The Theological and Social Implications of Hierarchical Discipline and
          Penance.

          Copyright (c) 1992 by Lisa Sergienko
          Reprinted from Moonrise, Fall 1992

          The idea of a religious system disciplining and controlling its
          members has implications that I don't believe have been looked at
          seriously in the Pagan community.  What does it say about our relat-
          ionships to the Gods and the cosmos when we accept such precepts as
          coven "discipline" of members or even the idea of the scourge.

          I would contend that the religious systems that have formal punish-
          ments or penances written into their theologies view human beings as
          inherently weak and corrupt, in need of a parental restraining hand or
          spanking.  The idea is that humans are born and remain children in the
          eyes of the God(s). Thus, it is necessary to curb their willfulness. 
          In this theological outlook humans are not seen as possessing inherent
          reasoning capabilities.

          Perhaps these ideas of control are in certain Pagan theologies because
          the systems are of European origin.  An regardless of whatever claims
          they make to being Pre-Christian, there are bound to be Christian
          ecclesiastical overlays.  These older ways did not survive in a vacuum
          but came to us filtered through a somewhat dirtied lens.  Christianity
          and Islam are the only two major religions that have the belief that
          atonement is gained through pain and in whose theologies ecclesias-
          tical discipline is important. In Hinduism there is also an ascetic
          strain, but it is divorced from the idea of punishment for inherent
          sinfulness.

          A system of belief that holds in its tenets a model of ecclesiastical
          discipline is a system that is based on the premise that humans are
          not born with innate rationality.  This is a stream that runs through
          the more orthodox of the Christian faiths where the hair-shirt and the
          confessional serve to remind the adherents of their churches belief in
          the weakness of humanity.  Public confession and punishment meted out
          by the church authorities send the message to the penitent that he is
          under the rule of the church because without it he is damned.  There
          is no provision made that the penitent may actually know what is best
          for himself.

          In an earlier article I looked at the founding ideals of this nation
          as perhaps a guidepost to a functional Paganism.  I would now like to
          move from the 18th century into the 19th and see how the ethos of that
          period can serve to awaken us to ourselves as rational free individ-
          uals.  We can begin with the 18th century ideals of the noble savage
          and the worth of the craftsman and the farmer.  What happened to drive
          these people from the eastern seaboard towards the west?  Why couldn't
          the village smithy remain in the village?  Well, the iron works built
          a big foundary a few miles away and began casting in mass quantity
          those things our smithy had so lovingly crafted for so many years.  So
          our smith is driven out of business and goes to the foundry to look
          for work.  There he is told he can have a job if he agrees to submit
          to company discipline.  He can't have beer with his lunch. He must
          report to work at a certain hour regardless of the weather.  His pay
          will be docked not for poor craftsmanship since craftsmanship is now
          dead, but for infractions of the "rules."  Our smith cannot believe
          that for all the years he has worked as a free and independent man he
          is now going to be disciplined like a school child.

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          So our smith leaves on the next wagon train west.  Western expansion
          was probably due in some part to the movement of free and rational
          adults who could not stomach the rise of the factory system in the
          industrial revolution.  These craftsmen and women had come to view
          themselves and their products with pride and it was probably difficult
          for them to have the product now bear the factory owners name instead
          of their own.  With the rise of the industrial revolution there was a
          breakdown of the more organic means of social control.

          Our smithy relied on community good will for his continued prosperity
          and probably worked harder at being a contributing member of society. 
          Under the factory system, this concept of self-governance (the reason
          that many immigrated to the States) was replaced by more inorganic
          means of control. One no longer strove to maintain community goodwill
          through responsible citizenship, but instead toadied to the bosses who
          were now arbiters of ones financial status.

          How does this then relate to the problems of contemporary Pagan
          theology and sociology and the continentalism that so many systems
          seem to evidence. What does the 19th century have to do with us? 
          People need to feel empowered, that they are in control of their own
          lives.  The craftsman and the small farmer had this.  The factory
          worker did not.  I contend that discipline oriented theologies do not
          empower any but a select clerical hierarchy.  I have never heard of
          anyone being "disciplined" in the community for doing magick wrong. 
          Product is not the issue as it was for the smithy, but instead it is
          attitude as it was in the factory system.

          Some would argue that it is necessary to enforce a religious dis-
          cipline during a persons religious training.  I dispute this based on
          my earlier proposition that humans are inherently rational beings with
          a knowledge of what is right.  I realized this when I got to the point
          that I could not accept the idea that someone could tell me what to do
          when it came to my religiousity.  This furthers my proposition from an
          earlier article when I stated that the Priesthood belongs to all. 
          This makes us all peers as we stand before the Gods.

          A theology of discipline divorces us from a personal relationship with
          the Gods.  It becomes a secondary relationship where our primary
          relationship is with the mediator/trix  -- often the High Priestess. 
          Why?  Because it is not the Gods telling us in a one on one encounter
          what we did wrong and how we can make amends.  It is instead a mortal
          being "interpreting" divine will and judgment.  And as mortal the
          interpretation can be flawed or even perverted for personal ends. 
          What sort of abuses pass for coven discipline? I doubt I'll ever know
          since so much is kept secret out of fear and shame.


          There are Pagans I have encountered for whom relationship with the
          Gods is subsumed and given a lower importance than the relationship
          with the High priest and Priestess who become as God and Goddess.  As
          a solo devotee of Graeco-Pagan persuasion it is Hermes who mediates
          and guides.  I had a very strange encounter with a fellow Pagan when
          telling him about this.  He asked me in a rather sarcastic tone if I
          really felt that the Gods cared about what I was doing.  I finally got
          him to understand when I likened my relationship to the Gods with his
          relationship to his High Priest and High Priestess.  His was a theo-
          logy of discipline and in my observation, fear.

          We have lived too long only in moonlight and shadow.  Talk to the Gods
          and see what they say.  Try to get to know the Solar Gods too.

          Go West Young Pagan.

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