Religion is good for your health. Honest-to-goodness church folk tend to live healthier lifestyles. They are less likely to drink to excess, smoke, use illicit drugs, and (although news headlines indicate otherwise) engage in risky sexual behaviors. Being part of a community also has benefits—the built-in community can serve as a buffer against psychiatric symptoms or mental illness. A prayer circle or service is a release for stresses and pressures, and is intimate enough for individuals to feel cared for an appreciated. In the disorientation that is modern life, it is reassuring to have your health. In the light of serious ailments, then, it is not illogical to turn to the one thing that, by experience, makes you better.  

The incident of illness is the difference between healing and health. Health and healthiness prevent illness, while healing is the regeneration from a weakened state. Healing is therefore symbolic of far more than physical well-being, particularly when a faith-system is focused on rebirth. Faith Healing, therefore, allows an individual to be healed in both mind and spirit.

Faith Healing made sense at the time.  Doctors can poison people, and were guiltier of doing so in the early 19th century. During this period, doctors attempted to counter the symptoms, not the illness. If one was flushed, they would blood-let, draining the patient of color—a practice we clearly do not support today. Generally, medicine was deeply divided and largely ineffective. Due to the irregularity of treatment, and even inaccessibility of doctors, domestic medicine was very common. It was not a stretch, then, to turn to community leaders, the religious leaders, for guidance when sick. Those leaders turned to God.

Faith Healing kills a flock of birds with one stone. Often times, evangelical preachers (i.e. Aimee Semple McPherson, Oral Roberts, and the current Benny Hinn) made their careers by being healing preachers. They did not claim to heal individuals, but were the instruments through which the Lord cures. People witnessed miracles and strengthened their belief in the Lord. Churches gained popularity and therefore revenue. The sick were cured. By being cured, they also proved to their peers that were truly pious, or blessed by God.

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But now Faith Healing is associated with fraud. Both the curers and the cured are viewed with suspicion (much like the fights on Jerry Springer). With the advent of Televangelism, preachers started healing over the phone for a small fee or requested donation. Faith not required. Many of the benefits (and the needs for) Faith Healing, therefore, became less salient. Televangelists were reaching a larger audience than any traveling preacher ever could—and therefore needed something to keep them watching (and donating). Health-concerns became less prevalent as healthcare and sanitary standards were improved. So what was the next benefit of religion?

Enter the Prosperity Gospel. People are living longer, and it seems that the new concern is to live better.  At the cusp of this transition were the prominent Oral Roberts and Jim and Tammy Faye Bakker. The current preacher of note is Joel Osteen. In the time of economic uncertainty, prosperity is of utmost importance. Again—it makes sense to turn to your religious group. Religious structures provide social networking, perhaps even more successfully than an alumni association. One would hope that in a time of need, a prayer group would provide for the needy—even if it is just a casserole. The optimism of the Prosperity Gospel is like affirmations: a boost in confidence and mood can make a real difference in a job search. And for some individuals, economic-miracles have indeed occurred, and have been attributed to their faith in God. The message is clear, and is not much different than the requirements of Faith Healing: dedicate yourself to the Lord, and he shall take care of you.

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The term “pagan” calls forth complex and often negative connotations or expectations, though the term simply means pre-Christian, nature-religions. Witchcraft is perhaps the heaviest and most controversial aspect of paganism and is often considered separate from it. Modernly referred to as “the Craft,” modern-day witches are attempting to portray witchcraft as “the Yoga of the West” (Adler), meaning to focus on the aspect of self-realization rather than spell-casting.

The origin of paganism is something debated by various “occult scholars” (usually meaning sociologists or anthropologists of ancient religions), most notably the controversial Margaret Murray. She emphasizes the roots in European Witchcraft, to the extent of claiming that British royalty were members of the “Dianic Cult.” Other scholars insist that paganism is something not carried overseas, but rather is a natural religious that springs forth independently in multiple (well, all) cultures.

