity has only begun to develop a workable sexual ethic and paganism is an attractive option i m not advocating that christian doctrines no sex before marriage etc should be changed just that christians work toward a more moderate ethic of sexuality denial of sexuality places as much emphasis on sex as unmoderated sexuality and neither one does much to bring us closer to god alan terlep incestuous vituperousness oakland university rochester mi atterlep vela acs oakland edu melissa eggertsen rushing in where angels fear to tread
