BORDERLINES: CHRISTIANS & PAGANS

The Christian-Pagan Question has gripped this sphere of things as early as Dr. Revilo P. Oliver’s critiques of the religion following his removal from the Buckleyite National Review sphere. This faultline has made us aware of its presence through the tremors which emanate forthwith, taking the shape of arguments and hot takes on Twitter, videos and essays dedicated to one side or another, and the invisible enmity which builds in the hearts of men who both see themselves as defenders of the side of truth against an ostensible “Ally of the moment.”

The shortage of solutions matches the excess of bad faith (no pun intended,) displayed by both sides of course, whenever this particular question is addressed or brought about by a usually much tamer post or conversation. Such is the nature of boundary disputes, the tiniest incident can spark an outrage which can grow to encompass entire communities, doubly so when both sides find themselves convinced they are the exclusive side of truth.

Take the Christians, without a doubt the more numerous side in this sphere, whose admirably genuine faith is the entire reason they find themselves in these arguments in the first place. Christianity has a unique claim to being the sole universal truth, an idea as Western as it is Christian. This Will-to-Universality, which makes its followers so formidable and dedicated, can also lead to haughtiness and barbs of “LARPer” aimed at their Pagan colleagues’ sincerity of faith, which does little to win the endearment of the Pagans.

On the other hand, the Pagans suffer from a massive amount of insincere practitioners in this sphere especially. The Christians have the benefit that their insincere practitioners have no compelling need to be in this sphere and thus, aren’t. This is an interesting truth: Paganism of the based variety is entirely limited to those within this sphere. Therefore, it doesn’t help that the arguments of the Pagan contra the Christian are targeted not at the sincerity of the individual Christian, but at the sincerity of the whole religion of Christianity, such as when Pagans claim Christianity to be the glorified worship of a Levantine Regional Deity or similar arguments.

Even those Pagans who can be called “serious in faith,” such as Thomas Rowsell A.K.A. Survive the Jive, Frodi from Guide to Kulchur, uh… a certain Norwegian Musician, and Bronze Age Pervert, they suffer from the same shortcomings which have plagued those underground Pagan sects which (as STJ pointed out) have existed as recently as the 19th century. These problems are threefold:

1. The nature of the Christian Conversions as well as the nature of the Pagan faiths in the first place, have limited the understanding of the pre-Christian faith to a couple of Eddas, Icelandic Sagas, folk-tales, and artifacts. This has done little to provide a coherent view of the faith.
2. The surviving sources of pre-Christian Pagan faith are mostly limited to the Perennial Traditionalists, highly mistrusted Occult mystery schools, and the texts of Hinduism which are not widely known in the sphere.
3. There is a type of individual who is often attracted to Neopagan movements who can be classified as “Net negatives.”

A litany of other arguments could be brought up regarding the Neopagans and their various nuances, but I believe these three to be the most pressing.

Of course, those Bad-Faith Christians do little to improve the situation. Even for the more generally accepting or open-minded Christians (two traits which would otherwise mark them as unserious,) they fundamentally misunderstand or outright deny the importance of the Neopagan revival especially as it relates to these spheres. I believe this is for a further three reasons:

1. The admirable sincerity of faith in Christians prevents them from acknowledging any faith which deviates from the Christian message.
2. They believe the Neopagans are unserious, insincere, or an artificial creation of the regime’s divide et impera strategy.
3. Those pagans that do exist or are accepted in these spheres are so few and far between that they do not constitute any sort of meaningful political sphere unto themselves.

So we’re left with six factors, three contra the Pagans, three contra the Christians. I believe all six can be resolved (as well as the fault line,) so long as concessions are willing to be made on all sides. This is the foundation of diplomacy, especially of an intra-right-wing kind which is needed to get the various factions of this admittedly Big-Tent faction on some sort of common message. It is the purpose of this article that I will go through each of the six reasons I’ve outlined, and provide possible solutions or lines of thought that may be useful in the ongoing border conflicts that must be resolved before ‘Globohomo’ can effectively be opposed.

In terms of the obfuscation of the Pagan faith vis a vis the loss of texts, misunderstanding of surviving texts, and popular (but nonetheless untrue) notions is being clarified in the present time. Individuals such as the aforementioned Thomas Rowsell and his collaboration with the Dharmic Guru, Sri Dharma Pravartaka Acharya, have revived a legitimate pre-Christian theology built on the surviving texts drawn from the Dharmic tradition on the Sub-Continent. Bronze Age Pervert too, has been attempting to bring about an understanding of the pre-Christian Hellenic world, as it genuinely was, to great effect given his massive following on Twitter and other platforms. This is to say nothing of the innovations of thought brought about by the re-discovery of the Perennial Traditionalists of Evola and Guenon.

In terms of the Christian’s genuine faith in their claim to universality, the Academic Agent’s sphere has shown the possibility of having several right-wingers of various faiths come together to work towards the common goal of defeating Globohomo. Champions of the “Real” Christian Right, such as Charlemagne, the Prudentialist, and Ryan Turnipseed have had productive conversations with those of a Pagan, or at least a non-Christian persuasion, such as Frodi from Guide to Kulchur, Joel Davis, and AA himself. In the BAP-sphere too, his recent show (Caribbean Rhythms, ep. 97) eulogizing the untimely and tragic death of the great Catholic Frogposter, Night Errant (whose memorial fund to his wife and child can be found here,) has proven that cooperation and friendship across these spheres is not only possible but make both sides the stronger for it.

In terms of the “Net Negatives” attracted to Neopagan movements, this is certainly a genuine problem. At the same time, it is less a problem with the nascent faith itself and more of a problem with quality control. I.e., I say the solution is more vetting of individuals in general, rather than excluding a whole segment of the population who hold these views. Perhaps if any individual is a self-admitted Pagan, that should be not so much a “Red Flag” but rather a route to investigate further.

Finally, in terms of the sincerity and political power (or rather, the lack thereof) in reference to the Neopagans contra the Christians, it is true that the latter holds the majority of influence in both this sphere and the outside world. The Christians among us, and not the Pagans, will be the heavy lifters in the struggle that will come at some point in the future. Yet I believe it prudent to address the reality of the existence of Neopagans in this sphere in the first place. They are and will always be a comparative minority, as they have been since St. Boniface burned the Paderborn and Charlemagne set the foundations of Christendom. At the same time, it must be noted that Evola, Spengler, to a lesser extent Guenon, Alain de Benoist, Bronze Age Pervert, and many other thinkers which have made themselves the cornerstone of our new intellectual canon, were either explicitly Pagan, or had Pagan sympathies and sensibilities. As the Italian Elite Theorists teach us, an organized minority disproportionately affects the majority.

All else being equal, I see these spheres as friends and not enemies. I understand disagreements will continue to erupt, and that there are certain differences that will not be solved by one article, one thousand, or common struggle. No matter what, at least for now and the near future, all who believe in the abhorrence of Globohomo and the ruling elites, and the primacy of Natural Law must band together. I believe this is happening, and its encouragement of cooperation will be the first of many fatal blows that the beast of Globalism cannot recover from.