Are NeoPagans the New Transcendentalists?

For those within the UU Church, it is often true that no group of people is often more scandalous than the Neopagans. They are often the ones pushing the edges, or challenging established doctrine. For example, within my own congregation our group's decision to challenge the flyer program was somewhat controversial. A few people felt that we violated the same boundary of Church and State that we sought to defend, and others felt that we didn't submit to the right church procedures before engaging in such a radical piece of activism. While I might disagree with those folks, I love them as part of my community.

Truth be told, most UU Pagans are far more moderate than many other outside groups. For example, it is not terribly unusual for some Pagan events to be clothing optional, but I think its rather clear you'd never see that sort of thing at a UU Pagan group. Nonetheless, the same ideas espoused by Walt Whitman and other Transcendentalists are still quite radical today, and while other UU's might find them interesting reading or philosophically worthwhile, they may not be willing to follow them as literally as many modern Neopagans do. In fact, if you review many of the beliefs espoused by Whitman, then you'll still find these ideas to be quite radical in practice within a UU Congregation. If that's not enough, UU Congregations have leaned increasingly Humanistic over recent years. Pagans are often not only theists but polytheists. We also don't make any apologies for anthropomorphizing nature, indeed we almost flaunt it.

Back in the day, well known Transcendentalists like Thomas Wentworth Higginson and Theodore Parker were kicked out of Unitarian Churches because of their radical ideas about abolition and women's rights. As a parallel, I've witnessed several CUUPS Chapters have a falling out with their parent congregation then disolve. Apparently, the problem is big enough that CUUPS even has a whole guide published on how to maintain a good relationship with your congregation. Our group, NatureSpirit, has done a reasonable job over the six years of our existence of avoiding conflict; however, our success has also made us more daring. I think when more of our members are more willing to take on works of activism and publicly speak their views, then life may get a little more challenging (especially for me, since I'm usually the one serving as moderator during such times!) Of course, I'm also learning that conflict isn't always something to be avoided. Sometimes it is only in conflict that we can be truly honest with each other. I can only hope that like our Transcendentalist ancestors that Neopagans can somehow find a way to maintain our connection to UU's, and that our fellow UU's will be patient with us until we figure out how our thealogy can be truely reconciled.