Why Pagans Make Great Libertarians

“Life Finds a Way”

by Gina Luttrell

946333_665879680099713_1474309305_nI am, broadly speaking, a pagan. Specifically, I am pantheistic druid, and, I think pagans make great, if not the best, libertarians. I am in the business of bringing people to consider the ideas of liberty, and I pull out whatever tools I can get.

I have spoken a great deal about why being a woman influences my ideas of liberty, and I have also spoken about how growing up poor helped found my ideas of freedom. But there is one other facet of my way of life that does, actually quite strongly inform the way I think about liberty, and that is through my religion.

Before I even begin to move into explaining why, I should make a pretty big caveat. Paganism is an umbrella term that actually covers a lot of different religions and traditions, ranging from the polytheistic religions of Ancient Greece and Rome to religions that are more akin to philosophies. However, just know that for this piece, I am referring to the many revivalist religions that are often based in nature.  You could also call them Earth religions. I certainly cannot speak for all those perspectives, but, in my time talking and working with other pagans, I have noticed a few commonalities among the different varieties and think that they naturally “get” a lot of what libertarianism has to say.

Pagans favor the natural over the constructed

Speaking of natural, pagans tend to “dig” things that come from nature. I disagree with many of my contemporaries about the distinction between what is “natural” and what is “artificial,” but, definitions aside, pagans intrinsically understand that nature has its own way of doing things, of finding balance, that is often better than humans can do. In fact, I wrote about this very phenomenon a little over two years ago, quoting one of my favorite druid authors:

Rational architecture and urban planning, scientific architecture and forestry, and logical schemes for education and social reform often cause more problems than they solve and fail to yield the results predicted by theory. Why? The theoreticians thought only of gwar and calas, change and stability, energy and matter. They left something out of the equation: nwyfre, the subtle element of life, feeling, and awareness. They forgot that any change they made would cause living things to respond creatively with changes of their own.

This is a beautifully articulated explanation of spontaneous order and, in particular, why central planners necessarily fail. Pagans can often be skeptical of artificially constructed solutions to problems, particularly when that solution involves interfering with a natural process. They have an intuitive distrust of authority for this reason, and that makes them great libertarians.

Pagans reject dogma and authoritarianism

This makes pagans perfect advocates for liberty because they understand that, for many things, there is no one right way to approach it, and, even if there is, their way may not be best. From here it is a very short leap to explain that the government is in the business of selling dogmatic solutions, and it is not very often correct.

For pagans, tolerance is personal

From the time of the Holy Roman Empire to the Salem Witch Trials, pagans are keenly aware of what happens when you give enough power to a central body. Though most of the persecution pagans face these days are that of snooty neighbors, poor media representation, and government bureaucracy, they are keenly aware that it’s a very short step from that to a fiery pit.

Religious tolerance isn’t an oft-discussed aspect of liberty, but I definitely think that it is an important one. Trade in particular relies on peaceful cooperation with those around you, and you must have religious tolerance for that to happen in this world. Pagans, more than many other religions, understand the great need for that tolerance, and this makes them great advocates for that principle, and for liberty broadly speaking.

They are peaceful

For those who have caught up to the fact that pagans don’t do human sacrifices, the next usual caricature is the hippie with long hair, doesn’t shower, and never raises their voice.  While I can attest that most pagans are not necessarily flower-children, I do believe that peace is a central component of paganism. Earth worshipers believe in being in harmony with their surroundings, resolving conflicts with communication and not violence, and that taking a life (no matter how small) is something to be treated with solemnity.

Libertarians are also a peaceful sort. Though it may not come from the desire to be harmonious with our environment, we certainly can agree that shedding human life should be avoided at all costs, and that, in particular, perpetuating war for no good reason is not only a bad idea, it’s downright immoral. Pagans, I think, would by and large agree, and would join us in the effort to further peace in the world.

Peace, love, freedom, and a tacit if not explicit rejection of central authority. These things, despite the differences between the many different pagan religions, are principles that all of them have in common—and indeed, also with libertarians. Sadly, however, I don’t see very many pagans in the liberty movement. I think there should be more, and that they would be great additions to our numbers and our attempts to bring those principles to the world.

2 comments

Kampala International University January 15, 2024 at 5:26 am

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check my source February 13, 2024 at 12:10 pm

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