To: Father Terrence who wrote (15500 ) 1/16/1998 8:21:00 PM From: Grainne Read Replies (1) | Respond to of 108807
Well, I have no personal beliefs in any gods or goddesses, in the sense that I worship them or think they are powerful. I don't think modern paganism is harmful, in the sense that it is mostly environmentalism and living life now to the fullest, with no concept of the afterlife (I am definitely an environmentalist). I think that a lot of people who are very lonely and maybe feel a little left out join the modern pagan movement, and attach themselves to gods and goddesses symbolically. But I think most pagans, even if you want to call them mystics, are definitely way over in the free thinker/rationalist arena, Terrence, for the most part. I am not a practicing witch, either. The little emoticon is a sweet, winking joke of a witch, not a real one. I'm not a socialist, either!!! You will note that this is a stock forum, and I found myself here because I am a capitalist who wants to make profits by investing (if only it worked for me more often)! I think maybe where we diverge is that I do believe in things like the new California no smoking in bars law, because I think the public health is important. I am probably more of a statist than you are in that sense, but not markedly more so. I believe drugs should be decriminalized, and government should be as simple as possible. I was attracted to the libertarian platform when I got some literature about it in San Francisco several years ago, but as I read around the web now, the intellectual libertarians seem to have been invaded by the militia movement and the Christian far right or something. So I am a little mixed up at the moment about how I feel about that.