I came across an interesting anecdote in Starhawks's 10th anniversary edition of The Spiral Dance. She relates that sometimes people ask her if she believes in the Goddess. Starhawk poses the response, "Do you believe in rocks?" Because the question of belief when it comes to the Goddess doesn't make sense in our religious context. I started to think about why that might be.
There is no "test" in Paganism. There is nothing to believe and no rule to follow other than Don't hurt any living thing. If we choose to believe in an afterlife or reincarnation, those are not based on our belief in anything. We won't be denied these when we die; there is no judge to fear or prepare for. We connect with the Goddess intellectually, but we skip past "belief" somehow into simply knowing or creating.
Goddess is more of a metaphor than a physical being, so the question of belief is just downright puzzling. The only thing you really have to believe in is that there is a force that you choose to name Goddess or Horned God. Since Paganism is highly subjective instead of regulated, this force can be anything--life force, love, nature, weather, coincidence, or all of the above.
Since there's more of a focus on christianity than Paganism in the U.S., our beliefs are not a broadly social focus. I can't speak for all Pagans, but I know that I and at least some others are private about our ideas and experiences. Christians, on the other hand, often talk about their beliefs and experiences with others. Theists and monotheists will state without provocation that they believe in jehovah.
I've never read any Pagan literature that had a run-down of beliefs or any treatment of our tradition as not being the natural way in which we view the world. I never sit down to do a ritual and recite anything like catholics and christians will during a service. We don't have religious beliefs; we have knowledge. Our beliefs are ethical ones that can be completely separated from our religion, just like a lot of atheists have ethics without religious ritual. While catholics will recite long strings of beliefs about Mother Mary, Jesus' death and resurrection, John the Baptist's role, and their own life after death, Pagans don't really spend time saying, "I believe in the Wheel of the Year. I believe that humans are an equal part of nature and a part of its cyclical motion. I believe we should only act so that we do not harm any other living creature." I guess we spend less time talking and more time walking.
Pagans don't have beliefs because we don't need them. Our religious traditions are based on what we can measure and experience. I didn't choose Paganism; it chose me. When I went looking for another religion after my protestant fall-out, I was very picky. I looked at the Eastern religions, but there would always be something I didn't agree with. I developed myself instead, and when I finally learned that I had naturally been practicing Paganism, I embraced the term and all that it stands for. I never had to learn anything that didn't ring true or wasn't left up to me if I wanted to learn more. On the other side of the spectrum are the religions where belief is everything. Suspending one's logic and learning about specific people and events make up the "faith" so many people put on a pedestal.
We don't have to "believe" because the Goddess is not separate; she contains and is everything. She isn't going to pour her wrath on those who don't worship her; she's all inclusive. There are no stretches of the imagination because there are no extremes, absolutes, literal meanings, or lies. We don't have to choose between Goddess and science; they work together.
If you think Paganism is wrong, bad, evil, and punishable by hellfire, I hope you're not a catholic, because catholicism has been incorporating our deities and our ideas for as long as its been around. Protestants are getting there, too.
I keep seeing all these books for brides that are supposed to help these women invite jehovah to their wedding. It makes me want to laugh and throw up. First of all, the term "bride" refers to the Irish goddess Brigid (pronounced Breed). As brides, we are stand-ins for this amazing goddess, and as jealous as jehovah is, I don't know why you'd invite him to witness this. Secondly, for centuries the church railed against weddings because they had been a uniquely Pagan practice (handfastings). Eventually, the church gave in, as it usually does, and started raking in the cash. If you are catholic, you might recognize the name Brigid because when the church invaded the Celtic lands, they couldn't stomp out her worship. They incorporated her as St. Brigid and even said she had been the nursemaid to baby Jesus. I wish they'd add that into the bible: how an Irish goddess moved to the Middle East to take human form and nurse one of the area's several melancholy resurrection gods, also in human form.
My final note: I always loved the depictions of Jesus in the final hours before his death (which was actually a political assassination for preaching contrary to Roman beliefs). I would rant against those narcoleptic disciples for being unable to keep watch. Jesus felt so real in his distress, so human in his pleading for intervention. The image of the sad male god made an impression on me, and it was sad for me to think about leaving him behind with my previous religion. Fortunately, like I mentioned, the character of Jesus was completely unoriginal, and I've been able to go on enjoying this image through the mythology of several cultures. I am still on the trail of how this particular prophet ended up being regarded as the resurrection god of the christians, but I'll get there.
