I definitely share the concerns, though I'd place myself more at "keep an eye out for signs that this is happening" than "it's definitely coming, be ready for it."
In-person, I haven't really noticed much to indicate things going one way or the other, other than that any Neopagan/Wiccan or adjacent spaces I've observed definitely show signs of "fading fad" - fewer, older people, groups no longer meeting, et cetera. On the other hand, I haven't seen all that many signs of resurgent Christianity, but then, I run in fairly secular PMC circles, and despite living in Texas, I live in a big city, so I may not be seeing folks turning to a stronger emphasis on Christianity in their lives.
Where I do see the more (possibly) worrying trends is in online discourse, especially among right wing folks most disgusted with the way the culture has been going for the last [insert length of time you think since things started "going wrong"], some of whom seem to more often be pointing to the lack of Christian belief as where the problem came from and/or the presence of strong, widespread Christian belief as the necessary condition for fixing the problems. Luckily, not everyone who holds variations of these beliefs is hostile or belligerent about it - some are more like "your heart's in the right place, and you're on the right side, but you're mistaken to be doing it outside of the teachings and structure of the Church." The maybe reason for optimism that I see here is actually some of the spats we've been seeing on the extremely online right between "based pagans" and "Christ bros," though more accurately, it's the non-spat, more reasonable interactions that give me hope. To the degree these (admittedly) very online discussions are upstream of the wider cultural zeitgeist, having a tiny, but vocal, contingent of polytheists saying "hey guys, we're not all nihilistic materialist leftists" might be carving out some room in the mental geography of folks who want to see the culture change in a big way to accept that maybe there's room for some of the spiritual weirdos on the other side. At least I hope so.
If I had to put on my prognosticator hat, and I assumed that there's not much a few weirdos like us can do against larger cultural and political trends, I'd likely say the best possible outcome I can see in the near to medium term is something like Charles Haywood's "ecumenicalism light" - Christianity becomes more culturally and politically assertive, maybe even dominant, and it's openly and explicitly favored, but room is left for folks to have their own beliefs as long as they don't translate into activities seen as culturally corrosive. So, maybe it's a long time yet (if ever) before we have Heathen Holy Guilds hosting festivals and doling out charity in partnership with the local Church, but I'm hopeful that I'm not gonna get run out of town or worse for quietly worshipping in my own home.
I'll be interested to see what others think, though.
![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
branchandroot
(no subject)
Date: 2025-09-23 11:27 pm (UTC)I definitely share the concerns, though I'd place myself more at "keep an eye out for signs that this is happening" than "it's definitely coming, be ready for it."
In-person, I haven't really noticed much to indicate things going one way or the other, other than that any Neopagan/Wiccan or adjacent spaces I've observed definitely show signs of "fading fad" - fewer, older people, groups no longer meeting, et cetera. On the other hand, I haven't seen all that many signs of resurgent Christianity, but then, I run in fairly secular PMC circles, and despite living in Texas, I live in a big city, so I may not be seeing folks turning to a stronger emphasis on Christianity in their lives.
Where I do see the more (possibly) worrying trends is in online discourse, especially among right wing folks most disgusted with the way the culture has been going for the last [insert length of time you think since things started "going wrong"], some of whom seem to more often be pointing to the lack of Christian belief as where the problem came from and/or the presence of strong, widespread Christian belief as the necessary condition for fixing the problems. Luckily, not everyone who holds variations of these beliefs is hostile or belligerent about it - some are more like "your heart's in the right place, and you're on the right side, but you're mistaken to be doing it outside of the teachings and structure of the Church." The maybe reason for optimism that I see here is actually some of the spats we've been seeing on the extremely online right between "based pagans" and "Christ bros," though more accurately, it's the non-spat, more reasonable interactions that give me hope. To the degree these (admittedly) very online discussions are upstream of the wider cultural zeitgeist, having a tiny, but vocal, contingent of polytheists saying "hey guys, we're not all nihilistic materialist leftists" might be carving out some room in the mental geography of folks who want to see the culture change in a big way to accept that maybe there's room for some of the spiritual weirdos on the other side. At least I hope so.
If I had to put on my prognosticator hat, and I assumed that there's not much a few weirdos like us can do against larger cultural and political trends, I'd likely say the best possible outcome I can see in the near to medium term is something like Charles Haywood's "ecumenicalism light" - Christianity becomes more culturally and politically assertive, maybe even dominant, and it's openly and explicitly favored, but room is left for folks to have their own beliefs as long as they don't translate into activities seen as culturally corrosive. So, maybe it's a long time yet (if ever) before we have Heathen Holy Guilds hosting festivals and doling out charity in partnership with the local Church, but I'm hopeful that I'm not gonna get run out of town or worse for quietly worshipping in my own home.
I'll be interested to see what others think, though.
Cheers,
Jeff