The idea of Pagans and Catholics meeting to settle their differences conjures up many images. Two religions who are considered mortal enemies, locked in battle to see which side is the correct faith.
Misconceptions like those are exactly why MSU’s Pagan club, Green Spiral, and members of the Catholic St. John Student Center took part in an open-question panel discussion Thursday night at the Union.
Two members from Green Spiral and two members of St. John took questions from audience members of both faiths to try and show both religions can coexist.
“We want to facilitate communication and dialogue between different faiths,” said Gary Cox, coordinator of Green Spiral and a media arts and technologies senior. “We feel on both sides, not just one or the other, there are a lot of misconceptions. And most of that is due to ignorance on both sides.”
The Pagans, who have been wrongly associated with animal sacrifices, witchcraft and Halloween, are not who people seem to think they are, said Jason Mankey, adviser to Green Spiral.
“People think that we kill animals and worship the devil and things like that,” Mankey said. “They believe Paganism exists to antagonize Christianity or bring it down.”
Paganism is a loose association of many beliefs that value life as it currently exists, which means they put little emphasis on an afterlife, Mankey said. Pagans also put a large emphasis on connecting with nature and believe that various gods are expressed through the natural way of life.
Not unfamiliar to harmful false stereotypes themselves, the Catholics wanted to participate in the discussion to try and clear the air, said the Rev. Joe Krupp, the director of campus ministry at St. John.
“Whenever someone mentions Catholics and Pagans it calls to mind witch trials and things like that,” Krupp said.
Although, Krupp said, these wrong impressions can be a way for the two different ways of life to find a way to connect.
“We have a common enemy: a spiting of people for what they believe,” he said at the discussion.
Cox said the stigma toward both religions is that they are competing ideologies, even though that’s not true.
“We would like to counter the idea that the two are polar extremes and are completely incompatible,” he said. “We have members who are both Catholic and Pagan.”
Mike Busch, an economics graduate student, admitted he attended the event expecting to see a heated debate, but was glad to see it wasn’t the case.
“It was nice to see them get along with each other and not hold grudges,” he said.
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