The Barbarism of Pagans

The term "pagan" is deeply offensive. Why should there be a dichotomy between those of us who believe the story of Abraham and those who do not? It is possible to prove that the morality of cultures correlates with the decision to worship one invisible God, rather than worshiping a tree.

Of the following list, whom would you describe as "barbaric?"

Mahatma Gandhi vs. Ozma bin Laden
Chief Seattle vs. Pope Pius IX
Marcus Aurelius vs. Theodoric
Confucius vs. Marx
Montezuma vs. Cortez
the current Pope and the current President of China
Squanto vs. the Pilgrims

Of course, my list is anecdotal. It would be equally easy to tilt such a list toward the Abrahamites. What pagan society has invented vaccines, created red cross, or conceived of democracy? Could Jefferson, ML King, the enlightenment, have arisen in Africa or China. My answer is facile .."why not?" One need not demonize (to use a common phrase) Christendom to question the Western depiction of pagans.

In his wonderful little book, Arrow of God, Chinua Achebe describes the religion of a Nigerian village during the period of early British colonialism. This religion had been intentionally agreed to, actually created by the elders six generations before in an attempt to decrease strife between the tribes. The hero of the book, the head priest, is attempting to deal with the attractions of the Christian missionaries and their colorless God. As depicted by a Achebe, the village God is very real, literally the soul of the people, motivating morality and family life. In contrast the colorless Christian God is a tool of the missionaries used to pry a Achebe's son away.

The Achebe story is all too familiar to Jews who have suffered from Christian evanagelism. Even during WWII, Chrsitian kindness was temepered by the forced conversions of our children to the religions of their hosts. Teh horror stories of Jewish children stolen by Pious IX are infamous. The Muslim world has been better, although depriving us of the rights to vote, wear clothing of our own choice, or to accept converts. In contrast, Jews who have lived in pagan societies, including India, China, and even amongst Native Americans, have been treated with respect.

The anti-pagan bigotry is not uniquely Christian. With all due respect to the Prophet, his tolerance of Jews and Christians does not excuse his intolerance of those who worship the sun or moon. Islam's claim to tolerance stops short of accepting Buddhism, never mind accepting worship of Manitoba, Siva, or Thor.

Bertrand Russel made much the same argument in his essay, "Why I am not a Christian." The philosopher damned the Jews for our invention of an exclusive truth. Judaism, however, has never had the opportunity to practice the kind of intolerance that comes with a Universal Church or the Ummaya of Mohamed's world conquering successors. Rather, living as an often persecuted minority, we have developed a unique passion for religious freedom reflected in the prominent roles Jews of the 19th and 20th centuries played in the labor and civil rights movements.

I would like to offer a theory. Historians tell us that the Jewish scripture was assembled or perhaps written during the period from 500 B.C.E. on. This is the period of ascendance of Greco-Roman society. It seems to me that the chauvinism of the Jewish culture, most probably represents an effort to protect the Jewish people from Greco-Roman society rather than a statement of elitism. We, the Jews, are unique .. the pagan (non- Greco-Roman) people who survived.

Greco-Roman culture became Christendom. Christianity as formalized under Emperor Constantine was a state religion. That religion represented not only Roman power but Roman civilization. 200 years later, with his successful conquest of Mecca, the Prophwt brought civilization to Arabia. Like Constantine, Mohammed taught the unity of the state and religion. He created a social system, Islam, built on the premise of the great wisdom of those entrusted with interpretation of the Koran. Koranic law, as interpreted by Mohamed's success ors the Caliphs ruled from Spain to Indonesia.

I vote for joining the pagans.