Scholar Aiden Kelly insists that “the craft of the Craft is the craft of producing altered states of consciousness, and, traditionally, always has been.” The term “magic” is another springboard for debate but should be considered separate from the term “supernatural.” For most followers of the Craft, magic and ritual are pragmatic tools to arouse emotions and tap into a different psychic reality, likened to heightened Christian sermons (speaking in tongues) or Native American practices.

As our pointy-hat stereotypes would support, the Craft is undoubtedly feminine. There are several movements within the Craft that revolve around goddess worship, most notably influenced by the text The White Goddess by Robert Graves. Yes, he is an outlier, but his text can even be found in feminist bookstores, which tend to only carry female authors. Wicca, a form of the Craft, is considered a catalyst for female-driven political change, as it emphasizes their abilities as not only communal but agenic beings (there is equality in spell-casting). Wiccan women (womyn, wimmin, womon) generally recoil from “patriarchy,” sometimes due to negative experiences with men or other circumstances, and find self-esteem and empowerment in a community of women.

Although the pagan’s relationship with the ancient is crucial, there is also a movement that looks entirely to the future, named “the Church of All Worlds.” The Church of All Worlds has called science fiction “the new mythology of our age” and believes it to be appropriate religious literature. The general theme in science fiction of “reality as a construct” is taken as a perspective of “the universe anew,” Heinlein‘s Stranger in a Strange Land viewed as the most influential.

The Pagan movement has even been dubbed as “eco-psychic,” or marked by an extreme connection with the earth, as ecology comes closest to bringing mankind to the threshold of a religious relationship to his world. Often categorized as “cultish” by popular society, Pagans also struggle with legal recognition and institutionalism and often placed as a subcategory in New Religious Movements.

Perhaps the more alluring aspect of paganism, beyond the potential for hexing those who truly deserve it, is the boisterous joy their ceremonies promote. Pagans, unlike most New Religious Movements, tend to waive fees for any of their workshops and ceremonies, so you too can enjoy the natural beauty of the earth–and maybe lose yourself in an orgy or two (yes, that really is a slight, but real, part of some pagan rituals). This Halloween you’ll likely see more Sarah Palin’s than witches, but if you happen upon a young lady with a cauldron, you may want to throw in an extra piece of candy…just in case.

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The language implemented by theologians is confusing. What makes matters worse is that individuals are quick to label themselves without a real understanding of what it implies. Even more bewildering, often the term itself has one technical definition, and then a more stigmatized, popular definition.

In a secular era, where Richard Dawkins is touted as an authority in religious matters, the popular perception of God is often tainted by an irresponsible misuse and overextension of explosive terminology. Coupled with a sudden outpour of anti-religion, ‘pro-reason’ texts, there are also films like Bill Maher‘s Religulous (religion + ridiculous) which implement terms without first deriving meaning, promoting uneducated conclusions by those who imbibe.

What is perhaps most frustrating for the spectrum of ‘sans-theists’ is that the thing they’re lacking—a religious experience—cannot be defined. The moment or spirit tends to be unmediated by linguistic representation. Rudolf Otto referred to the religious phenomenon as the numinous; the notion being that if a religious experience were able to be defined proper, it wasn’t a true experience.

The most weighted term in all of theology is undeniably atheism. Atheism (a-theist) indicates being contrary or opposed to theism. Terms such as nontheist or irreligion have been tossed about, all promoting the same thing: the individual does not believe in deities. New-Atheism, the Atheism of Dennett, Dawkins, and Hitchens, boldly promotes that God does not exist for anyone. They support their belief with science and intellectualism, however their presumption includes the argument that we are born atheists (are we born contrary to unknown knowledge?) and a number of untruths…

The New-Atheists are not the first to explain away religion through societal truths, nor are they the first to deny others of their chosen deity or belief-system. They have, however, inspired non-religious Americans to disavow belief based on ill-founded reasoning. Belief, another hard word to describe, simply means “what one believes to be true”; as I cannot properly define your belief system, these scientists do not have the authority to declare millions of spiritual people delusional—spiritual authority only derives from the individual. It is therefore the responsibility of the individual to stop and think, as inwardly as possible, and define belief for themselves.

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